Anatomy of a Blocking Group

We all know them. Every blocking group has them. Maybe you are one of these characters, maybe you lie to yourself and pretend not to be, but here they are—the eight types of people you’ll find in a blocking group:

1. The One Who’s Involved in Everything: This kid is both the HoCo Chair and a PAF. They write for three different publications and have a term-time internship. In their spare time (they have spare time?), they volunteer as a tutor for high school students in Boston. Everyone knows them, and everyone likes them. They’re awesome, or so you assume, as you never have time to see them.

2. The One Who Goes Out All the Time: Tuesday night? Thursday afternoon? It doesn’t matter; this blockmate is probably headed out. Animal House is their model for life and college. They’re incredibly fun to be around, but impossible to keep up with.

3. The Athlete: They play a sport. It may only be an IM sport, but they wear the team sweatshirt all the time with sweats or yoga pants. The gym is their second home, and their dining hall plate is always filled with salads and large amounts of protein. It’s inspiring, but you also secretly hate them for it.

4. The Slob: Dishes in the sink? Piles of laundry lying around? Papers everywhere? You know who did it. This kid’s really nice, and probably really smart, too, but there’s one thing he never learned: how to clean up after himself.

5. The BFFs: These two are in it for each other. They go out together. They’re in the same clubs, maybe even the same concentration. They have the same friends. They’re constantly texting each other—even when they’re in the same room. They’re cool people, but let’s face it, they like each other way more than they like you, or anyone else in the blocking group for that matter.

6. The One with the Serious Boyfriend/Girlfriend: This plays out one of two ways: either you have one less roommate, or you have one extra roommate. You probably don’t see this blockmate much (or maybe you see them, and their significant other, way too much). Come graduation, you can expect a wedding invitation, or possibly sideline seats for a horrible breakup.

7. Kid Who Nobody Knew (And Still Doesn’t): You’re not really sure how they ended up in your blocking group. Neither is anyone else. The friend of a friend of a friend who didn’t want to float? That kid from section? You may never know. You don’t talk to them, and they don’t talk to you. You didn’t have that much in common to begin with, and now that you live in the same House, that hasn’t changed much.

8. The Genius: Maybe they live in the library. Maybe you never see them studying. Either way, this kid is mad smart. 3.9 GPA smart. Going to be President smart. One day, years from now, you will be telling your friends and colleagues that you were this kid’s Harvard blockmate.