<p>Hey so i'm going to be an incoming freshman and i was wondering if you guys could suggest which dorms are best at Harvard? i was thinking of a place that has music practice rooms, a weight room/ workout facility and also bathrooms per suite instead of shared by a floor.. any ideas? thanks.</p>
<p>^You don’t get to choose your own dorm. Dorms are randomly assigned for freshman and so are roommates for each subsequent year (although you may choose who you want in the same ‘house’). I hear frosh dorms are really cramped and there’s hardly any space for the dresser. Students generally have to bunk (first yr).</p>
<p>EDIT: I cannot vouch for roommate situation in subsequent years (I can’t remember atm), so I take back my statement, but the first year roommate situation holds true.</p>
<p>It is true that you can’t choose your dorm. However, the dorms are NOT cramped and roommates are NOT randomly chosen. Virtually all freshman here live in suites in Harvard Yard, housing is typically “n” which at Harvard means your suite will have the same number of rooms (including the common room) as people. So, for example, I live in a 3 person suite with two bedrooms and an in suite bathroom. The rooms are pretty big, in my opinion, and in some dorms they are absolutely massive… having a common room is also a very nice touch, we have a futon, two desks, a few chairs and mini-fridge in ours and still have tons of open floor space.
Also, a hugely important part of the Harvard experience that many aren’t aware of is that roommates are not randomly assigned here at all. Rather, there is a very detailed housing form that includes an essay and a bunch of short answer question, then your resident dean (in charge of perhaps 400 students) literally constructs suites and entryways by hand over the summer. This has some amazing results, my roommates are literally amazing and our room environment is perfect for all three of us… obviously they aren’t perfect all the time but it is a really nice touch.</p>
<p>Sounds like you are looking for a hotel ! Seriously ,my D is on Dorm Crew and I think most dorms are decent ,but the practice room in your dorm I’m not sure about .Upper class dorms maybe ,but probably not freshmen housing .</p>
<p>This may be getting a little dated, but it will allow you to get some sense of the freshman dorms (just click on each one): [Frosh</a> Dorms Project: Graphical Map](<a href=“http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~trishin/sergey/galleries/2004/froshdorms/]Frosh”>http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~trishin/sergey/galleries/2004/froshdorms/)</p>
<p>In-suite bathrooms aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. Hallway bathrooms are cleaned on a daily basis and are quite clean. In-suite bathrooms, on the other hand, can be an entirely different story, especially if you have slovenly roommates.</p>
<p>^This. I am so grateful for my hallway bathroom. So cleannn! Halls at Harvard also aren’t very big–I was at a summer program at one of the UCs once where I was in a typical college dorm, I think. The bathroom had something like 20 stalls and 15 showers, serving a whole floor. My bathroom is literally fifteen feet from my room, and serves 4 triples full of girls. I usually have it to myself.</p>
<p>Request to be put in a dorm with a music practice room in your essay. They’ll probably humor you. No freshman dorms have workout rooms, though.</p>
<p>Room assignments are anything but random. You fill out this never-ending questionnaire, and there is a joke that they spend more time on rooming assignments than they do on applications. </p>
<p>As for your house assignment sophomore through senior year, you choose a rooming group and a blocking group. You get the roommates you choose and up to a total of 8 people (I think) can block together and end up in the same house. My son blocked with a group of 8 (3 guys and 5 girls). They all ended up in Kirkland House, and as seniors, seven of them are rooming together in a co-ed mess of connected suites. Some of the houses are really old with bizarre radiators that make funny noises. Kirkland also has a house centipede, but there is fierce house allegiance. </p>
<p>You aren’t going to Harvard for the free shampoo samples ;)</p>