On the Choice of a House ...

It is often a perplexing task for Freshmen to pick a place to live, and this year it is even more of an enigma than it used to be. For the Houses no longer seem to have the seven distinctly different personalities that they once had; save for a few surface peculiarities, they are pretty much the same. And there is a new consideration that cannot be discounted: with the vacancies far outnumbered by the Freshmen anxious to fill them, picking one of the more popular Houses may not be the shrewdest possible move.

Though some may argue the point, there actually is no "best" House, at least not in the usual sense. Essentially, a House's attractiveness depends upon those who live there; and different kinds of people are attracted by different things: to some, a House's location may be most important, others may fancy the food or the House Master, still other Freshmen may be influenced by shower baths, or gigantic rooms, or a well-stocked record library, or quantities of squash courts, or just about anything else you care to think of. But on a recent Senior Class poll, the one reason that was favored overwhelming was this: "My friends live there." When you look back on them three years from now, those squash courts and shower baths won't seem so important.

This last factor should be far more important to you than any of the physical attractions of a particular House. If you are accepted by a House where you can find friends--both in your own class and in those ahead of you--you've probably made the best choice possible.