<p>Hi! I just got into Smith (YAYYYY!), and was wondering about the different houses. What are they like? Is the Quad really that much louder than Green St.? Where does Center Campus fall on the spectrum? Etc, Etc, Etc. </p>
<p>If any current Smithies would be willing to tell me about why their house is so awesome (or not-awesome, but I'm sure all Smith Houses are great), I would be eternally grateful. Thanks!</p>
<p>Aww, early housing threads, very cute. My best advice though is to not spend a lot of energy working out what house you want to live in right now, especially since you don't have that much control over the process, and it's better not to get too attached to one house and/or prejudiced against others. But since you did ask, and the 2013s are so cute and excited, I offer the following: </p>
<p>The Quad is definitely louder than green street but that's because the houses in the quad are much, much bigger than the houses on green street. More students = more noise, no matter what. A lot of the campus parties happen in the Quad, so if your house hosts a good party you don't have to stand in line to get in (plus one), but you will also find yourself required to work at house parties as an id checker or security or some other menial task (minus one). Many athletes live in the Quad, so if you plan to play sports it can be a good place to be. </p>
<p>Green street is smaller houses and older houses which have their benefits and detractions. Smaller houses tend to have more "house community" (translation: people go to house events, traditions are strong (though quad houses are also very tradition heavy), people tend to be more connected), but that can also mean that they have much, much, much, much more drama. Smaller houses also mean you have a smaller pool of first years to make in-house friends with. That's great if you love all the other first years in your house, not so great if you can't stand them. Green Street houses don't host house parties and it's a trek from Green street to the quad. But you're closer to the Green street shops, the gym, the theater, and the music buidling. Also the closest to the science quad. </p>
<p>I live in Center Campus/Upper Elm street. I like it because my house is not right in the middle of campus (like Chapin or Hubbard), but still less than five minutes from class room buildings and the campus center. It's also right between green street and the quad, so I'm equidistant from parties and the gym/theater/elbow room coffee shop. My current house is mostly seniors, so house community isn't terrific, but I moved here with all my friends from my old house, so we are our own little community, which I love. My old house was also great, it was Cutter so it was ugly, but the community was good for me. It was active but not overbearing (in some houses there's a lot of pressure to participate in house community which can be as bad as not having house community). </p>
<p>Elm street houses tend to be tightly knit but also have a lot of drama. A lot of this tends to be rooted in what we shall call "relationship issues" between house members. But how dramatic a house is tends to change a lot each year as people graduate or move out and new people come in. Some of the Elm street houses have great things going for them: Capen has its own beautiful garden behind it, Albright and Baldwin are really close to the pharmacy, the grocery store, the bread bakery, and the Woodstar Cafe. Talbot hosts the infamous "Immorality" party every year and has a mounted moose head in its lobby. Lamont has great food, but the lines are always really long.</p>
<p>I live in Capen House, which is off of Elm Street (on Prospect Street, to be exact). We're in a great location: a two minute walk from the campus center, five minute walk from Seeyle (the humanities building), and a ten minute walk from the Quad. We're definitely not a quiet house, but we're not the type of house to throw raging parties on (most) weeknights, either. We are commonly referred to as "the Quad off the Quad". Everyone generally gets along with everyone else here (though that changes every year-last year there was said to be major drama, but I haven't experienced any in-house drama yet): there's always a gang studying in the living room or the ballroom. We have our own garden, which is absolutely stunning in the spring and early fall. The upperclasswoman really take the first years under their wing and show them a good time and I've always felt welcome at house events and impromptu parties. Our house is too small to host huge, Smith-sponsored parties, but we have our own in-house things which are a lot of fun.</p>
<p>Basically, Capen is great. We have a welcoming atmosphere, we like to have fun, and we also know when it's time to buckle down and get to work. I have never felt intimidated by any of my housemates and always feel like I can go to them for help/fun. If you want to live in a house that parties but not so much that it's impossible to sleep or study for an exam, I'd definitely recommend Capen House.</p>
<p>I live in the Quad, and I would say that it really depends. Some houses are really loud, but I live in the largest house on campus (Wilson), and it's not bad at all. It's loud in that there are a bunch of people going about their every day business, but really, it's not the party central everyone makes it out to be.</p>
<p>Ironically enough, the loudest my house ever got was during temp housing during the summer last year. A bunch of Green Streeters moved in, and they made SO much noise it was ridiculous. I'm not bitter at all... :P</p>
<p>I'm a transfer student and I'm trying to pick what area I want to live in but I'm having a lot of trouble. I liked the houses on green street, but they're really close to ford. Has the construction there been really loud? Like loud enough to wake me up every morning if I were to live in Lawerence?
So far I have lower elm as my number one, green as my number two and center campus as three.
