<p>On the freshman housing application, it ask to indicate how many suitemates we'd like.. noting that we can expect to share a bedroom in almost every case. However, I was interested to see if this was really the case, as I'd like to increase my chances of having a single "bedroom" in a suite of more than 1 person (obviously) as much as possible. </p>
<p>For current students, do you have a single bedroom or know people who do? What is your/his or her situation? Any advice for what to put on the housing application with regards to number of suitemates?</p>
<p>if you get into canaday, it’s possible you’ll have a single for a whole year, and very likely that you will have a single for half a year. sharing a bedroom is a great experience though, so don’t discount it.</p>
<p>Whether or not you will be in a single bedroom is probably more dependent on how good you are at negotiating with your future roommates. In many cases you will end up in a 3 person, 2 bedroom or 5 person, 3 bedroom situation. I ended up in the latter and we just picked random numbers and I ended up with the single. Maybe you could convince them you have horrible flatulence issues or something.</p>
<p>All double bedrooms come in a bunk bed arrangement. Theoretically you could debunk them if you want, but most rooms are too small for that to be feasible. Exceptions do occur, like in Grays and maybe Matthews, where you might be able to fit two debunked beds comfortably. </p>
<p>Sometimes people even turn their common rooms into bedrooms. It’ll really end up a decision for you and your suitemates to make.</p>
<p>My advice is just to relax. It will all work out. The accommodations Harvard freshman have are excellent in general and relative to their peers. So be happy about that.</p>
<p>It might not seem so now, but you would be surprised at how much fun it can be and how much you can learn from having a roommate.</p>
<p>I’m deliberating between putting down either 1 roommates or 4-5 roommates. I want to be social (so that’s why I want more roommates), but then again, I really need quiet and peace during study times and am afraid I won’t get that with more roommates. Any '13ers have any insights? Also, are all quints definitely 3 bedrooms, or are there 4 bedroom ones? And all 4-people rooms have 2 double rooms correct?</p>
<p>if you select no roommates, and specify that in your essay, then you can control that you will get a single.</p>
<p>otherwise, number of roommates doesnt really correlate with housing. though i might point out that if you were to pick 1 other roommate, and strongly state that preference in your essay, most doubles are in nicer dorms like apley/hollis/stoughton/thayer (likely not bunked) as well as in the union dorms. </p>
<p>biggest recommendation = if you know what kind of roommate/arrangement you want, specify that as best you can in the essay. they are amazing at matching. if you put down “im flexible/idc,” you better be flexible.</p>
<p>can i specify that i dont wanna have one of the dorms far from the yard? (Like pennypacker and those other ones), or can someone describe how many people are in a suite in those dorms, and i can put different ones.</p>
<p>(I want to put 4 other suitemates, anyone know what dorms this might correlate to?)</p>
<p>If you want the chance to have a single within a suite, your best bet is to say that you want 3 or 4 roommates, but then there’s a good chance you’ll get stuck in Canaday. Personally, I think it’s kinda interesting rooming with someone your first year, although from now on I’m definitely aiming for a single – I hate having to go to the library when my roommate’s asleep and I need to do work.</p>
<p>Saying you want only one roommate could put you in some nice accommodation (Apley/Stoughton/Thayer), but then you increase the chances that you won’t like him/her. Saying you want a triple could also put you into some nice accommodation (I have Greenough in mind) and you’ll probably like at least one of the two. Quads and quints are fun, but they can be pretty cramped and being in such close company with 3-4 other people is not conducive to getting work done. The upside is that when it comes time to form blocking groups, you’re pretty much set or at least have something to fall back on (that is, unless you’re antisocial). </p>
<p>In sum, I’d aim for at least a triple and avoid asking for a single. No matter which way you spin it, a single will force you to be less social if only because you don’t have others in your company all the time.</p>
<p>Ditto what twinmom said. My D asked for 3 roommates, but got just one. It ended up well as they became good friends and along with others had no drama forming their blocking group.</p>
<p>when i advised specifying as much as you can in the essay, i did not mean to say which dorm you want. what i do mean is, if you want a strong liberal, or you want a physics oriented roommate, or you want an athlete, or someone who is anal about cleanliness, or whatever, then it is to your advantage to articulate this preference in the essay (and not just in the fill in the blank/1-5 rating boxes). the resident deans really do read each essay and hand pick roommates. with that said, i think if you have a strong reason why you only want one roommate, and you do MORE than just enter in the number (@twinmom/cltdad, i assume your children merely entered the number and did not provide some kind of written statement as to why 5 or 3 is ideal), then the resident deans might honor the request.</p>
<p>basically, if you back any preference of yours up legitimately, more than just “i like friends, so 4 roommates is ideal for me” or “i hate walking, so no union dorms,” then they will try to honor it. (this is based off of observations of rooming arrangements that are amazingly well done, so i assume preferences were stated and the resident deans honored them)</p>
<p>moral of the post, if youre debating to put down 3 or 4 or 5 roommates, it really doesn’t matter. don’t waste your time trying to game the system for something you can’t control. instead try to craft a good essay that conveys whatever preferences you have for an ideal roommate. imo, having 1 roommate that you get along with is better than having 5 that you don’t.</p>
<p>ps. union dorms are really not that far (it looks like a mile away on the map, but its an additional 2-3 min to the berg)…and their accommodations are much better than some of the yard dorms.</p>
<p>Haxor: My daughter did give a reason for wanting 5 … not quite sure why that didn’t pan out. </p>
<p>It’s my understanding (someone correct me if I’m wrong) that the freshmen are randomly sorted into the three yards (Elm, Crimson, Ivy) and then the resident deans choose their housing recommendations within the specific yard. Maybe that had something to do with it. Anyhow, it all worked out just fine.</p>