<p>Looking at what Harvard has to offer, I came across some mentions of these "houses" that students get put into. I was wondering, what are some current (or even prospective) students' views on this system, and how does it compare to yale's residential colleges?</p>
<p>They look pretty similar to me. Wikipedia even has a page where it matches sister houses of both Harvard and Yale.</p>
<p>Once you're in the houses they're basically the same. The only real difference is that at Yale you're assigned to your house from freshman year, and at Harvard you don't move in until sophomore year. </p>
<p>This seems like a small difference, but what it means is that you're stuck with luck of the draw in your Yale residential college, whereas here you get to choose 7 of your best friends from the entire campus and live with them for the next three years. </p>
<p>As a corollary, Annenberg (the Freshman d-hall) is an integral part of the freshman experience. You get to eat every meal in a gorgeous dining hall with the entire freshman class. You get to see all your friends in one place (meals are a huge time for casual socializing, especially at a competitive place like H-Y) and more importantly as a freshman, you can meet ANYONE in your class. It fosters a great sense of community, and a feeling that you could get to know everyone in your class if you were so inclined.</p>
<p>^But on the other hand, wouldn't "being stuck" with a residential college mean you get an entire year to fit in anyways? It's not like you're going to get to know the entire campus anyways, so wouldn't this break things down a bit?</p>
<p>Also, does Annenberg really foster a sense of community? When I visited, it just seemed to be clusters of people, either alone or with just a few others. </p>
<p>I'm not asking this to be acrimonious, but because it will help me make my choice between these schools.</p>
<p>It sounds strange, but Annenberg really is one of the integral parts of freshman year at Harvard. Depending on whether you visited late in the year or not, people may have pretty much already settled into their social circles. In the first few months, however, it's key to getting to know people. It fosters the friendship-building process in a very subtle yet cool way in that it's not just about meeting people (because many people feel uncomfortable approaching strangers at meal-times) but in that once you've met a fellow freshman in class or whatever there's a very good chance you'll run into them at a meal in Annenberg sometime very soon (in the next few days) which is key to you both feeling comfortable enough to interact again. Once you've made friends, Annenberg is great at making sure you see each other enough to stay friends and not drift back into the acquaintance-zone. </p>
<p>The added benefit of getting an extra year to fit in with your residential college at Yale is far outweighed by the fact that since you've already fragmented your class, you're already operating within a limited day-to-day social sphere. At Harvard, you could choose to block and live with any of your closest friends from your class when you move into a house, not just the people the administration thought you might like.</p>
<p>On the plus side, I think Yale kids are somewhat more passionate about their college than Harvard students are about their house. Harvard students definitely have house pride (especially on housing day!) but it's not quite as extreme.</p>
<p>Another difference is the renovation plans - Yale takes one college offline every year for renovations (putting its residents in a dining hall-less "swing space"), but on the upside, the colleges are really nice post-renovation. Harvard just does more minor renovating over the summer.</p>
<p>Untrue, campus renovations are currently being scheduled with the Allston campus and should be completed within the next 15 years (3 years to construct the new houses and 12 to rotate each house into the new 'swing space'). It'll be too late to help anyone currently on this board, but it's coming.</p>
<p>One thing that people are forgetting to mention is that blocking is often the most stressful time for freshmen. In theory, finding 7 other people to live with and potentially 8 others to "link" with sounds simple and flexible enough, but things can get ugly. But then again, this shouldn't really be considered a deterrent to going to Harvard. It's not like you can control who your possible block mates are going to be now with your decision. </p>
<p>On the flip side, suppose you don't like the house you're put in at Harvard, you can still transfer! While transferring is possible at Yale, it seems like it's not done very often. But at Harvard, you definitely know at least maybe 3? people in your circle of acquaintances who have transferred.</p>
<p>Quite frankly, anything Harvard >>>> anything Yale</p>
<p>I like how Piccolojunior is able to make such a snobbish statement....before even attending either school.</p>
<p>Anyway, here's what Harvard and Yale said about their respective housing system (and the happiness of their students):</p>
<p>I like how dizzydxz is able to be so serious on the internets....statements like that are jokes.</p>
<p>piccolojunior: Believe it or not, there are kids who are trying to make a reasoned decision between H & Y. The blanket statement that "anything Harvard >>>> anything Yale" is unhelpful -- not to mention untrue. </p>
<p>Thanks for posting those articles, dizzy. I'm going to pass them on to my son.</p>
<p>Lol, you need to calm down as well.</p>
<p>Dear lord, stop posting the crimson article from 2003. Since then, there's been a total overhaul of undergraduate life and the administrative attitude towards undergrads. In fact, in 2005-2006 there was a article that the Crimson printed rebutting everything the earlier board had said.</p>
<p>Stop beating a dead and now-irrelevant horse.</p>
<p>^Could you link to the article so I can read it, please? The search engine at thecrimson.com has some issues at the momeny>.></p>
<p>I did a search on thecrimson.com and couldn't locate the 2005-06 article. If you could come up with a link to it, that would be great, h-bomber.</p>
<p>I'm coming up with a complete blank myself too. It was a spread in Fifteen Minutes Magazine which sometimes doesn't post everything online (I worked for FM for a semester and it was a mild shoot-show). I'll keep looking, but that's the reason for the delay.</p>
<p>Sorry guys.</p>
<p>So I think the reason it's been hard to find is that they wrote something like "15 reasons to love Harvard" and each reason is it's own article.</p>
<p>In any case, I found them. Check them out here (under Magazine): The</a> Harvard Crimson :: Browse By Issue</p>
<p>Not quite as serious or thorough as the "Harvard sucks" version... but a lot of not so obvious things that make Harvard fun.</p>
<p>I don't think that's necesarily true. Your classes at Yale are with people in different colleges, you can eat at Common, where everyone eats, and Freshman year you live on Old Campus, where most freshman live (10/12 residential colleges have their freshman dorm on Old Campus). Also, you can switch your college if you want, but most people don't. That suggests that most students are happy with their placement and like the people in their college. I don't think the random assignment is bad at all. Plus, you could meet people with whom you'd probs never speak to if it weren't for being in the same college.</p>
<p>The two systems are very different -- maybe not as much on paper, but definitely in reality. Visit each school for 2-3 days, talk with students and professors, and you will notice major differences in the housing situation, student experience and overall atmosphere of the two campuses.</p>