We’ve all seen the videos of Housing Day—the chaos, the revelry, and most of all, the excitement for the future. Housing Day is one of the most iconic Harvard experiences, no matter whether you’re a freshman or a senior. It’s the culmination of weeks of speculation, strategizing, the chaos of blocking, and the Housing Lottery. On March 13, each freshman will finally learn which of the twelve residential Houses they will join, inducting them into communities with longstanding traditions, pride, and life-long friendships.
When asked about their dream housing assignment, most freshmen name the same few favorites: Adams House, with its sleek wood interior and newly renovated facilities; Dunster House, with its picturesque views of the Charles and late d-hall hours; or maybe Lowell House or Leverett House. All of these Houses are either near Harvard Square or the Charles River, and are collectively known as River Houses.
But there’s another neighborhood that most Harvard students shake and shudder to mention, lest they manifest themselves landing there: the Radcliffe Quadrangle, otherwise known as “the Quad,” home to Currier, Cabot, and Pforzheimer House.
I’ve always found the fear surrounding the Quad a little exaggerated, particularly because the chances of getting quadded are higher than we think. A majority of rooms in the Quad are currently being occupied by the Class of 2025, which naturally means a lot of spots will open up for rising sophomores. Many of my friends are in blocking groups of eight, and a 2017 analysis speculated that these groups could be twice as likely to be “quadded” than put in a River House. With odds like that, many first-years will end up in the Quad regardless of any superstitions. To dispel some anxiety and fear about being quadded this Housing Day, I’ve compiled a few reasons why you might be lucky to live in the Quad.
It’s Been Renovated
House community is an essential part of social life at Harvard. With the Housing Renewal Project underway, hundreds of students have had to live in temporary overflow housing, which removes them from their Houses and all of the social benefits and amenities provided. While renovations will uproot all of Eliot House next year, the Quad already had its own makeover in the 2000s. Concerns that still plague the River Houses—overcrowding, lack of accessibility, or aging infrastructure—were addressed in a three-year project that began in 2001. For the next few years, you can rest assured that your space in the Quad won’t be subject to major unexpected construction disruptions.
For some students, the prospect of living in an “ugly” House or hall is a genuine concern. The majority of the buildings in the Quad, though, sport that classic Harvard red-brick, Neo-Georgian aesthetic that many admire in the River Houses. Even better, all three Houses have considerably cool living perks because of their previous renovations. The Spring 2023 Peer Advising Fellow guide to the Houses raved about the Quad’s living spaces: Cabot boasts “HUGE suites and lots of singles,” Currier promises that “almost everyone has an en-suite bathroom,” and Pforzheimer provides a wide array of rooms, from 200-ft singles to duplexes or apartment-style suites. After spending freshman year squeezed into a tiny, cramped Weld room, that sounds like a pretty good deal to me!
A Better Work-Life Balance
One of the biggest complaints about the Quad is its distance from the Square. Let’s be real—it’s a 15-minute walk (or 20 minutes if you take your time). In any other stage of life, that would be a dream commute. It’s also not that much different from the farther River Houses. On Google Maps, the walk from the Science Center to Mather House is the same distance. Is the Quad really that far, or are we just blowing it out of proportion?
This distance between home life and classes can be a blessing in disguise. Harvard can often feel overwhelming—academic stress, burnout, and social tensions are just some of the daily burdens that weigh down on students’ minds. But where can you escape to when your classes, friends, and extracurriculars are all within a five-minute radius? We are literally “at work” all the time, so it’s no wonder we can’t take a break.
Having a physical boundary between work and personal life has been shown to reduce stress-induced health problems and burnout while improving engagement with our work. This is the beauty of the Quad’s separation. “It is its own community [or] neighborhood where it feels like I can come back to a home from a long day of classes or sports. It allows me to separate school and life,” Quad resident Hannah Nguyen ’26 told the Independent.
Instead of lamenting the walk, perhaps we should embrace the little things it brings to our day: the chance to enjoy a peaceful stroll through a beautiful Cambridge neighborhood, time to decompress between late-night Saturday events, or even just the opportunity to get some steps in.
A Haven from Harvard
I can’t be the only one who’s ever been irritated by the constant swarms of tourists wandering through the Yard and Square. While it’s sweet to see families and students snapping pictures of the John Harvard statue or Memorial Church, it’s less charming when visitors start knocking on dorm windows, harassing students, or obstructing paths to your class in the Science Center. The foot traffic omnipresent throughout the Square and around some of the Houses adjacent to the Square is virtually nonexistent in the Quad.
The Quad lies just off Massachusetts Ave and Porter Square, home to a variety of unique cafes, restaurants, and stores. It offers a distinctly local, suburban vibe that’s a welcome change from the constant bustle of the Yard. Unlike the other Houses, the Quad is special in that it unites three Houses in the shared spaces of the Quad Lawn, the Quad Recreational Athletic Center, and the Student Organization Center at Hilles. Not only do Quad residents have easy access to these amenities, but there are also Quad-exclusive events that build community between the three Houses such as Quad Formal or #Quadded, a party with an “Ice Bar on the Moors Terrace, pfood, pfire pits and lots of pfun” as a past Pforzheimer House review declared. In Observatory Hill—where the Quad is located—you can find a tight-knit, idyllic neighborhood with something for everyone.
If none of this has been enough to assuage any trepidation about being quadded, remember that nearly all students are happy with their Houses, regardless of where they live. And if you genuinely don’t like where you live, you have plenty of options: transferring to a different House, moving into a co-op, or even securing off-campus housing. The Houses have a lot to offer students, especially the Quad, which stands out for all the reasons I’ve mentioned—and then some.
At the Quad, you will be able to thrive unconfined by the Harvard bubble and find a dynamic community that’s just as distinguished as the River Houses (just look at all these (p)famous alumni!). And so, I leave you with a quote from The Hunger Games that I feel describes the situation we freshmen are in: “May the odds be ever in your favor!”
Caroline Stohrer ’28 (carolinestohrer@college.harvard.edu) is at peace with whatever House the Housing Lottery assigns her (but still is holding out hope for somewhere aesthetic).