UPenn College Houses

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>I don’t know about all of you guys, but I personally like to live somewhere nice.</p>

<p>I have been looking through the Penn website, housing brochure, trying to find the place that is the best place for me. I was wondering if anyone out there wanted to add some opinions and/or “insider info” about housing at Penn, plugging or knocking a particular College House.</p>

<p>A more specific question: I was wondering, is the Ware room shown in the housing video found here : <a href=“http://www.collegehouses.upenn.edu/srv/index.html[/url]”>http://www.collegehouses.upenn.edu/srv/index.html</a> very typical?</p>

<p>Another question: Am I correct in saying that all programs offered by college houses are confined to residents of those houses only?</p>

2

<p>It would be easier to help you if you tell us what kind of living environment you are looking for. Here are some vast generalizations:</p>

<p>Quad (Fisher, Riepe, Ware) - nice rooms, very social, great architecture, mostly freshmen, air-conditioning, communal bathrooms</p>

<p>Hill - small rooms, dirty communal bathrooms, no air-conditioning, lots of bonding over shared misery, 90% freshmen</p>

<p>Highrises (Rodin, Harnwell, Harrison) - apartment style rooms, not very social for freshmen because most people already have friends, very few freshmen</p>

<p>Gregory - "Weird" people reputation which is not necessarily true, but a tight-knit community, mix of all classes, people tend to live there year after year</p>

<p>Stouffer/Mayer - big rooms, don't know a lot</p>

<p>DuBois - african american res program, but it is very welcoming of people of all races from what i hear, nice rooms, mostly apartment style</p>

<p>Kings Court - big rooms, communal bathrooms, semi-social, mix of classes</p>

3

<p>I don't know about YOU but I like to live somewhere horrible.</p>

<p>In retrospect, living in Hill was awesome.</p>

<p>Avoid Gregory, Stouffer, and KC. You don't want to be the kind of person who fits in there.</p>

4

<p>Thanks guys, pretty much what I was looking for :)</p>

5

<p>Sorry, additional question here.</p>

<p>For applying to housing/residential programs, is it first come first serve, or lottery based. i.e If I wait until closer to the deadline to file will I find the good spots are gone? Or if I send my application in now will I have a better shot?</p>

6

<p>As long as you turn in your app by the deadline, they give no preference as to when you actually turn it in. I turned it in the last day of April last year and still got my first choice.</p>

7

<p>Kings Court is evil.</p>

8

<p>I've lived in KC for two years - you just need to find the right people, and stay away from the Science and Technology wing.</p>

9

<p>hahaha, whats the deal with this KC? Evil you say.....sounds seudo-erotic to me..( yeah thats right, because KC is close enough to KFC, and we all know coronel sanders is a pimp)</p>

10

<p>Can someone elaborate more on Harrison, Hill and Stouffer (especially Harrison and Stouffer?) Those are the two dorms that I'm most interested in. </p>

<p>I'm an only child, so I'm not used to sharing my space with anyone and I have a great deal of privacy at home. I want to make friends (since none of my friends got in.) I would rather not have communal bathrooms.</p>

<p>Also, what is a three person quad? Is that like a big apartment with three bedrooms and small living space in the middle (as well as a bathroom and kitchenette?) or is it something like a cul-de-sac (separate singles at the end of a hallway?) I wouldn't mind sharing a bathroom with one or two other people.</p>

11

<p>Stouffer's great. The rooms are nice, there is AC, nice lounges with TVs, pool tables, pianos, vending machines... even a basketball court, hammock, bbq grill, etc... very nice laundry facilities and tons of Stouffer-hosted activities. The community's very tight -- Stouffer tends to get a reputation of being antisocial but I think otherwise. There are just so many Stouffer events that the people who live there hang out with each other and don't really want to leave. Once you live in Stouffer you tend to not want to live anywhere else.</p>

<p>Yes, the bathrooms are communal in Stouffer, but you find that you never end up seeing anyone using it. You tend to have the entire bathroom to yourself as you're only sharing it with maybe 3, 4 other people. The showers are probably some of the best on campus (oh GOD does Hill suck with the bathrooms). There are TONS of singles in Stouffer and so if you want privacy, you'll get it. But if you want to be social, you definitely can to. It's really a great place to live because it caters to so many different types of people, and there are always events being hosted, and you'll always be in the know because they Email the crap out of you with em XD</p>

<p>Tons of people in the quad don't even know each other. Stouffer is like Hill only without the crappy rooms. Everyone gets to know each other, and you can kick back in a large, comfortable dorm room at the end of the day. You're also located near Wawa, Beijing, the haircut salon, 1920 Commons, Huntsman, G.Pronto, UPS Store, the Quad, Steinberg Dietrich Hall, etc. It's a very convenient location, as its close to many classes as well as places to eat.</p>

<p>Definitely give Stouffer a lookover before you choose where to live... as someone who has spent ample time in Hill, Stouffer, the Quad, and High Rises... I think Stouffer and the High Rises have the best rooms.</p>

