How is East House?

RedHawk99
Sat, 01 Aug 2015 10:44:15 +0000

I disagree with the above views, I know a lot of people who would rank East in the top 3-5 houses on Commons, and it really depends on what you want from your house experience. East, along with Memorial and West House are the smallest three houses on Commons, with 1/3 or less of the people living in Hank Ingram and some of the larger dorms. This means that by the numbers students in those dorms get more interaction with their faculty head of house and more mentorship opportunities with the residential advising staff, which contrary to the old concept of an RA really do serve the main role of helping students get involved academically, extracurricular, and socially on campus. There also seems to be a stronger sense of community in these smaller dorms, since with only 100 other people in the house or less, it is very feasible to not only know all your housemates by name, but know enough about them to at least be considered acquaintances if not friends or a school family. This is a far cry from some of the students in the larger dorms that still don’t recognize people on their halls in the second semester. While the smaller house may not be the right fit for everyone, I will say that I know more people who passionately loved and talk about their experiences in East, Memorial, or West than any other house on Commons. I also know more upperclassmen friend groups that originated in the smaller houses and have stayed together throughout their time at Vandy, which is great for freshman who aren’t really into clubs and don’t make friends in class, as they really can satisfy their social outlets via the house. While there aren’t many complaints about the other 6 (Gillette does get complaints), fewer people from the other houses really seem to grow attached and form an identity around their house.

While they are the “older” dorms, East, Memorial, North, and West were all renovated at the same time as the new dorms were built, so the amenities are largely the same. The only major difference in “niceness” factor of the dorms may come in their overall layout, which may be more awkward (think staircases that only reach some of the floors) and in their ceilings being shorter. In terms of room size, East has one of the largest rooms and smallest rooms on all of Commons, so luck does play more of a factor in how your room size stacks up compared to the new houses’ standardized rooms. While walking into Hank is like walking into a hotel with a nice lobby, it is also like a hotel with many occupants in seperate rooms that don’t interact. One of the greatest misconceptions people have visiting on tours is that Hank being the model dorm means it is the nicest. The “older” 3 dorms are also all closer to Main Campus which means a shorter walk in the morning to class, which is always a plus.

All in all, I think that the admissions tagline that every house has its own personality is very true, and most people seem to find their niche in the house they are placed despite the random placement. However I wouldn’t spend the next few weeks mourning being in a “bottom 2” house since there are so many people that would disagree with that and so many factors that make East special.