<p>Ok I'm def going to Smith this fall, (sent my deposit today! YaY!) and I was wondering about housing for first years. Ive heard that the quad is pretty rowdy and the closer in you get to campus the quieter it is....could anyone give me the real lowdown on housing and what my options are for frosh year?
Thanks!</p>
<p>Congrats. first years get a housing form in may, I think, that has you rank areas of the campus you want to live in. The 4 areas are the Quad, Upper Elm, Lower Elm, and center campus/green street. There is not a space to choose a particular house but you can write it on the form if you have one, though I don't know if it will help. All houses have reputations, but they also change alot year to year as the who is in the house changes.
I would suggest that you think about issues that don't change, such as where geographically you want to be on campus, ie near to downtown (lower elm), near to the campus center, (upper elm or center campus). Do you prefer a single or a double, Quad houses I believe have a larger number of singles. Do you want a large or a small house. Do you want to be able to eat in your house.(I wouldn't call that an unchanging item since dining is still in flux). Are you likely to want to stay on campus for Thanksgiving or Spring break? (Some houses are open during those breaks)Most of the facts about houses and current dinig can be gotten off the website. There is a description of each house, size, number of singles, doubles or triples, and when it was most recently renovated. The 2eat section of the website tells what meals are served where and menus.
When you have answered those questions, you can post on the Smith live journal or Daily Jolt and ask about character of houses you are interested in. Take the answers with a grain of salt, usually everyone will say their house is the best. And remember, people who are not happy in their house move during the year.
Good luck and have fun figuring it out.</p>
<p>Re the "rowdiness" of the quad:</p>
<p>My D is a junior who has always been in the Quad.</p>
<p>She knew the scene at Smith from having been there one summer for a program for high-schoolers. So she was very familiar with the housing options.</p>
<p>Her opinion was that the individual smaller houses are much more likely to have defined personalities depending on who is in them. As a first-year, she wanted to be some place where there was more variety in the "types" of people. So she figured she would start out in the Quad, where she would be in a house with lots of people, increasing the odds of variety. Her plan was to eventually move to a smaller Victorian-style house once she had found her niche. </p>
<p>Let me tell you that "rowdy" is one of the LAST words anyone would apply to my D. I think the Quad gets that adjective because the Quad houses host some big open parties. That is because they are big houses and have some big public spaces, I guess. But the parties are on the first floor and all rooms that I know of are on higher floors.</p>
<p>There is also of course, the annual "Quad Riot" during which students "riot" to pressure the President to declare Mountain Day in the fall. I am sure that occasion is QUITE rowdy!</p>
<p>In any event, my D ended up staying in the Quad (now in the house furthest from the center of campus) and she has an 8 am class every day -- her choice - she apparently makes it with no trouble -- and has been very happy there. The campus is hardly so big that going from one end to another is a major issue. I imagine the walk is 15 minutes AT MOST to ANY point on campus. She has a bike but rarely uses it on campus, as far as I know. The walk from the Quad to the center of campus is lovely. Think of it as a plus that you would miss by living where you never have to walk any distance!</p>
<p>So please don't rule out the Quad as a place to live. Whenever we have been there (lots over her years) it has been quite civilized in the Quad. (Must admit to not ever having made it to Quad Riot!)</p>
<p>Also, the closer-in houses are more likely to be mobbed at lunchtime. You can get a table more easily at hers!</p>
<p>thanks for your responses. Iveheard that the quad dorms are nicer, so thats good to hear they arent as "rowdy" as I thought they were....</p>
<p>wasn't there a link somewhere on this forum in the past that actually had pics of specific dorms...if only i could find that again...</p>
<p>The smith website has watercolor paintings of the houses, and I am not sure what is on the smith web cam.</p>
<p>To follow up on XX-Mini above (this is XY Mini): Smith is not a huge campus, so distances from place to place are never really large, the furthest being from the Quad to the gym or the music library, which is about a 15-minute walk. All the housing we saw was way above average for college housing (the only place we saw nicer housing was at Scripps.) My d. chose Lower Elm because it is closest to town, and she loves browsing bookstores, picking up some bread and cheese (she is next door to a bakery) or going down for a cup of coffee, and she also attends the Quaker meeting, which is just a block away. It takes her about 10 minutes to get to the music library (where she actually lives!), and when weather permits, she usually takes her bike. (We got a great used bike at a store that refurbishes bicycles in Amherst.) Her house is "middle sized" - roughly 65. She has friends in the house, but as many on the outside, though she has never walked over to the Quad. She usually eats dinner at Lamont (Mediterranean cuisine), breakfast and lunch at Chase-Duckett (traditional fare). Friday evening she eats (and often cooks) at the kosher kitchen, which is across the street from Baldwin. She specifically asked for a house without dining, on the assumption that she could then use the kitchen to do her own cooking when she chose, and that is exactly the way it has worked out.</p>
<p>Relative to other colleges, no place at Smith is "rowdy", though just sheer size in the Quad makes such goings on more likely. The exteriors of the Quad are gorgeous, designed by the same folks who designed most of Harvard Yard, and it is actually prettier. The 1950s housing in the Upper Elm area - Cutter-Ziskind -- is in reality quite excellent, though lacking in the neo-Victorian exteriors of most everywhere else. Some folks like the Green Street/Center Campus areas because they provide quickest access to the library, science labs, and theater/dance studios. Something perhaps to consider is that when they break ground for the engineering school, the traffic going up and down Green Street is likely to be intense.</p>