<p>As someone who LIVED in Hill... I wish I wouldn't have. I was seriously depressed there. Like, seriously. Thinking back on it, every time I think of Hill my stomach churns. Couldn't stand it. I don't care if you have the dining hall right below you at Hill -- you're so far away from classes. There's no carpeting in the rooms. The rooms themselves are so tiny. The windows are the smallest on campus. Dust accumulates EVERYWHERE. The communal bathrooms are atrocious. The showers are literally nonexistent -- you shower on the floor in this alcove separated only by a curtain. Sometimes there is a sort of "shower tub" but there is really no place to put your clothes other than the outside of the tub/curtain. You'll always be sharing those bathrooms with at least 1-2 people at a given time. Hill's insanely social but I didn't get along with the people there because there were too many heavy drinkers. Maybe I just had bad luck. I wouldn't recommend Hill.</p>

12

<p>Hill was awesome.</p>

13

<p>Heh Ware vs Riepe anyone? Actually any of the quad houses, are there any huge differences between them? (Other than res. programs)</p>

14

<p>nope, no significant differences between quad houses.</p>

15

<p>When I applied, I put Quad as my top choices. I ended up in Hill. In retrospect, I'm SO glad I lived in Hill. I loved it. </p>

<p>
[quote]
As someone who LIVED in Hill... I wish I wouldn't have. I was seriously depressed there. Like, seriously. Thinking back on it, every time I think of Hill my stomach churns. Couldn't stand it.

[/quote]

As I said, I personally disagree.</p>

<p>
[quote]
I don't care if you have the dining hall right below you at Hill -- you're so far away from classes.

[/quote]

LOVED the dining hall... so convenient. Far away from classes? I don't know what this person took, but all of my classes were either in DRL, Logan, the Chem Building, or Meyerson, which are all within about 3 minutes of Hill. There was nothing better than waking up 10 minutes before early morning classes, running to them in my PJs, and then heading back afterwards to shower before my next classes. Wonderful.</p>

<p>
[quote]
There's no carpeting in the rooms. The rooms themselves are so tiny. The windows are the smallest on campus. Dust accumulates EVERYWHERE.

[/quote]

True, True, True, True. Won't lie.</p>

<p>
[quote]
The communal bathrooms are atrocious. The showers are literally nonexistent -- you shower on the floor in this alcove separated only by a curtain. Sometimes there is a sort of "shower tub" but there is really no place to put your clothes other than the outside of the tub/curtain.

[/quote]

Eh, I didn't think they were atrocious. They weren't always clean and they certainly aren't spacious, but they were a very typical dorm bathroom. I've stayed in dorms at many other schools for various summer programs and I've seen much worse than Hill. And the showers weren't all that bad, unless the ceiling collapsed (which does, regrettably, happen every so often). </p>

<p>
[quote]
You'll always be sharing those bathrooms with at least 1-2 people at a given time.

[/quote]

True. But there's usually a shower free in at least one of the two closest bathrooms to your room, and if not, it would just be a short wait. But come on, you're going to college and will be living in a dorm, don't expect privacy like you'd find at home.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Hill's insanely social but I didn't get along with the people there because there were too many heavy drinkers. Maybe I just had bad luck. I wouldn't recommend Hill.

[/quote]

I personally found it to be a nice mix of people. My hall was full of heavy drinkers, although my roommate refused and found his niche with a great group of other kids in the hall who also didn't drink. The next suite over to us seemed to have no partiers in their mix, and stayed in their suite to watch movies or play cards each night. It's an eclectic group of people. </p>

<p>Legendofmax, sorry for quoting you so extensively... I wasn't trying to do anything other than offer my own perspective, but also show that a lot of the cons you pointed out are dead on. </p>

<p>All that being said, I still definitely love Hill and would live there again if I had to do it all over.</p>

16

<p>Sure, sure, I know what you mean. From the sound of it it seems that you are an engineer -- which is a good thing in Hill. All the math/science buildings are literally right next to Hill. Many of my classes though were a bit farther away (and Huntsman is clear on the other side of campus) and so it was a little inconvenient for me.</p>

<p>As for the bathroom privacy, I just found that that type of privacy can easily be found in Stouffer. Also, the lighting in the Hill rooms wasn't that great for me either. The hallways were also dark and gloomy. I just feel like Stouffer's much more open and "sunny" in comparison.</p>

17

<p>I'm actually in the College, but for engineers I'm sure it's extra nice. </p>

<p>Agreed on lighting, and you're probably right that bathroom privacy can be found elsewhere... I never lived in Stouffer so I don't know about that, but when I lived in the quad as a sophomore I will say my bathroom was shared with only about 6 guys so I was almost NEVER in there at the same time as somebody else.</p>

18

<p>What about Gregory? There's a couple of posts about it having weird people, but is it actually true?</p>

19

<p>Can someone please clarify this:</p>

<p>Most Wharton classes - including freshman classes - are in Huntsman, right? And Hill is further from Huntsman than any other college house, including the high-rises, low-rises, and the quad. So Hill is a convenient choice for everyone... except Wharton students?</p>

20

<p>
[quote]
What about Gregory? There's a couple of posts about it having weird people, but is it actually true?

[/quote]

Only the ones who enjoy living there.</p>