<p>im filling out my housing form and one of the questions is the desired number of roommates from 0 to 5. i know housing at harvard really varies, but does anyone have any advice/experience/good, bad stories that might help me decide what to put down? on the one hand, im tempted to put 5 because i want to meet new people, but i also don't want it to be really crowded or anything. thanks in advance.</p>
<p>My bet would be 3. So 4 peeps in total. Or just go with one roommate; however, if he’s a jerk you don’t have anyone else to lean on :(</p>
<p>Imo 4-5 is just too much.</p>
<p>I would say 0, 1 or 3 :)</p>
<p>Good luck in making up your mind ;)</p>
<p>0, singles > all</p>
<p>My son started in a suite with 3 doubles, 5 suite-mates. One was a bad bad match and gone before the end of the year; one blocked with other friends after freshman year. The remaining four have been together all four years. I think starting with six increased the likelihood of ending up with a core group that grew very close. Harvard generally does a great job matching roommates.</p>
<p>[The</a> Harvard Crimson :: News :: Freshman Roommates, Meet Your Makers](<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/printerfriendly.aspx?ref=508381]The”>http://www.thecrimson.com/printerfriendly.aspx?ref=508381)</p>
<p>how do you get the housing survey?</p>
<p>1moremom, Harvard housing matchmaking just seems awesome. I wonder though, why don’t they keep track of “success” statistics…</p>
<p>@shalaksha Living in a single freshman year is a horrible idea.</p>
<p>I agree with the other posters, 3-5 is a great number. I’d also recommend adjusting your social quotient to Harvard standards :-P. If you’re planning on going to parties most weekend nights, you’re definitely a 4 or a 5 out of 5.</p>
<p>just forget me - D (as far as I know) has not started the housing form in part because of the need for the ID photo upload at the time of submitting the form, but would you mind translating the social quotient into “Harvard standards”. I assume that the scale will be 1 - 5. Could you break it down for 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5? Are there other questions she will encounter on the form that need additional thought?</p>
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<p>Not at all. Better to have too few roommates than too many.</p>
<p>My daughter asked for five roommates and got two. So be aware that what you ask for is not necessarily what you get!</p>
<p>@smoda61
My only real advice about the housing form is to be thoughtful and honest with it (are you <em>really</em> a neat person? Will you <em>really</em> go to bed early?). I’ve heard a lot of stories about friends trying to “game” it, and having it backfire.</p>
<p>Here’s a very gross overgeneralization/stereotype about what it means to be a 1-5 on the Harvard social scale freshman year:
1 - Friday nights suck because you get kicked out of the library at 10 p.m.
2 - Board games with friends every so often on the weekends
3 - Going out to parties every so often, but probably not drinking.
4 - Sunday - Thursday is for work, Friday + Saturday are for fun. Drinking? Sure!
5 - Why limit fun to the weekend? Thirsty Thursdays and Margarita Mondays!</p>
<p>In practice, I think the social scale gets a bit “inflated” on the housing form - people who are actually 4s put down 5 because they don’t want to be stuck in a room full of 3s (who may be putting down 4s to avoid the 2s). And, in my opinion, its better to live with people who are <em>more</em> social than you (you can always stay in) than people who are far less social (and judge you for drinking/going out).</p>
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Like many of the things you post here, I couldn’t disagree with you more. If you end with great roommates, you’ll form a bond that’s incredibly strong. Learning to deal with people you don’t like is a pretty critical life skill. The only positive thing I could say about living in a single is that it might teach you to be more proactive in your social life.</p>
<p>just forget me - thanks, I’ll pass the info on. Hopefully we can conquer the photo this weekend and she can fill out the ap.</p>
<p>She does also have to honestly access the neatness issue as well as the social scale.</p>
<p>Then dad and I need to put together the “family letter”. What a wonderful opportunity to share information about your child which will hopefully allow Harvard to provide him/her support. Do you have any knowledge on these letters and how much they are actually utilized?</p>
<p>"Not at all. Better to have too few roommates than too many. "</p>
<p>No, it is a terrible idea. Considering that you are a prefrosh and we are Harvard students giving you advice from our freshman year, I’m not sure why you seem so confident that you know more about rooming situations than we do.</p>
<p>Wingless, I strongly suggest 3-4. I think the ideal suite is a quad, big enough so that you are pretty sure to get at least one or two roommates who you get along with well, and not so big that it is hard to bond with your roommates.</p>
<p>thanks everyone for their advice. i also talked to my friends at harvard and they also agree that 3 or 4 are good numbers.</p>
<p>one last question. having 3 roommates is like having 2 double rooms, but what does having 4 roommates look like? 2 doubles + lucky single? 2 doubles + a triple?</p>
<p>im sorry, i’m a little confused here… so by roommates, you guys don’t mean the people who actually share the room with you (as in, you’re all surrounded by the same 4 walls)? it’s just the people you share the suite with? sorry if this is a dumb question, lol.</p>
<p>@wingless + isabella_nijo</p>
<p>For freshman year, I think most rooming groups end up with “n” rooms for “n” students. So if you have 4 roommates total, you’ll likely have two singles, a double, and a common room. Some rooming groups may put a bed in the common room, giving everyone their own room (although the person in the common room would have less privacy).</p>
<p>This isn’t a hard & fast rule though… there are a lot of one room doubles (although they tend to be very big). And large suites may have more than one double in them.</p>
<p>…who said I’m a prefrosh?</p>
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<p>Nice strawman. Learning to live with 4-5 random strangers and sharing the toilets they leave a complete mess is completely unnecessary and undesirable. With singles, you will still learn to “deal with people you don’t like” all the same…but at least you won’t have to live with them too, which isn’t a critical skill at all. I don’t know why this is so hard for people to understand.</p>
<p>And for the record I am not against blocking with 7 friends and/or linking with another block (in fact I strongly support it).</p>
<p>So you wouldn’t recommend just one roommate? I guess I sort of have this idea of getting along really well with just one roommate :): is this really unrealistic?</p>
<p>Also, is it not a good idea then to have two roommates, because then, one person might be somwhat left out?</p>
<p>General rule that I have heard is that (you +1) or (you + 3) is best. (you + 2) ends up a triple ,and it inevitably comes down to 2 against 1 on the pizz-ant issues that always come up when people live together. (“hey, what jerk ate the last PopTart and left the empty box ??!!??”)</p>
<p>But the best hope is that none of your roomate(s) is/are insane. That rule applies in all cases.</p>
<p>I’m hoping that the adcoms didn’t admit anyone who is too insane. ;-)</p>
<p>And I do know how to spell ‘somewhat’, btw. I absolutely HATE typos :)</p>