Gruesome battles, horrific confrontations, broken alliances, and the looming threat of another world war? Nope, it’s just blocking season for Harvard first-year students. With Housing Day just around the corner, it is time for this year’s batch of first-years to scramble around looking for their ride-or-die squad. What seems to be a simple decision is laced with complex power dynamics and the ever-present fear of exclusion. Trying to find the right group can turn a simple housing application into a strategic battlefield. At a time that should be filled with happiness, friendship, and unity, the first-year class instead finds itself increasingly divided. Picking a blocking group is not just about housing and roommates—it’s about survival. Will you survive the add/drop period of friendships?
An elaborate game of social chess disguised as Harvard’s housing process keeps first-years on their toes. Though the housing application doesn’t open until the end of February, the whispered negotiations in the corridors of Annenberg Hall have been circulating as early as last semester.
Ki Yeon Chung ’28 has had his ideal blocking group in mind since the beginning of last semester. “I obviously knew since the beginning that I’m going to block with these one or two people that I’m closest to,” he shared.
Despite feeling confident in the process from the start, complications can always arise in this high-stakes political minefield. Chung explained how, in a group of five, just having a personal conflict with one person could leave you exiled from the blocking opportunity. “I feel like it’s really hard because, in order for us to add a person into our blocking group, I think we all have to unanimously agree,” he explained. Be careful who you cross; one bad encounter could blacklist you from finding your forever home.
Forming a blocking group is an intricate dance of betrayals, loyalties, and the occasional hostage situation. It is always entertaining to see how the battles play out and which role a soldier falls under. Who will be the loyal Tory who sticks with their friends? Who will be the annoying social climber trying to form the ultimate supergroup? And who will be the poor victim blindsided by a nasty betrayal?
A first-year boy living in Matthews Hall described his blocking experience as being a simple, ordinary occasion. Each pick in his blocking group was made with confidence and mutual respect, which is quite the opposite of what he’s seen in other groups.
“There’s always some messiness with people dropping a friend group when they weren’t supposed to or, even worse, a full-blocking group dropping someone,” he said. Ah, the ultimate betrayal and paranoia of being the odd one out, leaving you thrown into the ominous, terrifying world of random blocking. One day, you could be happily planning your future in Lowell, and the next, you could be receiving that dreaded text saying, “Hey, we need to talk.” Or even worse, you don’t receive any indicators that your so-called friends have moved on, and you slowly get ghosted and fizzled out.
Suddenly, Annenberg is no longer simply a dining hall; it’s a recruitment center. You begin to notice the people sitting at the tables, and some seem a little too… suspicious. Those people are whispering, looking around. Are they talking about you? Has someone been dropped? Traded over? What alliances merged together? Just how far are you willing to go to avoid the world of random assignment?
A first-year girl living in Thayer shared her opinion: She would prefer that Harvard not allow anyone to choose their own group in the housing process.
“I would rather Harvard assign random dorms and have people stay in them the whole time. I don’t agree with blocking. I don’t think it’s really conducive to anything good because these people have to self-select their friend groups basically, and [it] causes a lot of drama,” she said.
Her viewpoint challenges this long-standing tradition, and offers a valid critique. The process of blocking does inevitably lead to social hierarchies, exclusivity, and a strategic battle of alliances. But despite all this, the blocking system is a fundamental part of Harvard’s commitment to community and tradition. The housing system has been a fundamental Harvard Tradition for almost one hundred years. It was first established in 1930 by Harvard President Abbott Lawrence Lowell. It can generate drama, but then again, it also can create deep, long-lasting friendships—if you survive the battle of the selection process.
At the end of the war, when the battle is done and the housing application is sent, you breathe a sigh of relief. Many make it to the other side unscathed; others leave with battle scars and knives in their backs. As time goes on, friend groups will shift, adjust, and adapt, reminiscing about the wars they fought and mostly survived.
So, as blocking season inches closer, good luck, soldiers. May the odds be ever in your favor. Here is my last piece of advice: choose carefully, move in silence, and whatever you do, trust no one. Class of 2028, may you survive this social warfare.
Jocelyne Delgado ’28 (jidelgado@college.harvard.edu) hopes to make it through the blocking season unscathed.