Non-academic Life at Harvard

The first year in Harvard Yard: All first-year students live in or near Harvard Yard, the University’s historic central quad, where newly renovated classrooms and dormitories sit in a space reminiscent of a large British garden square. The First Year Dean’s Office carefully chooses rooming groups of two to five first-year students who live together in suites in historic Harvard Yard. For example, here is a typical first year rooming group: five students (from the UK, Boston, western Massachusetts, Louisiana, and Finland) who share a three bedroom (two doubles, one single) suite with a large common room and en-suite bathroom. The common room holds four desks and 2 sofas; the single bedroom is rotated among the students during the course of the year.

Upperclass years in the Houses: As with the Colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, the House System provides a communal residential experience for undergraduates and faculty. The twelve Houses provide smaller academic and social communities of 350 to 500 students within the larger context of the College.

Harvard guarantees College housing to every student for four years, and 98% of all students choose to live on campus throughout their undergraduate careers. At the end of the first year, students form their own groups from among their friends to go into the lottery for a suite at one of the 12 upperclass Houses. Each House has its own dining hall, common rooms and facilities for academic, recreational and cultural activities. A broad mix of students and faculty makes each house a microcosm of the College. The photos above show accommodation in both Harvard Yard and the Houses.