<p>you cannot live in Hopkins (or Tenney, for that matter) as a first-year. but if you like the idea of a co-op, go to the housing office once the semester begins, and fill in applications for their waitlists. Hopkins is first come, first served within each class year, so the sooner you apply the more likely you'll get in for your sophomore year.</p>
<p>--a former HopKid who was on the waitlist by October of first year.</p>
<p>The larger Green St. houses are all a nice size...large enough for social variety and range, small enough to have a good community. I may be wrong, but I think one of the Green St. houses has only 38. D specified "house size 50 or larger" in the "Additional Info" on her housing form and got her wish.</p>
<p>She's got a crummy number for room draw for next year, at about the 2/3 point. Karma. She had a great draw sophomore year, so I guess it evens out.</p>
<p>In the email my d. got, it said that the room draw numbers did not correspond to actual order of selection. Is it the room draw day that makes the difference?</p>
<p>Room draw is done by class. Rising seniors draw tomorrow, juniors Wednesday, sophomores Thursday.</p>
<p>The number you are given is randomly out of the entire class, ranging from 1 to about 700. But you draw by your house. One house could have students with the numbers 17, 64, 102, 203, 500, and 632, and they would draw in that order. If everyone in your house with your class year had numbers less than 100, then 300 would be "bad." How good your number is depends on everyone else in the house - and I want to see that list so I can figure out the probability of me getting the room I really want.</p>
<p>Huh. Interesting...I had to call D in Hungary today and she already had her draw number.</p>
<p>That's because room draw numbers were emailed last week. :) But room draw itself starts tomorrow.</p>
<p>Yep Borgin, I am lurking around. At this time of the morning I am not properly equipped to give my shpiel on Gillett, but I will be on here in the next few days to do so! ;-)</p>
<p>Yea Gillett!</p>
<p>Ah, so desu ka. Arigato, Borgin-sama. No wonder it was much on D's mind today.</p>
<p>My d. made it into Hopkins second semester Sophomore year. When a place opened up, she pounced on it, and was incredibly happy there the one semester she was there. Will be returning senior year.</p>
<p>I really don't know how I'm going to choose--they all seem so wonderful. XD
How much say in the matter do freshmen have anyways?</p>
<p>First-years get to rank the areas of campus in order of preference (it's been a few years since I've seen the form, but three years ago it was Green Street, Upper Elm, Lower Elm, and the Quad). You can also indicate that there is a house or two you would prefer to live in, but there's not a guarantee (I circled two houses - but didn't say the circled houses were my preferences - and was placed into one of them). This is part of the roommate form (where you can say "I listen to loud music and go to bed early," etc.) that is sent out toward the end of April.</p>
<p>First years (ya gotta get the Smith lingo down ;-) select housing areas, not specific houses, although some manage to slip in a preference. Most I've heard of got their second choice, which is kinda funny, considering that one girl who wanted the Quad got Elm St. and another wanting Elm St. got the Quad. I think Housing tries to mix things up a bit to ensure that all the party women don't end up in the Quad and all the intellectuals end up on Green St., and . . . well, they might try to break some of the stereotypes. (With little success, I might add.)</p>
<p>Really, it won't matter much where you begin since there seems to be a huge roomie swap midway through the first semester.</p>
<p>Eek, I was supposed to post back about Gillett! Sorry for the delay.</p>
<p>Gillett is a great house. I have lived here for 3 years so far and will be here for my senior year as house president. The house was built in 1911 but the bathrooms were renovated in 1995, so they are nice and clean. The house is 5 floors, with 5 doubles in the entire place. If you calculate that out, that means only half of our first years are in doubles and the rest are in singles. Everyone is in a single room by their sophomore year, which is a huge draw of the house. </p>
<p>Our location is also incredibly convenient. We are directly across the street from the PVTA bus stop, so if it is nasty outside, you can sit in the living room and wait till the bus arrives. Our dining hall serves vegan/vegetarian food, but we are surrounded by 3 "normal" dining halls, Cutter/Z, Chase/D, and Lamont, so there is never a shortage of meat. We are about a minute walk from the CC, and about a 2 minute walk from downtown. </p>
<p>That's what I can think of off the top of my head. If you have more specific questions, feel free to ask!</p>
<p>Gillettie!!!
Were you placed into Gillett at random, or through request? I'm really interested in Gillett or Northrop. Do either have a particular "feel" to them r a special reputation (besides maybe vegetarian)? I've only been inside Northrop..</p>
<p>Also.. what area are Lawrence, Morris and Tyler considered? Do they have a feel or rep?</p>
<p>Lawerence, Morris and Tyler are all on Green Street (and they're all next to each other). One of my best friends is house president of Lawrence (and she's been reelected for next year). They have a reputation for being "quiet" and "studious" (especially Morris and Lawrence"), but this year's batch of Lawrence first-years weren't all that quiet, and Tyler has a lot of fun, too - a first snow party, for example. Tyler has dining, so most of the residents of those houses eat there. I spend a lot of time in Lawrence watching tv or movies with my friends there.</p>
<p>I didn't specifically ask for Gillett, just for Lower Elm. A sophomore in my house asked to be placed in Gillett for her first year and she wound up here. I am incredibly biased with the house classifications, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. I have always found Gillett to be more comfortable and to smell better (I know, I'm crazy) but people in both houses seem to feel that way about the other one. They are mirror images of one another so whichever one you are used to, the other seems backwards and out of whack. I am all for Gillett though and am very glad I didn't start in Northrop. ;-)</p>
<p>Hubbard and Washburn round out the Green St. Five. Fwiw.</p>
<p>Isn't Chapin grouped with Green St. as well, even though it is right smack in the middle of the campus?</p>
<p>Yup, but only for residence life purposes. Residents of Chapin (and the rest of campus) consider it Center Campus.</p>
<p>I think that even ResLife considers Chapin a Center Campus house, because i'm pretty sure they share an area coordinator with my house (Cutter) which is also center campus.</p>