Also, who is able to live in Chapin? It looks like the most gorgeous building, it must be impossible to live in!</p>
<p>Chapin is beautiful, it was Margaret Mitchell's house and was the inspiration for Tara in Gone with the Wind (at least the staircase was, probably the rest too). </p>
<p>BUT if noise is your big concern, I would approach Chapin with caution. The rooms that face the campus center get a lot of noise, with people walking back and forth (especially on party nights, but also just to and from classes), town people strolling on the lawn on the weekends and during the warm months lots of people hang out in front of Chapin. Also, no weekend dining in the Chapin dining hall and no breakfast (just Grab N Go bag lunches too). But yummy dinners! </p>
<p>No idea what the noise is like at Ford, but the Green street houses can have a lot to recommend them and you only have to put up with construction for the first semester you live there, so it might be worth taking the chance. Also no dining, but very close to Tyler which has late dinner hours (handy if you plan to play a sport or spend time working on your science lab and don't want to hurry home to eat).</p>
<p>I lived in Haven (right next door to the campus center. Last year, my windows looked at the campus center) and never had problems with the noise from the campus center and people walking around. Even when there was a party, I managed to miss it. That said, I did sleep with a fan turned on for white noise. The fan was particularly helpful when my housemates were being loud when I was trying to sleep. I slept through a few parties that were held next door to my room. :)</p>
<p>Anyone can live in Chapin -- it just depends on who is randomly placed there. When I was an incoming first-year, I circled my preferred house and got it, BUT that was a few housing coordinators ago (I'm an 08 grad).</p>
<p>I think Haven's a little more removed though. It's really Chapin lawn that gets the noise, especially during the warm months when you spend a lot of time with your windows open. My good friend lived in a campus center facing room in Chapin on the second floor her first year and it was like living on a telephone line, with conversations coming in the window pretty much 24/7 from folks outside and plenty of noise from foot traffic. Sometimes that was entertaining, but most of the time it was just annoying for us. </p>
<p>Still, Chapin is a beautiful house, there's no denying. And not all the rooms face that side of the campus. In fact, I think the best ones face the pond, with beautiful views.</p>
<p>I don't know, maybe. My room was right on a popular walking path, and the other window (I had a corner room) did face the path between Chapin that leads to the quad.</p>
<p>There are also some rooms in Haven-Wesley (particularly Wesley) that have great views of the pond, and on nice warm days you can hear all the athletes on the athletic fields. I found that noise pretty fun.</p>
<p>Well maybe you're just noise-proof :-)? </p>
<p>Haven was always my dream house, sadly I never got to live there. It was just remodeled over the summe though and it looks even better than ever! Though I hear the basement is less creepy now and so not as good for the halloween hauntd house.</p>
<p>Last summer. :) (This is the second full school-year with the renovation.) My room was much larger than the box on the room plan made out it out to be. And the bathroom situation is much nicer than it was before. There are fewer people using each of the bathrooms, they're bigger, and there's more of them. :) I went from a bathroom that was used by the first and second floors my junior year to one that was used by 5 people (the first floor finally got their own shower, too!).</p>
<p>I didn't go to the haunted house after my first year, so I couldn't comment on if it was scarier.</p>
<p>Hi Smithie - this is slightly off topic, but I was wondering how you managed to move from Cutter with all of your friends and into the same house? I live in Ziskind right now and a couple of my friends were considering moving into a new house, but we don't want to get separated. It sounded pretty tricky considering the lottery system, but as a transfer I'm not really that knowledgeable of the whole housing game yet.</p>
<p>Well, we moved into Chase, which is the senior house, and we're all seniors. Juniors can sometimes get into Chase too, it tends to have a lot of open singles. Maybe try there?</p>
<p>Depending on how self-sufficient you and your friends would like to be (and how many of you there are) you could also try for a Friedman. I had friends who both loved the Friedmans and hated it, though. Those who loved it liked to cook for themselves and got along pretty well (they didn't get along with one roommate but she graduated as a J) and the friend who didn't like it (in a different apartment) wished she had never moved out of her house, and didn't get along with the other three roommates as much as she thought she would.</p>
<p>There is one Friedman for six people -- the rest are for four.</p>
<p>If I can remember anything.. good grief, it's been four years since I was at Smith. I was at Albright juts as I requested. I loved the location- I didn't want to be too close to the academics but too far from the sports and riding stables (I was involved in riding lessons). So Elm street houses were the best choices. They're more of middle of the ground between Green and the Quad- bigger houses still filled with drama but large enough that you don't have to be friends with everybody but small enough to know everybody. Albright was quite notorious that year for lots of unhappy first years <em>sigh</em> Sometimes housing lottery and roommate matches can go wrong. But I've heard that the chemistry's improved since 2006 so who knows.</p>
<p>Honestly, the houses aren't too far from each other so you can really take your pick of the neighborhood- Green, Lower Elm, Upper Elm, or the Quad and just hope that you get the house closest to wherever you want to be. I think the houses (versus the Quad) has more charm as I felt the Quad to be more like dorms- only just fancier looking :) </p>
<p>So I will have to admit, having transferred to another school to an actual dorm for a year, and then to my sorority house which was much more like a Smithie house, I never <em>truly</em> experienced dorm living in my area. It's all matter of feel as you visit each house when you're at Smith.</p>
<p>Sailing1216- I live on Green Street now and I love it. The construction was a little annoying in the beginning of the year, but once you get used to it its fairly easy to sleep through.</p>
<p>In general, if you're a light sleeper at Smith it's a good idea to invest in a pair of earplugs. Not only will it probably get you through the Green Street construction noise, but in most of the houses the walls are thin.</p>
<p>I've been a resident of Tyler House on Green Street for all four years. Largest house on the street at 69 people. We do, in fact, host house parties! They just tend to be invitation only! ;)</p>
<p>Green Street has a reputation for being quiet and studious, which I suppose is generally true. A house's energy absolutely depends on the dominant personalities and groups in the house. We had a wild group of sophomores a few years ago who really set the atmosphere, but the next year's sophomores were much quieter and most of the juniors had gone JYA. Yet, activity differs by floor and even by hall. Parties tend to stay inside rooms and people respect requests to turn televisions and music down. So, I can't really complain. Tyler rocks!</p>
<p>Thank you for all your answers. I really appreciate them. Can't wait for Smith!</p>
<p>ConnecticutGirl: Congratulations on being a Smithie! Lucky you!!</p>
<p>My first-year daughter lives in Tyler. She loves it to no end. She has never mentioned construction noise or drama. She has found her housemates to be exceptionally warm and welcoming. To her, Tyler is home. I doubt her experience is unique. That's the beauty of Smith.</p>