<p>I have heard different opinions regarding the dorm id's. Such as one is known (don't know which one)as a jock house another the mathletes, etc. Does anyone know if this is still true?</p>
<p>are you talking about freshman housing or upperclass housing?
either way, the dorms are not so different from each other.
the housing office claims that housing is <em>random</em> so there should always be different kinds of people in each dorm.</p>
<p>Back in the old days (pre-1993) people got to pick which upperclass house they lived in. All the dorm character disappeared when housing became randomized.</p>
<p>In the old days (ie pre-1993) Kirkland was the Jock House, Eliot was the Blueblood/Legacy House, Adams was for the artsy people who dressed in black and liked "cinema" rather than "the movies," Dunster was "Adams Lite", Lowell, was, more or less,for the nerds. Mather was divided between the jocks and the math nerds (MATH-er. Get it??) And Currier and Mather were the only two truly randomized houses because people rarely chose to live there--- they got sent there if their lottery numbers were bad. (I however, did choose Currier. It has the best setup of all the Houses, I think. I had a great time there.)</p>
<p>I'll say this abou the ongoing "River versus Quad" debate: </p>
<p>If you like living in cramped quarters, being forced to live in a bunkbed when you are 22 years old, ten feet from Massachusetts Avenue or Memorial Drive noise and traffic, then, please, by all means, live in a River House (especially Eliot). </p>
<p>If you'd rather have huge private rooms in a quiet, bucolic setting in a pleasant upscale Cambridge neighborhood right across the street from the Harvard Observatory, then I would recommend the Quad. </p>
<p>It all depends on what you want. For my money, the Quad beats the River any day. (Of course, I admit I am 100% biased!!!)</p>
<p>The dorms do still have unique qualities, due partly to their traditions (i.e., Adams House has a ton of painted murals underground from the days when they were the "arty house") and partly due to the buildings/architecture themselves.</p>
<p>However, you don't have a whole lot of control over where you end up, really. All the dorms are pretty sweet relative to a lot of schools. Harvard food is not great (not terrible, but not great), but you get a lot more space than you do on a lot of other campuses. . .</p>
<p>ugh i come back to this? please, quad propaganda.</p>
<p>here's the dealio. freshman dorms have no character, other than that the small ones, eg stoughton, apley, mower, hollis etc, are more tight knit than the bigger ones, eg thayer, weld, wigg.</p>
<p>houses: you're guarenteed singles all 3 years in mather and the quad houses (i remember some old alum arguing with me on that but trust me, im here and its true). that being said, the quad is a shuttle ride away and kind of a pain. mather and dunster (which is far and has walkthroughs) are also far.<br>
river houses ARE GREAT...ESPECIALLY ELIOT.
yeah, the quad may have sweaty parties, mather may have lots of lather, but eliot has the fete, a classy dining hall and nice rooms. as do most of the other houses. but basically, dont worry about it. housing day is amazing and you will come to defend whatever house youre in.</p>
<p>whenicomearound–Frosh dorms do have a bit of character... There are a few that always tend to be more social than others (i.e. Pennypacker, Holworthy) partially due to bigger common rooms, and party due to self-selection (people who want more roommates -> more social).</p>
<p>And Eliot sucks, even Ben Folds knows it. Fete is horribly overrated.</p>