Posts tagged houses

Hello!

It’s really hard to describe each house because they are each so defined by the people who call them home. Because of that, a house personality can change each year to fit its residents. Every single house has it’s own perks and quirks and there is no doubt that you’ll find the right one for you! The main differentiation between houses is quiet hours. Each house has either no set quiet hours, extended quiet hours, or some quiet hours as decided by the house at the beginning of term. So just keep in mind how heavy a sleeper you are.

While there is an option for incoming freshman to request a house, there is no guarantee they’ll be placed in that house because there are so many other variables in the process. If you want my advice, let the office of student life do their sorting hat thing. I was placed in a house that I NEVER would have picked for myself, but they seemed to know me better than I did from my housing questionnaire and now I’m a House Chair and can’t imagine living anywhere else.

P.S. If you’re not digging your house, it is extremely easy to bop around to one that suits your fancy more.

- Sarah ‘15

The office of Student Life decides in which house, and with which roommate(s), each incoming freshmen will live. However, to help do that properly, we also ask our newest students to fill out a housing questionnaire that Student Life uses to place freshmen according to their needs and desires. I’d suggest being as honest as possible on your questionnaire, because the more Student Life knows the better they will choose your roommate(s) and your new home. I was honest on mine and I was placed in a house that I love to this day.

Incoming freshmen can also request that they be placed in a certain house—maybe you have a friend who goes here and loves their house’s community—but the Office of Student Life has the final say. And don’t worry! If you and your house are simply incompatible (which happens sometimes, no matter where you go to school), there are opportunities to move into a house that’s right for you.

-Eric ‘13

I’m particularly excited to answer this question as I am a baby house chair myself (I’m almost at the one month mark!) First, I’d like to explain what House Chairs are and why they are.

House Chairs are facilitators of community within their houses. They are hired by the Office of Student Life through a combination of written applications, an interview, and multiple channels of feedback from the house which they would like to represent. They are trained in many safety and community building activities; they ease the transition toBenningtonfor new and returning students, and essentially act as liaisons between Student Life and their houses in order to maintain open lines of communication for continuous conversation. But unofficially, House Chairs are people who are passionate about the unique personality and traditions of their house and the amazing people who live there. This is why I love being a house chair, and why I resent the negative connotation of being seen as a “crony” of the Office of Student Life (the members of which I am proud to say I have great relationships with and the utmost respect for.)

House Chairs have a very precarious position to balance between the realms of student life and their house. When conflicts of interest arise, it is extremely difficult to maintain the sense of objectivity that comes with the job while dealing with issues that closely affect the house you call home and the people who live in it whom you consider to be your extended Bennington family. It is because of all this that I feel the position of House Chair is so important and why I am so proud to call myself one and am extremely (perhaps overly) sensitive to the idea of being someone’s “crony.” Even though Liam pointed out that Merriam-Webster defines crony as a “close friend of long standing: pal” without any mention of negativity.  The Office of Student Life hires us with the knowledge of our house loyalty, and they chose House Chairs because they trust them to know when to make the call to share information or to respect confidentiality. So overall, I think there can be some tension between the goals of student life and the goals of the houses which fluctuates from house to house, house chair to house chair, and situation to situation. But in a way that tension is where the most productive and holistic solutions to problems come from and is how conversations are kept going about important house specific and campus wide issues.

So to officially answer your question: untrue.

-          Sarah ’15, Kilpatrick House Chair

Check out Liam’s post about housing! 

Hey, glad to hear you’re a fan.

So freshmen and sophomores are generally in doubles, and juniors and seniors are guaranteed singles.

When you come here as a freshman, you fill out an extensive survey about your habits, likes and dislikes, so that Student Life can do their best to place you with an ideal roommate. After that, for sophomore year, you can choose to live with whoever you want basically.

There are lots of jobs available on campus, and I don’t know what the percentage is, but a lot of students have jobs. Most jobs on campus give priority to students who have Federal Work Study as part of their financial aid package. But their are plenty of jobs available even if you don’t, and working in town is always an option. There are a lot of restaurants around looking for reliable help.

Liam

Yeah, of course! Indoor smoking isn’t allowed anywhere on campus, but pretty much anywhere outdoors is fair game. 

-Evan ‘13

Yes. There are six quads - all in the 70s houses - that are four-person rooms. Having lived in one myself, I can say that they are absolutely massive and perfectly suitable for a four-person living situation. The 70s houses also have what are commonly referred to as the upstairs quads, which are four separate rooms that converge around a shared common room. As far as I know, freshmen aren’t placed into these quads, so it’s a safe bet that if you’re placed in a quad it will be one of the downstairs ‘studio’ quads.

-Evan ‘13

Fels used to be a smoking house, but there are no smoking houses any more, so no to the latter. Sometimes people do smoke in their rooms but that is against student policies and can result in huge fines if you get caught. So, don’t do that.

As for loudness, I don’t live in Fels so I can’t really speak to that too much. My impression is that it tends to be a little louder than the median, but it has its periods of loud on the weekends and quiet during the week just like every other house. Something really important to note is that houses change each year with the incoming freshman class/new residents, so you will also have a say in how the Fels community shapes out this year. Like I said; I don’t live in Fels so I can’t give you the best idea of what it’s like to live there, but assuming you’re an incoming freshman so you’ll have a better idea of what it’s like in a few short weeks. Hang in there!

-Evan ‘13

o hei thar

Bingham-specific, something you should definitely bring is a floor lamp and a desk lamp. Talk to your roommate; see if they already have one, because you probably don’t need two. Bingham doesn’t have overhead lighting and most other colonial houses don’t either. Floor lamps are always handy to have around anyway.

Being the best there ever was is also an important trait to have, so, yeah, be conscientious that you’re always doing that. Otherwise, you’ll get a better idea once you get here!

Looking forward to meeting you in a few weeks! Enjoy the rest of your summer!

-Evan ‘13

To be honest, I’m not sure where we’d find the housing questionnaire from this past year or whether or not it changes a bunch from year to year. I think I can give you an idea of how they match you up, though.

Basically, they ask you questions like:

• When do you go to bed/wake up?
• How important is cleanliness to you?
• What kind of music do you like/dislike?
• What is most important to you in a roommate/house?

And then you’re also (if I remember correctly) given the opportunity to write in some sort of summary of yourself in order to give a sense of your personality and how you relate things. This is by no means an exhaustive list of the questions they ask, but I’m fairly sure it’s mostly correct, so.

Essentially it’s a pretty comprehensive survey and I think from what I’ve seen that people who are honest and thorough in their answers get placed in living situations that work out really well for them. I hope this helps give a sense of how the housing process works!

-Evan ‘13

The word from Student Life is sometime in mid-July, barring any sorta delays. So, probably not for at least another week or two. Just a heads-up, though: in Admissions, I/we only know as much about housing/roommates/classes as the incoming freshmen do, so we will probably never be a great resource to ask about things like that.

Your best bet (assuming that you’re an incoming freshman) for that kind of information is either to ask around on the Class of 2016 Facebook group or call the office of Student Life at (802)-440-4330. I’d say give it another couple of weeks before you start making phone calls though - it’ll all be worth it, I promise.

-Evan ‘13