You’re in the Quad, so that automatically means you can safely cast aside those fears of reliving brutal bunk beds of freshman year. In fact, Cabot boasts one of—if not the best—pantheon of living arrangements on campus. Anyone who wants a single can get it, and those too attached to their blockmates to give up a suite are guaranteed n housing at the very minimum. It is not uncommon for sophomores to get n+1 housing, so don’t be shocked if the “who lives in the common room” discussion never materializes.
“Mather may boast singles for life, but those cells have nothing on the spacious Cabot singles, large enough to justify that Target run on move-in day—feel free to exchange the extra-long twin for a full-size bed. While Adams may claim to have better sex, can you really argue with a king-size bed? Furthermore, River Houses also beget more sexiles, a problem unfamiliar to most Cabotians.”
Cabot suites aren’t just impressive due to their capaciousness. Each suite has a beautiful view of the Quad lawn, a halcyon yard unsullied by the throngs of tourists Harvard freshmen usually associate with open green spaces. The rooms themselves are also typically Harvardian—unlike the other two Quad Houses, every Cabot room comes with beautiful wooden floors. Goodbye carpeting. Goodbye linoleum. Hello, gorgeous parquetry.
Every House likes to brag about its amenities while staunchly maintaining that it’s the “House community” that really makes it great. Cabot is no different. “It’s a loving community,” Wentao Xu ’16 said when asked about his favorite part of the House. “You always see people laughing here; it really is just a positive, radiating environment,” he continued.
The weekly “Cabot Sharing” dinner perpetuates this culture, as every Sunday night the dining hall puts on relaxing music and lets any interested student go up “on stage” to share a story or personal experience. “It is not only a very relaxing way to end the week, but it also gets you in the right mindset to begin to face the week ahead,” Xu said.
The community also has the opportunity to blossom in the myriad common spaces around the House. As The Powers That Be down by the river look to create social spaces out of thin air, you can’t walk two feet in Cabot House without finding yourself in a new common room, complete with (at least) one piano. Cabot is known for having the largest number of common rooms and pianos on campus. While the latter seems to be more of a self-righteous retort to various River Houses’ claims of “most formals” or “most bells,” Cabotians take genuine pride in the amount of open areas around the House.
Cabot can boast quality as well, especially considering that it has the biggest House gym on campus and that its JCR doubles as a bona fide theatre. Cabot residents also have a weird affinity for their underground tunnels, which connect ten out of the 14 entryways. There is certainly something to be said for the tunnels’ piscine mural, aptly named for the House’s unofficial motto “Go Fish!”
At first, they won’t be. You’ll have to put up with lampooning and mockery for landing in a House whose mascot is a freaking fish. (Seriously, Cabot?)
But there are actually a ton of reasons to be jealous of Cabotians. First of all, one of their House Masters is the new dean of the College. That’s, like, really, really cool. And the Khuranas are not just big shots. They are beloved. Cabotians frequently cite the accessibility and amicability of Rakesh and Stephanie R. Khurana, who can be found hobnobbing with students in the dining hall any day of the week. “They are so down-to-earth and so approachable,” William B. Stewart ’16 said.
And while your friends may initially scoff when you try to brag about Cabot’s tunnel system, that air of superiority will quickly devolve into covetousness when you mention Cabot Café, the subterranean, student-run coffee house that sells high quality drinks on weeknights. Cabot Café, which opened in 2011, provides students even more social space, and also operates as a perfect outlet to spend all that BoardPlus.
Cabot Café coexists in the Cabot catacombs with Quad Bikes, a full-service bike shop underneath the House’s Eliot Hall. (Yes, that does mean there is a chance you can still truthfully tell people you live in Eliot.)
Well, we don’t really expect you to be that excited anyway, to be honest. Cabot is, after all, in the Quad.
Cabot’s layout is also more spread out compared with other Houses, as it’s composed of six buildings around the Quad, which can feel reminiscent of freshman dorms, and it would suck to be in one of the four entryways that aren’t connected to the dhall.
Most Cabotians adjust to Quad life pretty quickly, however, perhaps due to the Quad’s more home-like atmosphere or maybe some form of “Stockholm Syndrome.” The real complaints from Cabot residents are, without fail, its ugly dining hall, which lacks the grandeur of almost all the other dhalls around campus.
Cabot dhall isn’t just indecorous and uninviting, it also sits directly under Pfoho’s enviable two-storied dining hall. “We are basically a sub-unit of the Pfoho dining hall, which means there are times when we go to get something to eat and all the food is gone,” Xu said. True to their motto of Semper Cor, which means, “always heart,” Cabotians are loath to denigrate any aspect of their House, dining hall included. “No comment,” Stewart offered when asked about his opinion of the dhall, although he finally admitted that he “wouldn’t mind if a few things changed.” The dining hall’s design aside, Cabotians are loyal to the cafeteria staff, who they consider to be the nicest, friendliest workers on campus.
Xu sums up his feelings about the House in one fell swoop: “Cabot may not be the best House, but it is the most underappreciated House by far—we are a hidden treasure.”
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