<p>mammall,</p>
<p>We have the same feelings here at home with my son. Are the Freshman seminars something that he should do? Will he be missing out on something important and regret it later? Any thoughts would help!</p>
<p>My daughter loved her freshman seminar. It gave her a chance to connect with an incredible (and world-known) professor in an intimate class of twelve or so students. That being said, your student can take one in the spring or not at all; not everyone wants to take one.</p>
<p>The other nice thing about the seminar is that they are P/F, which alleviates the stress of the semester a good bit.</p>
<p>Re: Sprint - Oddly, my D confirmed to me that she never had a problem with Sprint reception anywhere on campus, including the Yard or the Quad, or anywhere in Boston or New England that she traveled. And this is a girl who talks a lot!</p>
<p>No technical basis in this theory but I think reception is a bit dependent on the age of the phone . . .</p>
<p>Maybe Sprint put up a new tower. We changed last year.</p>
<p>Have any students received housing assignments yet?</p>
<p>Iâm curious about whether Harvard dorm rooms tend to be hot or cold in the winter â or does it vary a lot based what building youâre in, what floor youâre on and/or which side of the building. Kid hasnât ordered a comforter yet; we would like to get an idea of how cold the rooms in his dorm tend to be before determining how warm of a comforter is needed. Any insights?</p>
<p>Generally they tend to be warm- all rooms are obviously heated. I never had a problem with a pretty thin cover.</p>
<p>whatever4,</p>
<p>When you first get to school, your room will be hot. Thereâs not AC in the dorms, just heating. So bring a fan. You can buy the white stand up one at Target for $15 that works great. </p>
<p>Everyroom has a small heating unit that supposedly turns on as soon as the temp goes below 65 (I think?). That does not necessarily mean that every room is heated. Our heater was horrible and never worked.
My advice:
Over Christmas break, go to Bed Bath & Beyond and buy a heated blanket. (Theyâll be on sale right after ChristmasâI got a $150 blanket for $40)</p>
<p>That was the best purchase I ever made. </p>
<p>Also, Im not sure why heated blankets made me think of this but MAKE SURE TO BRING A POWER STRIP and/or EXTENSION CORD. Thereâs only like one or two outlets per student and from my experience, they were not in ideal locations. Just some random advice. :)</p>
<p>whatever4, my son just saw on facebook this morning that students are starting to receive their housing assignments. Have you received yours? My son has not and we are in Calif.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>diagnosis complete ;)</p>
<p>piccolo, have you received yours yet?</p>
<p>Iâll find out soon. My mail comes within the next few minutes.</p>
<p>We are in the midwest, and my S has not received his Harvard housing assignment yet.</p>
<p>Best of luck to both of you for great roomies! I keep praying for my son to have good roommates. What is your sonâs major whatever4?</p>
<p>Southeast here and no roomie assignments yet. </p>
<p>hgirl11 - great idea on the electric blanker.</p>
<p>my s was informed by one of his assigned roomies (who lives in Mass.) which dorm he has been assigned to, as well as who his roomies will be. he was pleased. he will room with 4 others. </p>
<p>look forward to meeting everyone!</p>
<p>nice to hear believer! nothing here for my son yet :(</p>
<p>I also look forward to meeting some of the folks on CC</p>
<p>When my son was looking at colleges he went to visit USC and had an overnight stay with a current student (host). He was given a questionaire about himself so they knew what host to place him with. He stayed in a quiet dorm with relatively quiet kids, but his host told him that at USC you can choose the âtypeâ of dorm you want. For instance, a very studious dorm, a very social dorm, a âknownâ party dorm, a loud dorm etc⊠Do any current students know how Harvard places students? I know they take great pride in placing students in the best place for the student, but are some dorms âknownâ for certain things? </p>
<p>Thanks in advance :)</p>
<p>I like the fact that Harvard <em>doesnât</em> have any of those âtypesâ of dormsâŠeach one is generally pretty random when it comes to studious versus social or whatever dorms, so you can meet all types of people within your dorm. Some might argue that a dorm like Weld or Thayer is a more social dorm, but that has more to do with the layout (no vertical entryways) than the people in my opinion. </p>
<p>Harvard places students first based on their individual suitesâIâve talked to the people who do this, they say they literally read every application and then figure out sans computer who fits together well in a suite. Next they arrange these suites into entryways, figuring out which suites will work well together. Itâs all done by hand (whereas most schools just plug in numbers to a computer and have it spit out rooming assignments).</p>
<p>harvard1636,</p>
<p>Thanks for the input. Good to know that no one dorm is stereotyped as the âpartyâ dorm, etcâŠ</p>