<p>I’ve seen the inside of Harkness, Keep and Tank in mid-semester form. If cleanliness of the common spaces is important to you, you might want to stay away from the co-ops. If you can tolerate disorder, the sense of community in the co-ops appears to be excellent. In fact, my daughter had an assignment in one of the nicest rooms on campus - the room at the top of the turret in Talcott with half a dozen huge windows overlooking practically the whole campus, but she turned it down for a cramped room in a co-op with one small window looking at a parking lot because she liked the group of people who were going to be living there. (You can see the outside of the room I mean at [Oberlin</a> College Housing and Dining](<a href=“http://www.oberlin.edu/resed/housing/dorms/talcott.html]Oberlin”>http://www.oberlin.edu/resed/housing/dorms/talcott.html) and yes, that whole space is for just two people.)</p>
<p>Harkness is said to be to Oberlin as Oberlin is to the rest of the world, so you may want to make some discrete inquiries of current and/or former residents before deciding on it in particular.</p>