Whitman’s residence halls are very high quality, and they each have their quirks. Douglas, Marcus, and College House are all options for upperclassmen, and the space and/or privacy that they afford make them popular with students. The Interest House Community, a collection of Whitman-owned houses, is a unique opportunity for students to live in a household setting that matches or relates to personal interest, such as the Fine Arts House, La Casa Hispana (the Spanish House), La Maison Francaise (the French House), Das Deutsche Haus (the German House), Tekisuijuku (the Japanese House), the Asian Studies House, the Writing House, the Co-Op (Community Service House), the Outhouse (Environmental House), the Global Awareness House, and MECCA (the Multi-Ethnic Center for Cultural Awareness). Generally, freshmen apply to live in the interest houses for sophomore year.
As far as freshman or mixed-class dorms are concerned, be prepared to deal with, and perhaps defend, the different and ever-evolving reputations of each dorm and the different challenge of each. Lyman is traditionally known as the quiet dorm and Jewett the party dorm. People either love Anderson for its location or hate it for its paper-thin walls. Although the fanciest dorm by far, girls may choose to avoid Prentiss for its reputation of leaping at any hint of testosterone. North, off-campus by two blocks, used to be a hospital, and is either adored or feared by students for this fact. Often dorm buildings are labeled for the reputations of the students residing in them (whether it be loud, normal, bad-ass, eccentric, pretentious, or the like), so with each year comes the opportunity to turn these labels on their heads.