Living on campus with other graduate students can be a great experience and a relatively inexpensive option. It gives you the chance to make friends from outside your department and automatically identifies you with a social group.
GSAS Residence Halls
GSAS operates four residence halls with enough housing for approximately 400 students per year--all singles. The residence halls are located in the North Yard area, near the corner of Oxford and Everett Streets, adjacent to the Law School, just minutes away from the Science Center. Perkins and Conant Halls were constructed in the late 1890s, with some rooms including (non-functional) fireplaces. Child and Richards Halls are more modern and were designed in 1950 by the noted architect Walter Gropius of the Bauhaus school of architecture, famous for its minimalist (i.e., crummy) design. Many graduates feel that living in the residence halls provides by the far the best opportunity for meeting other students, especially from outside of their departments.
Even students who thought their days of dorm living were long over have found their stays in Residence Halls to be among their best Harvard experiences. Applications and information are available in early March. Rooms begin to be assigned by lottery and initial assignments are mailed in June.
As additional rooms become available, they are given to students on the waiting list until all rooms are filled. Incoming students are given priority over continuing students and those who enroll in the meal plan over those who decline it. Students with special medical or physical needs must include with their application a physician's letter explaining their condition or disability. Will you get a room as a continuing student? Your chances depend on your lottery number and the number of room assignment cancellations during the summer.
If you do not get a room in the initial lottery and your waiting list number is within the first 50, you are likely to be offered a room sometime during the summer.
If your lottery number is larger than 50, it is extremely unlikely that you will get a room before classes begin in September. If you are going to stay on the waiting list, have a backup plan in case you do not get a room. In case of a vacancy during the year, which occasionally happens, the free room is assigned according to the waiting list. Generally, at least one of the GSAS residence halls is open for housing during the summer. Priority for rooms is given to current residents of any of the residence halls who want to stay for the entire summer.
Others are assigned rooms on an availability basis. Keep in mind is that summer housing contracts end in mid-August. Unless you have been assigned a room for the fall, there are no extensions. So if you are taking over a lease that begins on September 1, you will need someplace else to stay for a couple of weeks. All students living in the Residence Halls are also required to purchase the Dudley House Meal Plan, a five meals per week plan.
Other Halls and Facilities
Administered by Radcliffe, the Cronkhite Graduate Center (495-8781), at the corner of Ash and Brattle Streets, houses 141 men and women from several Harvard graduate schools. Both single rooms and suites are available, with a mandatory 10 meal-per-week board contract for all residents. Radcliffe also offers several apartments for graduate women and their families at 83 Brattle Street (495-8187), with year-long (Sep-Aug) leases required.
Contact the Assistant Director of Facilities and Administrative Services (495-8187) for more information. GSAS students are eligible to live in the Law School Dormitories (495-5521), and occasionally, rooms are available for non-Div students in the Divinity School Dormitories (496-6569). Generally decisions are not made until late in the summer or in September. GSAS students working in the Longwood Medical Area may be interested in housing in Vanderbilt Hall (432-1630) at the corner of Louis Pasteur Avenue and Longwood Avenue, across the street from the Med School quad.
Campus restaurants
There are many campus restaurants besides Dudley House, most of which accept both regular and Crimson Cash. To the list of restaurants below, which are operated by Harvard University Dining Services, can be added a large number owned by other groups such as C?est Bon. They can be found in the Biolabs, Harkness Commons in the Law School, the Forum at the Kennedy School, William James Hall, Gund Hall in the GSD, Boylston Hall, and Barker Center.
Crimson Cash is a payment method applied to your Harvard ID or to a Crimson Cash card, which can be purchased from a Value Transfer Station (the black boxes, distributed throughout campus, that look like a combination change machine and public telephone).
Crimson Cash simplifies your dining transactions at Harvard University campus restaurants, and makes laundry, vending machines, and photocopiers more convenient; instead of worrying about change or cash, you can just swipe your ID/ Crimson Cash card. You can add value to your Crimson Cash account at Value Transfer Stations, at the Dining Services office at 65-67 Winthrop Street, or online via credit card at http://www.cash.harvard.edu.
Conroy Commons
13 Appian Way, 495-2453 M-Th 7am-6pm, F 7am-2pm Enjoy your breakfast, lunch or snack at the Harvard School of Education. Breakfast offers pastries, fresh fruit, cereals, the Conroy Commuter breakfast sandwich, fresh-brewed coffee, and select Bigelow teas. At lunch there is a choice of two soups (one of which is always vegetarian), regular or vegetarian chili, salad bar, made-to-order sandwiches, and a hot entree special.
Cronkhite Graduate Center
6 Ash St., 495-8688 M-F noon--2pm Located in Radcliffe Yard, the Cronkhite Center's restaurant features soups, salad bar, made-to order and grilled sandwiches, and hot entrees.
