<p>So are they nice (I'm assuming they will be)?</p>
<p>And I looked through the virtual tour but I'm not really sure how they work still. So there is a suite, kind of apartment-like. That's cool. But how many people to a bedroom? 1, 2, 3? There seem to be some smaller bedrooms and some larger. Are the smaller ones single?</p>
<p>I could be wrong but I don't think there are any triple bedrooms on the Old Campus. Singles and doubles. The suite adds to the cohesiveness. Lots of rooms have fireplaces too. I lived in Farnam. 4 singles and a double in our suite of six. Luckily, I had a single 3 out of four years there! </p>
<p>Some suites even have skylights -- it all depends. I don't know the situation w/Timothy Dwight and Silliman (their freshman live in the actual RC -- the other ten colleges' freshmen lived in the OC.</p>
<p>I am a freshman (not in Farnam) and also living in a suite of six with four singles and a double and a common room. It's pretty fantastic, with 10 ft high ceilings, wood paneled floors, and a (non-functioning, yet aesthetically pleasing) fireplace. </p>
<p>Also, 8 of the 12 colleges (9 of the 12 by the time you're actually living in one) will be renovate by the time you get to campus, so the likelihood you get some super-sweet residential college to live in is pretty darn high. My residential college is getting renovated during my junior year, but even before then, my housing is looking pretty great. During junior year I'll be in Swing Space, which is like living in a hotel (nice rooms, comes with furniture, suites have a kitchenette, etc, but also doesn't have the character of the colleges). Morse and Stiles don't seem like the greatest - though you're just about guaranteed a single your junior and senior years - but truly, the housing is pretty darn fantastic here!</p>
<p>Yours,
DMW</p>
<p>Nice, nice...</p>
<p>I want a single. :)</p>
<p>And just wondering but is there a nice grand piano in each residential hall? I heard Stanford does...:P</p>
<p>A significant part of the reason I chose Yale over Stanford last year was because of housing. Yale's dorms are frankly amazing. I love the suite set-up, as it allows you to have people over in your room, without feeling that they're in your private space. It's just generally so convenient. For instance, if one of your roommates has friends visiting, but you need to work (and don't feel like going to the library) you can retreat into your bedroom, and be able to work undistracted. That simply isn't true in a one-room double. Plus, in most buildings, Yale's dorm rooms are huge (compared to other colleges). As an example, I live in Lanman-Wright, generally considered the worst housing at Yale (moving into my residential college next year will be soooo nice!). When a friend from UPenn was visiting me, and I told him that my room was one of the worst at Yale, he was shocked - it would have been one of the better rooms at Penn, particularly for a freshman.
As a side note, from what I know, Princeton and Harvard seem to have housing of a similar quality compared to Yale. I haven't stayed at Harvard, so I don't know for sure there, but from staying at Princeton while visiting last April, I would say that their housing seems to be about as good as Yale's</p>
<p>
[quote]
And just wondering but is there a nice grand piano in each residential hall? I heard Stanford does...:P
[/quote]
</p>
<p>As far as I know, none of the freshman housing on Old Campus has pianos, but as a freshman you have complete access to your residential colleges, and I'm pretty sure every college has a piano in the common room.</p>
<p>Okay cool I like my practice space. :) (hopefully there will be time)</p>
<p>In addition to the grand pianos in most residential college common rooms, there are soundproofed practice rooms with pianos in the basements of most residential colleges.</p>
<p>Then there's that ridiculous suite in TD with a Piano included... The housing at Yale pretty much varies from comfortable on the low end to just plain unfair.</p>
<p>Check out The Ocho:</p>
<p>^Cool. :)</p>
<p>Are the practice room pianos are nice and in tune? Some college pianos I've been to are in bad condition and out-of-tune. :(</p>
<p>Also, can you guys rank the residential colleges in terms of which one is the most comfortable/nice to live in? Like best to worst?</p>
<p>Nope. Good luck getting an honest assessment out of people on that one. They all have pros / cons. Here's an entertaining article on it, though, that categorizes the colleges, Hogwarts-style:</p>
<p>"The Game: Yale's Own Triwizard Extravaganza"
<a href="http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/15784%5B/url%5D">http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/15784</a></p>
<p>I particularly enjoy my master's quote (we haven't been renovated yet, and our college isn't quite as shiny and new as almost all the others...): </p>
<p>"Okay, so we're not Gryffindor," Calhoun Master Jonathan Holloway said. "I can live with that. [But] Hufflepuff? Isn't that something akin to being made to slow dance at a bar mitzvah with a friend's second cousin you've never met when all you really want to do is trade Pokemon cards? I do think given the state of our basement or sub-basement that [a comparison to] Diagon Alley might be appropriate. Lots of strange spaces down there -- some of them magical, to be sure, but others just plain creepy." </p>
<p>Yeah, Master J is the man (also the master who had the misfortune of sending out the shower sex email...)</p>
<p>Yours,
DMW</p>
<p>A biased ranking (that includes some common feelings)</p>
<ol>
<li>Saybrook: I'm in it, end of story, though freshman housing in L-dub sucks. </li>
<li>Branford: It's part of the same building as Saybrook, thus sharing many of the same advantages. Great freshman housing in Vanderbilt.</li>
<li>Davenport: Everybody seems to have a very positive impression of Davenport - it's got good housing (both for upperclassmen, and as freshmen in Welch) and its dining hall is considered pretty good</li>
<li>Trumbull: Nice building (renovated last year), above-average dining hall, centrally located. Freshman housing is decent (Bingham) but not great</li>
<li>Berkeley: Traditionally the best food at Yale, plus terrific freshman housing in Vanderbilt. They suck at intramurals, though.</li>
<li>Pierson: Solid college. I'm not a big fan of its dining hall (set-up is the problem, not food), and since it shares L-Dub with Saybrook, freshman housing stinks.</li>
<li>JE: Again, a solid college, though there's a problem when your motto is JE Sux. They haven't been part o Freshman housing in Farnam is pretty nice.</li>
<li>Silliman: It's unclear where they'll turn out since they're under renovation this year, but I'll give them the leg up over TD due to the renovation. Freshmen live in the college, but at least its slightly closer to Old Campus than TD</li>
<li>Timothy Dwight: It's pretty far from the center of campus, and freshmen live in the college (which most people consider a disadvantage, though you may disagree).</li>
<li>Calhoun: Generally considered the worst of the non-uglies. It also has the dining hall with the worst food. Freshmen live in Bingham, which is decent, but not great. They are, however, undergoing renovations soon.
11/12: Morse/Stiles: These two are part of a bad class of their own. These two towering modern monstrosities are considered by Yale students to be ugly, out of the way, and generally bad places to live (as evidenced by the larger percentage of students choosing to live off-campus). It's not that the rooms are of bad types - they feature numerous singles - but everything from the lack of right angles, to the lack of a suite set-up, makes them quite unpopular. At least Stiles is good at IMs.</li>
</ol>