16 Freshmen Assigned to DeWolfe Overflow Housing as Harvard Accommodates a Large Incoming Class

More than a dozen Harvard College freshmen are living in the DeWolfe housing complex — traditionally an upperclassman dorm — rather than in Harvard Yard due to a larger-than-normal freshmen class.

College freshmen usually live in one of 17 dorms located around or inside Harvard Yard. This year, however, 16 freshmen were placed on the first floor of 20 DeWolfe St., one of two apartment buildings that usually serve as overflow housing for Dunster, Quincy, and Mather Houses.

Some freshman students placed in DeWolfe said they initially were confused when they received their housing assignment, as DeWolfe is not listed on the freshman housing website.

“I was like, am I even living on campus?” Sirina Ganne ’29, a freshman DeWolfe resident, said.

Christian H. Capella ’29, another freshman living in DeWolfe, said that at first he was worried he would be isolated from the rest of his class.

“My mom especially was really, really mad, because usually the whole experience about Harvard is being in the Harvard Yard,” Capella said.

Since moving in, however, he’s found it easy to meet new people. For instance, during orientation, a birthday party held in the neighboring dorm, he said, turned into a “rager.”

“People just kept on showing up and showing up,” Capella said. “Obviously I was pretty stoked about that, because my whole issue with DeWolfe is not meeting many people, and obviously that’s not been a problem.”

According to Angela Zhang ’27, a Peer Advising Fellow for DeWolfe, the College’s placement of freshman in DeWolfe was due to lack of space in the traditional freshman dorms to accommodate a larger-than-normal class size.

The Harvard College Facebook, which serves as an internal directory of Harvard undergraduates, currently shows 1,682 students enrolled in the Class of 2029, an apparent increase from the 1654 students who had committed to the College by late May.

The previous freshman class, meanwhile, had 1,647 students. Harvard’s freshman classes typically include around 1,650 matriculants, according to data from past years’ admissions web pages.

The College’s Admissions Office told students in a mid-August meeting that the college admitted roughly 25 to 30 extra students in case international students would not be allowed to enter the U.S. due to president Trump’s attack on student visas.

A Faculty of Arts and Sciences spokesperson declined to comment on the placement of freshmen in DeWolfe housing.

This year is not the first time that DeWolfe has housed freshmen. In the 2017-18 school year, 28 freshmen lived in DeWolfe due to an unexpectedly high number of freshmen enrolled in the Class of 2021 caused by a record-high yield rate of 84 percent.

According to Ganne, the distance between the Yard and DeWolfe has a few downsides.

“Nobody wants to walk us home, because it’s far,” Ganne said.

Still, Ganne added that the placement does not impede their ability to socialize with their peers.

“The walk to the Yard is a little bit far, and maybe we’re away from everybody, but we can go hang out there. And the past couple nights, people have come to DeWolfe,” Ganne said.

Zhang wrote in a statement to The Crimson that she hopes the experience creates a “tighter community” for the students living in DeWolfe.

“I don't think being a PAF for DeWolfe is that different from being a PAF for other entryways, other than us having fewer students,” she wrote.

DeWolfe’s rooms also have kitchens, bathrooms, and air conditioning, amenities not often found in the traditional freshman dorms.

“I was happy once we saw our rooms, because we had kitchens and our own bathroom, we had AC,” Camille R. Maccarone ’29, another freshman DeWolfe resident, said.

Capella too said the amenities will help him make the most of the unique residential experience.

“I like it because I love eating frozen pizza too. So I can do that here, which is fun,” Capella said.

—Staff writer Cassidy M. Cheng can be reached at cassidy.cheng@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @cassidy_cheng28.

—Staff writer Elias M. Valencia can be reached at elias.valencia@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @eliasmvalencia.