Smith Houses

<p>Which is your favorite and why? (-:</p>

<p>Mine.</p>

<p>It's Haven-Wesley, and I like it due to its location (next to the Campus Center, about equidistant from Green Street and the Quad, and a few minutes from Northampton and classes) and the people who live there.</p>

<p>
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equidistant from Green Street and the Quad...

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</p>

<p>An advantage for those wishing to avoid getting caught in the Quad vs. Green St. tiffs. :)</p>

<p>TD: are the Quad/Green ST tiffs terrible and dramatic or just friendly rivalry? I've heard about certain houses having drama (depends on the year and the students...) but I haven't heard about drama between houses.</p>

<p>Mostly friendly rivalries. The worst drama I've heard of was in a couple of Elm St. houses but as you say, it's heavily dependent on the year and inhabitants...and could happen at any house and anywhere.</p>

<p>I think the tiffs TD was referring to were the ones from the parents on the Smith threads. <em>lol</em> What I find is that your favorite house is the one you are living in, with the friends you have made, and where you feel at home.</p>

<p>I've yet to hear of an actual Quad v. Green Street rivalry - other than the "Green Street Riots" of a few years ago (which were held for the same reason the Quad Riots are always held).</p>

<p>Most inter-house rivalries are between neighboring houses (so two Quad houses or two Green Street houses).</p>

<p>"I think the tiffs TD was referring to were the ones from the parents on the Smith threads. <em>lol</em>"</p>

<p>I'm not always good with internet sarcasm. :) (This is why AIM/MSN, etc., is bad for sarcastic humor.)</p>

<p>Oh I've yet to meet a Smithie or future Smithie without a touch of sarcasm.</p>

<p>"No dark sarcasm in the classroom...."</p>

<p>For reasons that I don't understand, D has an affinity for peers who are sarcastic. What's up with that?</p>

<p>I'm a bit confused 'bout one thing:</p>

<p>The stereotype is that the quad is more social/party-ish, while Green Street/campus center is "studious." What are people on upper/lower elm like? in between?</p>

<p>For the next couple of years, Green Street is likely to be dustier, and noisier, than any other place on campus, due to the building of the science/engineering center. </p>

<p>My d. started on Baldwin (home of Julie Nixon and the Secret Service), which was wonderful for its smell from the bakery next door, across from the Friday night Sabbath kitchen (where she cooked), and the closest house to town (a block from the Quaker Meeting.) It has recently undergone a complete remodel. But she moved to Hopkins with the studious neo-hippy self-cookers.</p>

<p>"Oh I've yet to meet a Smithie or future Smithie without a touch of sarcasm."</p>

<p>LOL. Sarcastic, yes... ;) (political sarcasm, especially) but there have many times when a friend and I would talk online and then one of us would get really confused if the other attempted sarcasm through written word without the voice.</p>

<p>Do you think the noise/dust from the work around green street should be a factor to consider when deciding what part of campus to live on? Is it the same around central campus?</p>

<p>Center Campus is actually not next to Green Street (and Chapin is not on Green Street either - it's listed there on the housing web site because for reslife/staffing reasons they are in the same group, but they aren't close together in location). So the only houses affected by construction noises are those on Green Street (Tyler, Morris, Lawrence, Washburn, and Hubbard), but I wouldn't let that affect your decision, as the people in the house and house community - and some of those houses have great community! - shouldn't be affected by construction. Construction might even help you wake up in the morning!</p>

<p>The interactive map (<a href="http://www.smith.edu/map/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.smith.edu/map/&lt;/a&gt;) is pretty cool and shows where buildings are in comparison to each other.</p>

<p>D just met up with one of her Washburn friends in Florence...yes, there's some good community there, inter-House even.</p>

<p>could someone (student, parent or otherwise) please give me some information on a few houses? i've researched all i can..</p>

<p>Gillett, Northrop, Hopkins?
i've also heard tyler and chapin are pretty sought-after.</p>

<p>i'm most interested in gillett and dawes from what i've heard. is it really difficult to get into dawes as a first year? what might the disadvantages of a house like dawes be?</p>

<p>thanks!</p>

<p>also, before anyone jumps on me for it (hey, it could happen):
i know dawes is a francophone house. that's most of the appeal for me, a francophile extraordinaire!</p>

<p>Your chances of living in Hopkins or Dawes as an entering student are very slim, but you can contact the appropriate people after your arrival to be placed on a waiting list. I think I know someone who lived in Dawes as a first-year, but she was nearly fluent.</p>

<p>The disadvantage to Dawes (as someone who lived in a building with 17 people her first year) is that there are too few people. As a junior, I see people in the bathrooms and strike up conversations in the hallway all the time, but I didn't have that experience my first two years - my house was very isolating. I've never lived there, so I don't know how successful the house with speaking French.</p>

<p>I have a friend in Gillett (she actually lurks around here sometimes and might chime in), but the advantage is definitely the number of singles available. There are something like four doubles in the entire house. The same goes for Northrop.</p>

<p>Chapin and Tyler have more doubles, and many (if not all) first-years and sophomores live in them. Both have dining (though Chapin is only dinner for Sun - Thurs) which can be very convenient.</p>

<p>Borgin makes a good point about the number of people. I loved Tyler for many reasons, including its relatively (yet not daunting) large size -- 68 people if I recall. I had a double for freshman year and a single thereafter. I don't remember very many sophomores having doubles, but it's been a long time!</p>