Pforzheimer House

If come Housing day you end up one of the unlucky (or fantastically blessed) few to be Quadded, do not despair. Living in Pfoho, the highest-ranking Quad House three years running, you won't mind scheduling your life around Shuttle Boy. What's great about Pfoho? One commenter wrote, "Polar bears EVERYWHERE. Also the sex."

House Spirit: Once you're back in the Quad for the day, you're all stuck together, and proximity inevitably breeds strong House community. You'll start wanting to put a "pf" in pf-ront of ever pf-hrase that starts with "f". But it's pf-ine, a testament to the House's pf-antastic House spirit. Few Houses have masters dedicated enough to regularly bring late-night sweets to stressed out studiers in the pf-library or wear a polar bear costume to class on Housing day. "The community of Pfoho is amazing, like one huge family," wrote one commenter, and its true, but if you're not quite down with the House spirit scene, Pfoho can become kind of overwhelming. Pfoho ranked sixth on the House spirit poll.

Housing Quality: As one commenter put it, "N+1 housing, big closets, mirrors everywhere [and] no cockroaches" make Pfoho housing pretty pf-ucking pf-antastic. Although some sophomores end up in tight rooming conditions, if you want a single in Pfoho, you have a good chance of getting one. Many rooms boast two-level setups, kitchens, and sometimes, even enough space to make a ball pit. Some students complain that the Jordans, the Quad's own DeWolfe, is separate from the House community, but cable TV and floor-length windows make up for the extra five minute trek to the dining hall. Most likely for its massive suites and lack of vermin, Pfoho ranked number one on Flyby's housing quality poll.

Dining Hall: What's better than a normal dining hall? A double dining hall, of course. Described by one Pfohoser as "the center of our social and study scene," Pfoho's two-tiered dining hall is host to everything from date auction stein clubs to spontaneous piano-accompanied sing-alongs. The space is noticeably emptier during the day, but why shuttle it back to the Quad when Pfoho is the one House with permission to eat in Adams anytime? Plus, fewer mouths to feed means better food for those few times you make it back to the Quad for a midday meal. Overall, distance won out and "not having the comfortable home feeling of eating meals in my own dining hall" earned Pfoho the fifth place spot for dining hall quality.

Facilities: Pfoho boasts arguably some of the best facilities on campus. It's not hard to find a free common space to study in, especially during the day. At night, people flock to the recently renovated Junior Common Room which boasts a massive flat-screen TV, a psychedelic light fixture that changes color every few minutes, dart boards, a pool table, and comfy, booth-style seating. The Quad Grille serves up mozz sticks and milkshakes every day until the early hours of the morning. Pfoho has everything from a photo studio (pfoto studio?) in the basement to a Happy Room, equipped with multi-colored beach chairs and wallpapered in images of sandy paradise. The athletic facilities in Pfoho, however, are a bit lackluster.

Rating: At the end of the day, location is everything and if there's one thing that Pfoho (and Quad) residents complain about, it's the 10-minute plus trek to the Yard. Great facilities, unbeatable housing, and the classic "it's not as far as you think" excuse can only get you so far—Pfoho ranked sixth out of 12 in the House rankings overall.

Our rankings so far:

6. Pforzheimer

7. Leverett

8. Currier

9. Mather

10. Winthrop

11. Cabot

12. Dunster