House Life
Polar Bear Lectures in Sociology 190
Professor Nicholas A. Christakis, a Pforzheimer House Master, wears his house spirit by lecturing in a polar bear costume in Sociology 190 on Wednesday.
Midterms Thwart Housing Day Joy
While much of the student body revels in Housing Day celebrations on Thursday, some students will sit out the festivities, stuck in classrooms racking their brains during a midterm.
Housing Day: A Holiday
Although House life has come to be seen as a defining part of the Harvard experience, the actual traditions of Housing Day, when all freshmen are placed in their future homes, are less than a decade old.
Visualize Your House!
As of Wednesday evening Flyby officially released the rankings of all 12 Houses. Now that freshmen have been informed of their respective Houses, it's important to remember that rankings don't tell the whole story. This gallery shows that there is a lot to love about every House. Each image contains a word cloud of a respective House's answers to the question "What is the best thing about your House?" With the word "community" appearing prominently on every image, it seems clear that House life is what you make of it. Get excited, class of 2015!
The Housing Lottery: Then And Now
It’s the week of Housing Day at Harvard, and rumors are flying. As freshmen anxiously await the results of the lottery that will assign them to a House come Thursday morning, conspiracy theories abound.
Housing Day Goes Tumblr
In the pre-Housing Day flurry, several Houses have begun rolling out promotional tumblr blogs. Cabot House's tumblr features its mascot, the Cabot Fish, planking in front of various Harvard hotspots such as the steps of Memorial Church, the doorway of The Crimson, and even the Sanders stage before an Ec 10 lecture. Lowell, too, launched a tumblr, which rides on the coattails of the Harvard meme trend with images featuring captions like: "Significant other got quadded / Long distance relationship."
River Run To Be Watched by Police
Harvard University Police will be out in increased numbers to monitor underage drinking during River Run.
Kirkland House
As part of our Housing Market series, we'll be posting reviews and rankings for each of Harvard's 12 residential Houses over the next few days. Click here to read more about the series. Laying claim to the number one spot in this year's rankings, Kirkland has plenty of perks: a plethora of House traditions including the ever-infamous Incestfest, adorable House Masters with even more adorable dogs, a world record in its courtyard, and a location close to class, Noch's, and the MAC. Kirkland is one of Harvard's smallest Houses, so freshmen, beware—it won't be easy to get in, but if you do, you'll never want to leave.
Eliot House
Behind its double doors lies Eliot House, coming in at number two on Flyby's Housing rankings this year! Founded as one of the seven original Houses in 1931, the House had a reputation as the 'Prep' House, home to Harvard's elite and wealthy, before housing became randomized. It is named after Charles William Eliot, President of the University from 1869-1909, and is known for its prominence on the water, both in IM crew and in river accessibility. Never falling below fifth in any category in the poll, Eliot is truly a House to be proud of this Housing Day.
Adams House
As part of our Housing Market series, we'll be posting reviews and rankings for each of Harvard's 12 residential Houses over the next few days. Click here to read more about the series. Nestled snugly between Harvard Square shops and restaurants, Adams House, incorporated in 1931, is the oldest of the Harvard Houses and also the closest House to the Yard. Most of the buildings of Adams House were built as Gold Coast dormitories at the turn of the century to provide rich Harvard undergraduates with a luxurious alternative to the antiquated Yard dorms. In previous years, Adams has dominated the House rankings due to its superb location and beauty.
Housing Day Mascot
With housing day coming up on Thursday, houses have begun to demonstrate their house pride with videos and mascots. Pictured here, an elephant, the mascot of Eliot House, sits in the back of Gov 1093, waiting for the class to start.
Quincy House
As part of our Housing Market series, we'll be posting reviews and rankings for each of Harvard's 12 residential Houses over the next few days. Click here to read more about the series. Creative housing video? Check. Stellar House Masters? Check. Convenient location? Double check. Quincy students can say that they fared quite well in the housing lottery. Said one Quincyite, "Everyone loves Quincy...Plus we're being renovated first. The proof is in the pudding."
Housing Videos: Roundup Part Deux
It is not unusual for a House to ridicule its rivals in video form, as payback for being made fun of in previous years. And this week has seen much of the same. With just days to spare, more videos from Leverett, Cabot, Currier, Winthrop, Kirkland, Quincy, Dunster, and Pfoho have joined the list that is 2012's Housing Season. Here's a recap of the new additions.
