<p>S&P-I like the houses on Upper Elm and on Center Campus…If I have to chose one area to be my top choice, which would you suggest?</p>
<p>My daughter selected Green Street as her first choice, with Upper Elm as her second choice. She was assigned to an Upper Elm house in that first disastrous roommate pairing. She quickly moved to Green Street.</p>
<p>My favorite house is Chapin, somehow categorized as “Green Street” even though it is closer (IMO) to Elm. It’s more or less standing on its own in the middle of campus. My D says that dining is a pain there, though, since the students often have to hoof it elsewhere for decent meals. This house has huge, beautiful rooms. I always laugh at the “rooms like palaces” description as it applies to my D’s house, one of the rattiest on campus with relatively small rooms. Still, D loves the house because of its community. She’ll be the first to say that it should have been renovated years ago. (I’m sure all Smithies now know exactly where she lives. 
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<p>I think Chapin is categorized as “Center Campus” now, though Center Campus is a fairly new designation, I don’t think it existed before they built the Campus Center. </p>
<p>@rocket, you get to rank your areas of campus in order of preference, so you don’t have to choose just one. I guess for picking your #1 though, you should just think carefully about what you want. If your primary motivator is location, then I would go with Center Campus. Some of the Upper Elm houses are near Center Campus, but some of them are set pretty far back from Elm street. Whereas all of the Center Campus houses are central. The risk with Center Campus is that you could be placed into Cutter, and while I think once you’re a resident there you grow to love and appreciate it, I understand why it might not be people’s first choice (certainly wasn’t mine). But, nothing wagered, nothing gained. </p>
<p>My two favorite houses are Sessions (the only house that’s ACTUALLY haunted, and by General Burgoyne’s former love no less. Also the oldest house in Noho), and Haven (added bonus of being recently renovated). I never lived in either, but I dearly loved both. My two houses, Cutter and Chase were both wonderful though and I made close dear friends there.</p>
<p>MomWaitingForNew, does your daughter live in…Lawrence?</p>
<p>Or maybe Tyler, or the other ones. Never mind.</p>
<p>LOL, Prairie! I guess all of the Green Street houses are in need of renovation.</p>
<p>Actually, Tyler was her first choice of house when she applied, but, no, she doesn’t live there.</p>
<p>As a resident of the Quad, I feel it necessary to chime in here:</p>
<p>Really, the stereotype that the Quad is partyville is pretty misleading. There are some houses that are notorious for partying/acting a little bit like frat boys, and yeah, there are probably more parties here than on, say, Green Street, but keep in mind that a party at Smith is NOWHERE NEAR as wild as a party at virtually any other school. Smith is, overall, a quiet place; even the Quad is most of the time. Most everyone is, to some degree, studious, and most everyone is considerate if you ask them to take it down a notch because, I don’t know, you’re one of those people who likes doing your reading on Friday nights. The Quad was my first choice, and I was worried that it might prove to be a little much for me, but it’s a perfect fit–just enough energy to keep me entertained, but not enough that I can’t sleep at night. (Worthy of note: I was by no means a party girl in high school. No way, not at all. And neither were most of the people I live with… and the vast majority of us are really, really happy here!)</p>
<p>For the record, just in case you were wondering, Wilder is the coolest house on campus. Although, y’know, it is the farthest from… everything. But we deal with it, because we roll that way.</p>
<p>I will second Kokakola - my D who lives in what may currently be one of the rowdier Quad houses is up earlier Sundays to study than she ever was at home and the only noise issue she has had has been having a room near the bathrooms. She says there is a real mix of quiet/ rowdy people the house and no one pressures anyone. When visiting I’d say the Quad is in someways a quieter part of campus because there is no foot traffic outside your window unlike the houses that are in the middle of everything and it is away from the street.</p>
<p>Could a light sleeper get by living in the Quad?</p>
<p>In college, you will sleep through anything. </p>
<p>If you’re a light sleeper, my advice is to invest in earplugs. College is a noisy place, and even if you aren’t in the Quad, the thin walls of the older houses in other parts of campus mean you’re going to hear a lot of things. Of course, most houses have “24 hour courtesy hours” on top of mandated quiet hours, which means that no matter what time of day it is, you can ask another resident to quiet down and they are supposed to comply without arguing. Not a perfect system, but I’ve found that most people are embarassed when asked to be quieter in a polite way and do accomodate the asker, but you have to screw up your courage to do the asking. </p>