The Greenhouse
Science Center, 496-4790 M-Th 7am-10pm, F 7am-7pm Inside the Science Center, you'll find the Greenhouse Cafe featuring pizza,
Hillel Kosher Kitchen
52 Mt. Auburn St, 495-4696 Sun-F 5pm-7pm, F sit-down Shabbat dinner, Sa noon-2pm cold brunch. Located just across from Quincy House, this small dining hall caters specifically to students who keep kosher.
Loker Commons Memorial Hall
M-Th 11am-9pm, F 11am-7pm, Sa-Su noon-7pm Located in the basement of Memorial Hall, Loker Commons includes a food court with a variety of options such as Pizzeria Uno, Mexican fare, Chinese cuisine, and more. Rhymes with "smoker."
Cafe Gato Rojo
Dudley House Basement M-Th 8am-11pm, F 8am-6pm Cafe Gato Rojo, run by graduate students, is located in the basement of Dudley House. It serves every hot beverage imaginable in addition to juices and Italian soda. It offers not only the cheapest cup of coffee in Harvard Sq. (not to mention the best) but also a variety of pastries and bagels. This cafe is a main hang-out for graduate students, whether studying, relaxing, or socializing. The music and atmosphere don't get any better than this.
Food Trucks
Parking lot near the GSAS Residence Halls 36-38 Oxford Street
A favorite lunch option of graduate students, especially those in the science area of the North Yard, is the food trucks: the Chinese Food Truck and the Falafel Truck (both ~ 11:30am-3pm), both of which offer cheap good-sized portions. A nearby option is the Divinity Ave. truck (~11am-2pm), which offers pizza, subs, miscellaneous grub, and, on Wednesdays, a renowned lasagna with meatballs.
Transportation
Getting around Cambridge and Greater Boston is easy. Public transportation is excellent, and the area is so small and compact that nothing is too far. Most places you want to go are near subway stations or bus stops, or can be reached by taxi, bicycles or on foot. It is unnecessary to have a car unless you plan to live far beyond the reach of public transportation. Parking in the Greater Boston/Cambridge area is horrible. Those who drive spend most of their time looking for parking spots and moving their cars around to avoid being ticketed.
Entertainment
Consider freeing up an occasional moment amid your slavery to academia to enjoy Boston, a cultural capital of America, with tons of theatre, music, and dance performances happening all the time. Many affordable options exist, especially if you don't mind sitting up in nosebleed sections or showing up to buy a ticket at the last minute. Regular entertainment listings can be found in the Boston Globe and the Boston Phoenix. For University and community events a good place to look is the calendar section of the Harvard Gazette, the University's official news.
The GSAS Bulletin, the official monthly publication of the Graduate School, lists important events for grads. Current goings on are also posted on the bulletin boards at Dudley House. Finally, the GSC and Dudley House web sites are reliable, regularly updated places to find up-to-the-minute news on events and culture. For information on gay night life, consult Bay Windows, the greater Boston area LBG newspaper. Bay Windows is available at Dudley House as well as local bookstores and newsstands.
Music
If you're a fan of the Fourth of July, Tanglewood, or PBS, you've no doubt heard of the Boston Pops. The Pops is now being conducted by Keith Lockhart, but former conductor and composer John Williams (of movie-theme fame from such films as Star Wars, Superman, and Schindler's List) often comes back for a guest appearance. Composed of members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Pops performs concerts at Symphony Hall during the summer, makes appearances at the Tanglewood Music Festival in Western Massachusetts, and gives a week of free concerts during July 4th festivities at the Hatch Shell on the Charles river in Boston.
The Boston Symphony Orchestra, led by Seiji Ozawa, is one of America's greatest orchestras. The BSO offers cheap rush tickets available for Tuesday and Thursday evening concerts (rush tickets go on sale starting at 5pm) and for Friday afteroon concerts (tickets on sale at 10am). At $8 a ticket (must use cash), these tickets are one of the greatest bargains in the city. Join the Rush Ticket Line in the Mass Avelobby. If jazz is more your style, there are many great performance spaces within a stone's throw of Harvard Square.
The Regattabar on the third floor of the Charles Hotel features big-name jazz acts. It may not be the cheapest place around, but the performances are amazing. The original House of Blues on Winthrop Street offers live music nightly, with big names stopping by on a regular basis. For folk, you're also well served in Cambridge with Club Passim and the Nameless Coffeehouse offering up some excellent performers.
Theatre
One of the best student theatre deals around is from the American Repertory Theatre (ART), which performs in the Loeb Drama Center on Brattle Street. Using the brochure in your registration packet (or by ordering on the web page), you can buy a student pass for $60, exchangeable for any five tickets. For example, you could bring four friends to one performance and have a ticket left over for another show. You can also take advantage of the $12 student rush tickets available for cash only 30 minutes before the show, upon presentation of a student ID. One rush ticket per ID. There are a great many other theater companies in Boston, including resident theatre companies and touring Broadway shows. Check The Boston Globe or other sources given below for a listing of events.
Museums
Museum offerings for Harvard University and the Greater Boston area are extensive. Your Harvard ID gets you in to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) for free. (Adult passes are normally $14). For information on exhibits, consult the Boston Phoenix.
