hvdmom

Some advice please!
Did everyone receive the Freshmen Essentials Catalog? I can't really tell if it's actually by Harvard or some other business. I looked through it, and a lot of it looks nice, but I'm just not sure if my son is actually going to need someone to do his laundry. And how necessary is a futon and fridge?
Hopefully one of you ex-freshmen students and parents can help me!

~ hvdmom

sweetpea09

I think it was Harvard Student Agencies which sent the catalog, which isn't Harvard officially (if I'm not mistaken). I was planning on getting a fridge, and probably a futon, but not the laundry plan (I wish...).

Synth

If you got the sheets etc that the parents thread nicely outlined (think it
was smoda who was posting about that) your freshman should be fine.

A futon and a fridge WOW! Uber-luxury! Wait till he is a soph and then he
can buy these for about $10-$20 each from other upperclassmen.

You might want to give him CrimsonCash online* instead so he can use it
on campus for food/laundry/ etc. appropriately or even at some of the
dining places in Harvard square.

*Do note that he will have to get his Harvard ID Card which will have a
16 digit CC number which you will need in order to put in the cash remotely into his
account.

harvstud

ya its not the college officially I don't think but its run by current Harvard students; i think they work with the University on some stuff

I would definitely consider getting a laundry plan. my freshman year i had to lug my stuff from grays to weld basement and it sucked. but i dunno, my parents would never pay for it

i've never seen a futon available from an upper classman thats $20. theyve always been way more than that. plus you're more likely to need a futon this year because the common rooms are a lot nicer freshman year than they are sophomore or junior year (especially if you get put in a river house). my freshman year roommates and i bonded over building it together haha

you can probably get Crimson Cash in addition to this stuff although its really only useful for the communal laundry machines and printing in the library

hvdmom

Thanks all for your replies!
Synth - thank you for your answer regarding the sheets - I'll go order for them now
I just read on the website that you can get a refund for the first 6 weeks on the laundry plan, so I think I'll just get it for him and cancel it if he doesn't end up needing it. And I read that they deliver the futon and fridge, so I'd rather have my son do that than lugging the furniture himself.
Let me know if you have any other advice!

~ hvdmom

sweetpea09

"the common rooms are a lot nicer freshman year than they are sophomore or junior year (especially if you get put in a river house)."

just curious, what are the dorms like in general for upperclassmen? I always assumed things got nicer as you got older...

Synth

Sweetpea, harvstud is talking about the common room which every dorm
has. Opinions can be relative. Also you rarely get to use your
own dorm's common room since somebody else always seems to have it
booked out

Staying in the Yard is awesome. However the upperclass houses
do provide you with more options to the 'common room'; Your personal
choices do improve with seniority within the house (i.e senior gets better
dibs than junior as compared to soph).

harvstud

no i actually was talking about the private common room within every dorm room (the one for you and your roommates--not the large common room for everyone in your dorm building); the rooms do get nicer from sophomore year through senior year. i just personally thought that moving from the yard my freshman year to a river house my sophomore year was a downgrade; its not that the rooms aren't nice all four years its just that the yard is very very nice and the river houses tend to be small and old (but i think way worth it for the convenience); i found my room sophomore year smaller than my freshman year but it just depends on what you get each year. synth is right--its very relative. none of the rooms are bad by any means. basically what i'm saying is i thought it was way worth it to buy a futon my freshman year. we got a lot of use out of it watching movies and having guests

confused_vnese

You have to bring your own TV though, right? What exactly is there in the common room (freshman year)? Nothing? I'm in Straus.

harvstud

ya you have to bring your own tv. usually between the four or so of your roommates someone will have an old tv. my freshmen year my roommate brought an old crappy little tv but it did the trick. each student gets a bookshelf, desk, and chair in the common room and thats it

confused_vnese

Last question: Is there a water dispenser where we can get hot water anywhere on our floor?
Thanks for your help