Leverett House
As part of our Housing Market series, we'll be posting reviews and rankings for each of Harvard's 12 residential Houses over the next few days. Click here to read more about the series. It seems that Houses, like data sets, tend towards the mean as they get larger. In that vein, this year's poll revealed that Leverett is just about average. Leverett is the biggest of the 12 residential Houses, with students spread across three different buildings whose variety give the House its charm. From McKinlock Hall (or Old Leverett) to the Leverett Towers to housing on two floors of 20 DeWolfe St., Leverett pleases those who tend toward more modern housing while still accommodating residents yearning for an ivy-lined, stereotypical Harvard building. Residents praise the middle House along the river for its "beautiful river view," "MONKEY BREAD," and of course for the fact that "Jeremy Lin lived there." As one resident eloquently put it, the best thing about Lev is "EVERYTHINGGGGG."
Pforzheimer House
If come Housing day you end up one of the unlucky (or fantastically blessed) few to be Quadded, do not despair. Living in Pfoho, the highest-ranking Quad House three years running, you won't mind scheduling your life around Shuttle Boy. What's great about Pfoho? One commenter wrote, "Polar bears EVERYWHERE. Also the sex."
Lowell House
With a belltower that casts shadows across its romantic, ivy-covered courtyards each morning and afternoon, Lowell House is known first and foremost for its beauty. This river house may not have a view of the Charles, but its residents don’t seem to be too upset. One commenter discussed loving Lowell because of "the people, the dining hall, the house masters...everything!"
Mather House
As part of our Housing Market series, we'll be posting reviews and rankings for each of Harvard's 12 residential Houses over the next few days. Click here to read more about the series. Perhaps no Harvard House inspires as passionate, conflicting opinions as Mather does. While some lament its distance from the Yard, others note that Mather has its own shuttle stop, and argue that it's not nearly as far as the Quad Houses. Many complain about the concrete architecture and aesthetically unpleasing wall-to-wall carpeting, but on the flip side, Mather guarantees its residents singles for life. That being said, most Matherites put distance and beauty aside; for them, it's "Mather all the way baby."
Winthrop House
As part of our Housing Market series, we'll be posting reviews and rankings for each of Harvard's 12 residential Houses over the next few days. Click here to read more about the series. Named after not just one, but two famous men—the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and his descendant, who served as a professor of mathematics and natural philosophy and, more importantly, as president of the University—John Winthrop House consists of two buildings dating from 1914. Despite Winthrop's subpar housing, the House boasts a high level of House spirit, a tightly-knit community, and several impressive, if underused, social spaces.
Mockery, Spoofs, and Remakes: A Housing Video Roundup
With Housing Day under a week away, eight new videos to advertise the upperclass Houses have been released. As always, there is a healthy amount of inter-house teasing. Here's our recap.
Cabot House
As part of our Housing Market series, we'll be posting reviews and rankings for each of Harvard's 12 residential Houses over the next few days. Click here to read more about the series. There's nothing worse than getting a bum rap, and the replies to Flyby's poll were unequivocal about Cabot House's reputation: "It's sad how people don't know how great Cabot is;" "People don't give it enough credit, and give you crap for living there when it's actually awesome;" "People hate on it too much, for no reason." Perhaps Cabotites are a bit bitter about past rankings, but they have plenty of things to say about why Cabot House is one of the best Houses on campus, if not the best.
The Housing Market Reviews: An Introduction
For the past three years, The Crimson has ranked the Houses from one to 12 in anticipation of Housing Day. This year, Housing Day falls on March 8, and the top House will be announced on the evening of March 7, just in time for a successful River Run and last minute prayers to the River (or Quad) Gods.
Dunster House
As part of our Housing Market series, we'll be posting reviews and rankings for each of Harvard's 12 residential Houses over the next few days. Click here to read more about the series. Welcome to Dunster House! Built in 1930, this house has a proud history. Known for its red bell-tower and its wide courtyard that looks over the Charles, Dunster House was one of the first two Houses constructed under former President Abbott L. Lowell's House Plan. Overall, while Dunster is certainly not the most centrally located House nor the House with the best rooming, it maintains a popular dining hall and a great deal of House pride.