The Housing Market Reviews: An Introduction

For the past three years, The Crimson has ranked the Houses from one to 12 in anticipation of Housing Day. This year, Housing Day falls on March 8, and the top House will be announced on the evening of March 7, just in time for a successful River Run and last minute prayers to the River (or Quad) Gods.

As seen from past rankings, the ordering of the Houses naturally differs from year to year. While in the past the rankings have been determined by members of The Crimson, this year the decision was put into the hands of students.

A poll was distributed over House lists and remained open for five days, closing on Thursday at 5 p.m. Flyby received 969 responses, and from these responses was able to determine rankings for the Houses on four different categories: Overall, House Spirit, Housing Quality, and Dining Halls. We based the final rankings on the results of the Overall category alone.

Starting today, we will release our reviews in reverse rank order, revealing two Houses each day.

Housing Day is a staple of Harvard's undergraduate experience—and one not easily forgotten. From chaos the night prior to chaos the day of, the eve and morning of Housing Day is often recalled as 12 hours of nervousness, hyperactivity, and excitement. Regardless of your assigned House, one freshman commenter in particular got it right: "Be excited no matter what!"