I’m conflicted as to which house in the quad I should choose. Riepe and Ware are my favorites and Fisher seems so huge but has more facilities.
I feel like Riepe has a more tight-knit community, plus espresso sundays and weekly yoga sounds amazing.
Ware has the “dinner with interesting people” feature which sounds super cool, plus its own dining hall I hear.
Fisher, my potential roommate likes it more for the residential programs and feels like the crowd may be more diverse plus there are music rooms, but I feel like it’s just too big. They’re all big, I can understand that but Fisher is supposedly the biggest one.
I’m going to study history and I’m looking to get into the arts and social justice scenes of the campus, however idk what the best living space for me and other artsy and diverse kinds of people would be.
Does anyone have any experiences in these particular houses or advice about one or each to share? I’ll be visiting and staying a couple days in a couple of weeks.
Thanks!
Hi! I’m visiting in a couple days so I can give you better advice then. I’d love to be on this thread however when I make my decision. What’s your major by the way?
@openguy A mixture of near eastern civ/lang, art history, and archaeology. You?
@malpal I’ll probably be Finance + CS
The distinctions between the three dorms really aren’t as intense as they seem. While Ware has its own dining hall, you can always just walk over to Ware and use it whenever you want from either of the other two college houses. All of them are connected by hallways as well so you don’t even have to walk outside to get there. The culture of each house does differ but only a little. I lived in Riepe and LOVED it. The Faculty Master, Dean Dennis DeTurck, that lives in the house is SO nice and (idk if this still happens because it was 4 years ago) he used to give out cookies on Wednesday nights and provide extra help to students taking Calculus. I also think it’s the prettiest part of the Quad. But really all of the quad is pretty similar with Ware being a little more party-ish because it has long hallways that are unbroken by doors, turns in the hallway, and lounges so it’s not uncommon for people to be running around and making a lot of noise. But honestly they’re all very social places with lots of programming and wonderful senses of community. You’ll love whichever one you join! However, if there is a specific residential program you are interested in, I suggest you apply to it regardless of the dorm. My res program is where I found my best friends at Penn and I’m still best friends with them to this day. A Residential Program is an extra dose of community that makes Penn feel even more like home. Hope you get the one you want! 
DS made some really good friends this year in Riepe…