<p>One of my friends (who will ultimately be yale bound in my opinion) started talking about how freshman at UPenn have access to suite style housing. I told him I didn't think there were, but is he right? He's typically not the type to talk without having knowledge of a subject, but who knows?</p>
<p>I don't think I would even go with suite style because it kind of hurts the sense of community and breeds cliques. I guess the only thing I would really like is the increased privacy in regards to the bathroom.</p>
<p>There are apartment style dorm rooms in the high rises where a common configuration is a 3 bedroom quad that share a bathroom and kitchenette/living room.</p>
<p>the high rises (harnwell, rodin, and harrison) and low rises (dubois, gregory) have double / triple / quad suites with a shared bathroom (also some singles), as does sansom place, which is for upperclassmen</p>
<p>the quad, kings court / english, and hill have communal bathrooms</p>
<p>A large % of freshmen live in the quad and in hill…both of these don’t have suite style dorms. Some freshman also live in the high rises (3 buildings), dubois, KC/EH, gregory, stouffer. KC/EH doesn’t have suite style. The rest of the dorms do (high rises, dubois, gregory, and stouffer).</p>
<p>Honestly living in non-freshmen dominated dorms doesnt have that big of an effect on your social life…you make your social life what you want to make it…living in the quad or hill helps but isn’t the end all be all…</p>
<p>So I guess I should weigh getting a nice dorm against a cruddy on with a slight social advantage. If I get into Penn, I don’t know what I’d do, I suppose I would have to visit again. To be honest, I’m very social and don’t think that I’d have trouble making friends anywhere. But hey, who knows?</p>
<p>Harrison has the “Freshman Experience” residential program which I think alleviates a lot of the social concerns (still will probably be quieter than the Quad/Hill, but better than Harnwell from what I’ve heard from friends) The program does a lot to get people out of their rooms and socialize, and you get the benefit of living in a nicer apartment.</p>
<p>I’d highly recommend Hill or Quad for freshman year. No matter how social you are, when you are in high rises and there are 700 upperclassmen and 100 freshman scattered over 23 floors, it’s gonna be tough to get that unique freshman experience. I lived in Hill freshman year and never regret it. You actually learn the names of people in your hall and see them on a very regular basis (due to strategically placed common rooms), and also take classes together, so studying in groups was a plus. In the high rises, I didnt even know who my neighbor was until a week after I moved in.</p>