Freshmen Housing

What are the best houses to be in? Is the New college House that great? What is the best of the three quad houses?
Thanks

The Quad is generally regarded as the most social freshman house, as most of your class (~1500) will be living there. Because it is a traditional dormitory, students tend to hang out in lounges and leave their doors open. However, YMMV with specific halls and the people in your hall, but generally, people are friendly. There isn’t much of a difference between the three houses (Fisher, Riepe, and Ware); the facilities are largely the same, so just put all three on your housing application if you want to live in the Quad.

NCH is going to be a four-year house next year, so it will definitely have a different feel from the Quad. That being said, it is super nice and is basically like a hotel. You will live in suites with other students, so there may be less of an incentive to get out and meet people, however. It is pretty close to DRL/Engineering, so if you know you have a lot of classes in those buildings, then you might want to keep that in mind.

I believe that Hill is reopening next year for all freshmen, and they just renovated it, so it may also be a good choice if you are in SEAS, as it’s located right across from it.

My son is currently a freshman and if he had to "do it over " he would have chosen New College House over the Quad hands down… mostly for the decent dining options and lack of deplorable, crowded, moldy, water leaking living conditions…

While he likes the historic significance/architecture of the quad - he hasn’t really found it to be as “social” as others in past years on CC have made it out to be. ??? (He has no idea what they are talking about when saying this)
I think maybe NCH changed that vibe this year for freshmen??.. while he LOVES the ppl in his hall and does do many things with them, his hall has about 10 rooms total but its is sealed from other halls, so he has found it nearly impossible to meet others who are not in his hall in the quad. (Spring hasn’t arrived so no one is hanging out in the green space if they ever do…) He has no idea what all the “quad is so social” is all about and he is a very social kid!!

His experience is the rooms in the Quad are disgusting, have major water damage/ peeling paint/ soft spongy walls, mold that is black/grows quickly no matter what mold killers they spray on them, and an administration that could care less… The dining options in the Quad (according to him) are sub, sub par and the only real option is NCH which is a 15 min walk.

Also His house (FH) doesn’t do much at all… he has friends in Ware who he says do much more as a house so he thinks there is a big difference between the houses… maybe this is bc they are in a residence program?? anyway he has been adopted by them so he hangs there too…

BC of this sub par experience, he has chosen to live off campus next year. There was no amount of begging or bribing from us (parents) that could convince him to stay on campus for one more year. :(:frowning:

If you are a new student he says to chose NCH or Hill if it is redone and therefore new… forget about the quad its glory days are bygone and there are no decent dining options.

Is there a place that I can see pictures of the inside/‘explore’ the dorms, maybe I missed it but the website didn’t give me much

I completely disagree with @runswimyoga . I live in the quad right now, and it is hands down the best place for a freshman to be. No question about it