So I’ve been trying to do extensive research on this subject.
I really really want a college that has a housing system like that of Hogwarts. You know, placed into a house or commons that has their own dorms/common areas/ etc, and PASSION for their house. You stay in them all four years type of thing?
I know Vassar and Middlebury has one–
I also am aware that Harvard or Yale or insert any ivy league school here has those systems, but obviously I want to find something that is a little more reachable. (selective is fine, just maybe not below a 10% acceptance rate perhaps.)
Could anyone give me more information on colleges that have a system like this? What do you know about it? How passionate are students about their house? How are people sorted? etc?
thnx 
University of Toronto has this system. They’re called colleges. Prospective students rank their preference of college with their application. Residence is guaranteed for only the first year however. Students do belong to their college for their college career.
Rice University, UC San Diego and UC Santa Cruz have residential colleges. A bit of googling will give you a more extensive list.
Franklin and Marshall has five college “houses.” Freshman must live in their house but I think most people stay in their house all four years (you have to live on campus all four years at any rate). Each house has its own traditions and events and even apparel (the apparel is optional, of course).
F and M is not as selective as the Ivies (it has a 32% acceptance rate) but is known for rigorous academics. Also, because there are no grad students, undergrads get to do research with profs and there seems to be a lot of faculty interest in the students. I just dropped my nephew off and was very impressed.
The residential college system is the cornerstone of student life at Rice.
Each dorm is in fact a separate “college,” with its own live-in master (like the colleges at Oxford), its own faculty advisers, its own unique traditions, and either its own dining hall or a hall shared with another college. Rice doesn’t have frats or sororities, but the residential colleges serve to provide the kind of solidarity and esprit de corps associated with Greek life, but without many of the downsides thereof (exclusivity, cost, etc.).
The success of the residential college system is an important reason that Rice is consistently rated very highly for the quality of its student life; in its 2018 national college rankings, Princeton Review lists Rice as #1 for Overall Quality of Life," #1 for Lots of Race/Class Interaction, and #2 for Happiest Students.
Union in New York has their Minerva program
https://www.union.edu/campus/minerva/
Notre Dame. Students aren’t “sorted” - they are randomly assigned a dorm and roommate. Most stay in the same dorm all 4 years.
http://collegiateway.org/colleges/
Not all the Ivies have a strong college/house system where your college/house is an integral part of a student’s identity.
In the UK, Oxbridge and Durham do.
In the US, that is true of Harvard, Yale, Rice, and Caltech.
UCSD colleges and some Toronto colleges are also pretty distinct.
A significant percentage of Smith students stay in the same house all four years. Some of the houses have dining rooms.
https://www.smith.edu/reslife/houses.php
So, there are some universities that have residential college systems, and a few that maintain them throughout the four years like Rice.
However, I do want to say that there’s really no place like Hogwarts…I’m not saying this to be patronizing, but Hogwarts is fictional. Sure, the house system is based on the ideal of residential colleges at UK universities, but real life is going to be different in some significant ways. I bring it up because you should be realistic about what you’re looking for in a college.
First of all, I don’t think any place - even Rice - “sorts” people on the basis of personality characteristics or similarities. Rice says up front that students are randomly assigned to residential colleges, precisely to maintain the diversity of these colleges and enrich your experience. I’d imagine that’s actually the way that most residential colleges are sorted in universities, one to enhance diversity and two because there’s no good way to sort a thousand or so freshman on the basis of personality characteristics. People really aren’t that reducible.
Second of all, while the level of pride in your college is going to vary from university to university - and probably from house to house, too - I don’t think anything is going to be on the level of Hogwarts. I lived in a residential college system in which students were placed into freshman residence halls that had their own Greek letters, colors, chants, calls, songs, and competitions. People retain the identity of their residence halls long after they graduate - at Reunion you’ll hear alumnae doing their calls and singing the songs with the current students! But it’s…not at all like Hogwarts. Most of the dedication fades after the first year, especially as you begin to make more friends and intertwine with the rest of the college population that may or may not live in your residence hall (and especially after you no longer live there).
At other places the residential college system actually just may be a mechanism for students to get more personalized attention and socialization within the confines of a microcosm of the college. In those places it’s probably less about “reppin’ your college” (although some of that goes on) and more about being able to develop a rich academic and social life in a smaller, less intimidating environment than the entire university.
So if you’re looking for a system where you can have an intellectual center and a strong community of people that you develop and feel close to throughout college - that’s what a residential college system is for.
Many of Northwestern’s residential colleges are themed. So for instance, many theatre and music majors were in Jones, the arts college. So you have clusters of personalities, but more by interests. Many unis have living-learning dorms that are also themed.
And if you want sorting by personality, join a frat/sorority.
The University of Oklahoma has them.
Actually, the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has a four-house system that is remarkably similar to the one at Hogwarts. It’s located on a mountain in western Massachusetts, uphill from Williams. Don’t know if there is cross-registration. http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Ilvermorny_School_of_Witchcraft_and_Wizardry
How’s your quidditch game?
Vanderbilt (at least for Freshmen):
To give special attention to the needs of incoming first-year students, first-year students live on the Martha Rivers Ingram Commons, separate from upperclass students. The Ingram Commons is a campus-within-a-campus for first-year students and residential faculty. There are ten first-year residences, called Houses, each home to an average of 165 students. Students will be assigned to double rooms. Each house will be led by a distinguished faculty member of the University residing there as the Faculty Head of House.
Franklin & Marshall does this - each incoming freshman chooses a seminar topic and students are placed in dorms based on that- the seminar is done in house with fellow residents. Lots of “house” pride at F&M. Just be warned: it’s a great school if you’re either super wealthy, or super NOT. High sticker price and no merit aid.
Probably not worth mentioning UChicago, since it is similar in selectivity to Harvard and Yale.
UC Santa Cruz and UC San Diego have residential colleges. Middlebury has “commons” that function sort of like Houses. Can’t think of many others.
Note, however, that many upper class students at UCSC and UCSD live off-campus, so the residential college experience is mainly for frosh and soph students. At both schools, which residential college you are in also affects which general education requirements you have, based on the theme of that residential college.