For Harvard freshmen, some Houses are in the forefront of their imagination as Housing Day approaches. Dunster is brand new. Adams is so close. The Quad *starts sobbing and convulsing.* Mather, on the other hand, seems to slip the freshman class’ collective mind until Housing Day when a bunch of rowdy Matherites descend on their new class. If you’ve never considered Mather, Flyby is here to tell you why you should be thrilled about a House you’re just hearing about for the first time.
1. Singles For Life: Mather guarantees that students get their own bedroom every year. If cramped rooms and bunk beds have plagued your freshman year, Mather will be a dream come true.
2. No Dining Hall Restriction: No one tells freshmen how annoying it is to plan meals with friends from other houses or dinner meetings with your extracurricular around the extreme rules of Adams or Dunster (seriously? One guest? How does that help if you want to eat with two people…). Mather has no restrictions.
3. Gym and Basketball Courts: Sick of walking to the MAC to pretend that you’re fit and healthy? You can do that in Mather’s fully equipped gym. Are you one of the people who seems never to be in class and always to be playing pickup basketball at the MAC? Now in warm weather you can show off how unathletic Harvard students are on the outdoor courts behind Mather.
4. Speaking of facilities... Mather has a library, a TV room, music practice rooms, a tranquility room, and a wood-turning studio (whatever that is).
5. Bi-weekly Happy Hour: Mather HoCo hosts happy hour every other week, which is a great way to meet other people in the House. HoCo also hosts study breaks, a fall and spring formal, a beginning of year BBQ, and a tailgate at Harvard-Yale.
6. Winter Formal with Dunster and Lev: This three-house formal usually takes place at a club in Boston, so you get to party like a real adult for once.
7. Mather Lather: Definitely the soapiest, probably the grimiest party on campus all year. Mather puts plastic wrap on everything in the dhall and fills the whole thing with bubbles. Yes, it’s weird. Yes, It’s fun.
8. The Shuttle: When Wigglesworth to the Science Center constitutes a “long walk,” even the coldest day in January is manageable. But Mather to the Science Center is a longer walk than from the Quad (not kidding). Luckily, the shuttle stops right outside.
9. Louie’s is right across the street from Mather. Sorry, C’Est Bon, but there’s no shuttle from Mather to the liquor store.
10. Conan O’Brien lived in Mather: So if you live in Mather, you’re automatically funnier. That’s how it works.
As stated above (and cannot be stated enough): Everyone. Gets. Singles. For sophomores, this usually means a suite with multiple bedrooms. For juniors and seniors, this usually means a suite with multiple bedrooms... and a bigger common room. In addition, Mather recently created a fast-track application system for hosting student parties in the JCR, so no worries if your common room sophomore year isn’t quite big enough.
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Housing is split between the Low-Rise and the Tower, the House’s most recognizable feature. Most sophomores end up in the Low-Rise, with suite sizes varying from four to six people off of long hallways. Rooms in the Tower boast perhaps the best views on campus, with huge windows overlooking the Charles River and the Boston skyline. And again, did we mention singles for life?
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What Mather lacks in aesthetically pleasing architecture (there’s a reason it’s called the “Concrete Jungle”) it makes up for with it’s community. Mather’s Faculty Deans,Christie McDonald and Michael Rosengarten, are approachable and enthusiastic about creating House community (see: allowing student parties in the JCR). Mather HoCo is similarly devoted to House life, hosting Happy Hours and study breaks, planning formals and Housing Day, and even having open office hours. While Matherites need to go next door to Dunster for a late night Grille order, their dining hall, TV room, poetry room, wood-turning studio, gym, JCR, and tranquility room provide more than enough social/recreational/relaxational space.
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', [What is one thing you want freshmen to know about your house?
Avni Nahar ‘17, HoCo co-Chair and former Flyby editor: "How about four? Great spirit, great views, great community, and great singles."
What is the Mather community and House spirit like?
Nahar: "We have our own chant, our own dance, and our own unique and special traditions. We can\'t reveal all our secrets, but suffice it to say that the first-years who get Mather are very, very lucky."
If you had to liken your house to a fruit, what fruit would it be and why?
Nahar: "Pineapple: foreboding and strange on the outside, but bright, fun, and delicious on the inside."
Which superhero are your Faculty Deans most similar to?
Nahar: "Probably Wonder Woman."
