<p>I've heard much about Harvard's residential college system, but I have yet to establish a firm grasp on what exactly this system entails. </p>
<p>How is Harvard's system different from Yales? Do you live in your college (are their physical college buildings?) for all 4 years? Can you switch among the colleges? Are all im sports structured around the colleges like they are at Yale?</p>
<p>I'd really appreciate it if someone can explain Yale's residential system to me in detail. What are its advantages, what are its disadvantages? Princeton recently went to a 4-year residential college system in the attempt to build the sorts of communities Yale has and increase inter-class year interaction. Are these two large benefits of the Harvard system? If not, what are the benefits (if any) of the Harvard system? What are the biggest negatives?</p>
<p>i'm not exactly an expert, but...
harvard has freshmen housing for freshmen only situated mostly around the yard. freshmen are required to live here for the first year and eat at annenberg.
for the next three years, they're assigned to a house further away from the yard area
i'm sure there are intramural sports programs</p>
<p>The Harvard "Houses" and the Yale "Colleges" are virtually identical in concept and execution; (residential suites, common rooms, libraries, recreational facilities, dining halls, assigned faculty and tutors, etc. etc.) </p>
<p>They were built (Harvard first) with money from the same donor (Harkness) at roughly the same time in the late '20s/early 30s.</p>
<p>The only differences are two: </p>
<p>(1) at Harvard, the architecture is neo-Georgian, and at Yale it is neo-Gothic, and </p>
<p>(2) at Harvard, all freshmen live together and socialize together in Harvard Yard, and are assigned to Houses as sophomores, while at Yale, beginning Freshmen are given College assignments at the outset, and often socialize at the Colleges, although in most cases they don't live in the Colleges until sophomore year, either.</p>
<p>You can argue all day about the supposed "advantages" of each minor variation on the common theme.</p>
<p>Do students have any choice about which residential college they're assigned to? How large are the colleges? Do students have the ability to transfer out of their houses at any point after frosh year if they find that they don't like them?</p>
<p>There are no choices offered at Yale. You're assigned to a College on arrival. There are limited options at Harvard to "block" with a group of friends for assignment to a House, and I think there may still be some kind of wierd "legacy" rights.</p>
<p>As for transferring out, I believe its possible, though rare and not encouraged at either school.</p>
<p>The size of the Houses or Colleges are similar - in the 400-500 range.</p>
<p>Byerly- there are a lot of Houses that weren't built in that time period in the neo=Georgian style. New Quincy, Leverett Towers, all of Mather House, and Currier House are all newer buildings with modern looking architecture...they don't get put on the Harvard postcards! lol</p>
<p>Yes there are house intramural sports.</p>
<p>The way that you get assigned to a house is by forming a blocking group of up to 8 people near the end of your freshman year. You can also enter the lottery as a single person called a floater. Then, your blocking group/yourself gets put into a random lottery. You and your blocking group all end up in the same house together. This does not mean you necessarily live together, because rooming is a different process. You can apply to transfer to another house if you don't like yours. It isn't hard to do so.</p>
<p>It used to be that houses at Harvard weren't "randomized", ie you applied to a specific house with your blocking group. Houses had reputations and different flavors-- the artsy house, the jock house, the legacy house. Its been randomized for about 10 years or so, and that's pretty much all gone although Mather House still likes to think they are the party/jock house. I don't think there is any legacy rights unless its unofficial.</p>
<p>It is not hard to transfer to a house. The main reason you'd do this is because you have friends in another house that you decide you want to live with. I know a fair amount of people who've transferred in or out of my house, and none of them have ever been denied.</p>
<p>Oh also, one more thing...blocking groups used to be up to 16 people. That was changed 3 years ago or so. There is talk of increasing the size again. So when you all come through Harvard, it might be different :)</p>