California Institute of Technology
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Caltech housing is a breed of its own when compared to traditional dormitories. The housing here is a hybrid of a fraternity/sorority house and regular dormitories. There are seven main houses and a few alternative houses. The seven houses are split into the three North Houses and the four South Houses. The South Houses are all interconnected and very old, built in the 1930s. There is a kitchen that connects them, and they have a student activities center (the “SAC”) on the basement level. The laundry room is also in the SAC. The North Houses are across a brick walkway, the Olive Walk (named after all the olive trees that line the path), from the South Houses. The North Houses, a few decades newer than the South Houses, are likewise interconnected and have a basement where the laundry room and storage space is. The other houses, Avery and Marks, are less frat-like and a little more like normal dormitories. Marks is pretty small and was built in the 1970s. Avery was built in 1996 and is pretty large. Avery also houses graduate students and professors, as well as undergrads.

All of the houses have their own traditions, murals, slang, and somewhat of a stereotypical personality attached to them, but people in all the houses intermingle in classes and elsewhere (some more than others). The housing is sufficient; there are bathrooms and showers in at least every other hallway. All housing is carpeted, except Marks which has tiled floors. There are sinks in each room and built-in closets, or wardrobes are provided. The bad part about the houses is that some of them were built during the Hoover administration and are extremely outdated. Overall, students at Caltech love the housing system and often become attached to their rooms.

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Campus Housing at California Institute of Technology

Anonymous

Student

Housing takes the burden off of...

Housing takes the burden off of students during the first couple of years. No air-conditioning, but there’s room cleaning, linen service, and automatic dining. The seven campus houses are special and not like regular dorms. I like to compare the Caltech housing system to Hogwarts for science.

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Campus Housing at California Institute of Technology

Anonymous

Student

The house system is a big reason...

The house system is a big reason why I decided to come here. The closeness of living with people that you know pretty well, eating dinner with them every night, and having a social life organized around the people you live with makes getting through Caltech a lot easier and more fun.

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Campus Housing at California Institute of Technology

Anonymous

Student

There really aren’t any dorms....

There really aren’t any dorms. There are student houses. In my opinion, they are great. They aren’t the cleanest of structures, but they’re a great social community. The South Houses have some of the most interesting architecture I have ever seen. They are even considered historical buildings. Another great part of the student houses is the history. The South Houses have been around since the 1930s, and the North Houses have been around since the 1960s.

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