<p>The walls in the quad are probably as thick as the walls in any other part of campus, so I don’t think it will make too much of a difference where you live if you’re a light sleeper. You’ll have to make some adjustments though, because college is just a naturally noisy place and you’re rarely going to have complete quiet.</p>
<p>I concur that area of campus doesn’t really matter with regard to light sleepers. I’d suggest finding some sort of white noise - I slept with a fan turned on and I ended up sleeping through a lot! </p>
<p>It really depends on your specific neighbors - some people listen to loud music at night, talk on the phone loudly, etc., regardless of the area of campus. I usually had success asking my neighbors to quiet down if my fan wasn’t enough.</p>
<p>The Quad is also more removed from foot traffic and car traffic. My D has a white noise app on her I-pod which she uses with speakers.</p>
<p>You might look into the dining system, when making your choice: not all the houses have dining halls anymore, and many of them are not always open for every meal. For example, my daughter has to go to Tyler for breakfast (she’s in Chapin), and if she wants breakfast on Saturday before 9am she has to go to the Quad. As I understand it, there are a few houses that are vegetarian (although vegetarian options are available at other houses–but some vegetarians would prefer not to see meat, or to have more than one option), so if that is important to you, it might influence your choice.</p>
<p>^^marysidney, you might tell your daughter that Chase/Duckett which is much closer to Chapin (just on the other side of the art museum building) also has early breakfast on the weekends, or at least it did as of Spring 2009. She might prefer the Quad, but she doesn’t have to schlep all the way up there if she doesn’t want to. </p>
<p>I definitely think it’s a good idea to consider the dining halls though when you make your choice. Having dining in all the houses I lived in was something I really valued. Not just because of the food, but also because the dining halls have snacks that are left out (rice cakes and fruit usually) and the soda machines dispense ice, cold water and seltzer water 24/7. And during finals they leave the full soda array on in between meals, so it’s easy access. </p>
<p>HOWEVER if you like to cook a lot or if you’re a very picky eater or if you have particular dietary needs, you may prefer living in a house without a dining hall. Houses without dining halls usually have full kitchens, including a stove and an oven and a refridgerator. Houses with dining halls have only kitchenettes (fridge, microwave, sink, and sometimes a toaster, but not usually). </p>
<p>Anyone can rent the student kitchen in the campus center for small cooking projects (my friends and I used to reserve it to bake Christmas/Hannukkah cookies, birthday cakes, etc). It’s free to reserve, and it comes with three big tubs of cooking implemetns (pots, pans, spoons, measuring cups, and so on). But it’s not as nice as cooking in your own kitchen in your house. And students are not allowed to use the industrial kitchens in the dining halls for personal projects.</p>
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<p>Absolutely true. I used to grab breakfast at Chase/Duckett on weekends (and take a bagel for later) because I woke up too early to wait until 11 for brunch. A few other Havenites also grabbed food there between 9 and 10. Chase was also a quick trip across the street to the library or my on-campus job if I had a morning shift.</p>
<p>If you have work study as a first year it is mostly in the dining halls - my D really liked being able to work in the dining hall in her house since it was really convenient</p>
<p>When my first-year daughter was selecting housing areas last summer, she chose Lower Elm as her first choice. She figured she’d be taking most of her classes at Seelye and she wanted to be close to the downtown area. From her research, it also seemed that Lower Elm had a middle of the road reputation–not a “party” area and not completely studious. She wound up at Baldwin and she loves it. It has been just what she expected. She goes regularly to about three dining halls. She’s active in the house government as a first-year representative and she’d like to be a HONS next year.</p>
<p>Baldwin and Albright are such great houses, and so close to the Hungry Ghost Bread Bakery!</p>
<p>Oh, the Hungry Ghost Bread Bakery makes such fabulous bread! Even though we bake our own bread (in a breadmaker), I love to bring home a loaf to devour! I love the friends my daughter has made at Baldwin–caring, enthusiastic, intelligent, funny. Last spring my daughter became friends with one of the other CC posters during a prospie overnight with several others; this young woman wound up in Albright so it has been easy for my daughter to carry on the friendship (despite the vicious rivalry between the two houses!). ;)</p>