Grad dorms at Harvard

[jacket25]

Does anyone have any advice on grad dorms at Harvard? I have a room secured at Cronkhite but was also just offered a room at Perkins. Wondering if anyone has any views on the differences between them?

Thanks!

[jambromr]

I have no idea about Cronkhite, but I spent my first year of grad school at Perkins. Perkins is fine. It's the typical dorm with rooms down the hall (up to 40?50? rooms per floor), two common kitchens, a common space in some floors (none on the 4th), and common bathroom.

Pros : It's a nice place to meet a lot of different people, from different fields. It's especially helpful if you haven't lived in Cambridge/Boston before and you don't have your own group of friends yet. You won't be lonely. No need to buy furniture etc. The first year is hectic so unless you can move here at least a month in advance to buy furniture and settle in, it's nice to have a furnished place, and you can slowly adjust to grad school life without worrying about extra house-related stuff. The rooms are actually pretty decent. The large rooms are beautiful and the small room really isn't that small.

Cons : Noise travels. a LOT. Grad students are pretty good at keeping quiet hours (it's not like there is crazy partying every night...) but you can really hear everything that happens in the hall... so if you're a light sleeper or you really want quiet...

Meal plan: you have to have a meal plan if you live in Perkins. It's not that cheap, and it's not that good. (It's not too bad either, it's *fine*, but you could get better food for less at the square) Plus there is only one dining hall for grad student so if you don't work on campus (ie, med school, kennedy school, school of public health...etc) it's not always convenient and you end up wasting a lot of unused meals.

I do recommend spending the first year in the dorms if you are an international student, or moving from a completely different place, just so that you get to meet friends and you can slowly settle in. I found a really good group of diverse friends at the dorm and I later moved in with a couple of them, and I wouldn't trade my first year there for the world.

But! a year was enough, if you know what i mean