Bill Gates’ Former Abode

In this series, we chat with the freshmen who were lucky enough to land dorm rooms that once housed Harvard’s most famous almuni.

Today, we’re looking at the Wigglesworth dorm room that was once occupied by Bill Gates and currently is the home to Luke E. Sundquist '14, Matthew D. Moellman '14, Andrew Wang '14, and Anthony A. Palillo '14. The suite is a mess; boxes and clothing crowd the floor and the sound of Halo from the television fills the room.

All of the roommates, except for Palillo who was unable to attend the interview, agree that they are the perfect students to be living in Gates’ old room. Sundquist prepared an unsolicited statement in which he wrote the following:

“So for me, it’s been motivating living in the same room as Bill Gates once did. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we all dream of dropping out next year, just like he did. We treat our Xbox 360 like a shrine to Bill Gates, Microsoft, and all of the technological progress that he has made. We also play a lot of Halo Reach.”

Here are some excerpts from our conversation:

If Gates drops a thousand-dollar bill on the ground, he actually shouldn’t bother to pick it up; in the four seconds that the effort takes he would have made the money back. How long would you spend trying to pick up a thousand-dollar bill glued to the ground?

Wang: First of all, there are no thousand dollars bills…

Sundquist: I would probably spend 10 hours.

If Bill Gates were a country, he would be the 37th richest country on earth. If you could be any country, real or imagined, what country would you be and why?

Moellman: The United States. Obviously. Because we’re the best at everything, except for speed skating.

Wang: I mean why would you be anything other than the US?

Sundquist: Multi-nationalism.

Gates’ favorite game, according to his website, is bridge. What is the first word you think of when you hear the word bridge?

Moellman: Jumping.

Sunquist: Newspaper.

Wang: Dictionary.

On a scale of 1-10, how jealous are your neighbors?

[Arjun A. Mody ’14, who has been listening to the entire interview, contributes]

Mody: With 10 being very jealous? I don’t know, like a three? I mean it’s kinda cool, but I spend enough time here that I can soak it up.

Sundquist: No, with 10 being so jealous that you live here. Oh wait, you’ve already slept in my bed!

Wang: Yeah, mine too…

Bill Gates lived in Currier House after his freshman year. What are your feelings on the Quad, and what house do you want to live in?

Sundquist: The Quad is way far away.

Moellman: I think Adams is nice.