Junior year brings many changes — JPs, eating clubs, thinking about the future — but a change that not many discuss is the shift from underclassmen (residential college) housing to upperclassmen housing. In sophomore year, students have the option to choose to live in one of 15 dorms where only juniors and seniors live, as opposed to staying in their residential colleges where they’ve lived in for the past few years. Having lived in Bloomberg Hall for both my freshman and sophomore years, moving elsewhere on campus was exciting but also very daunting. How am I going to deal with walking more than 2 minutes to eat at Yeh, my favorite dining hall on campus? Where am I going to hang out with my friends if not Butler Basement? How will I survive without Studio 34?
There definitely have been some adjustments I’ve had to make living in my new home, an upperclassmen dorm located near the U-Store. There are some comforts that I miss, such as A/C and a private bathroom, from when I lived in a quingle (a room with four singles) my sophomore year. There’s a good amount of noise on weekends and some of the facilities are a little less updated compared to the newer residential colleges.
Despite all these concerns, after living a month in my new home, I can confidently say that I don’t regret signing up for upperclassmen draw. There are many benefits to upperclassmen housing, a big one being location. As a SPIA major, I now no longer have to trek up the hill in the middle of the campus to get to my classes in Robertson Hall; I can now wake up 15 minutes before my class and still get there on time. I can also now walk over to U-Store in 2 minutes whenever I crave a quick snack or duck to Nassau Street when I want boba or a meal.
Even though I no longer have the community of my residential college immediately around me and the pleasure of running into members of my zee group, or my Residential College Advisor (RCA) and Peer Academic Advisor (PAA) around Butler, I get the opportunity to bump into friends that I’ve made from other residential colleges like Rocky and Mathey in my courtyard or when I’m walking to class. My friends who I had to walk up campus just to meet and hang out with are now a door away. What’s even better is that I get to room with my friends from different residential colleges whereas I would’ve only been able to room with my friends who are from Butler had stayed there this year.
The upperclassmen dorms are also beautiful, and I’ve enjoyed many afternoons looking across my courtyard and seeing the sun dip down below the gothic exteriors of the dorms opposite mine. I’ve walked up and down the path that leads to the dorms during the night with my friends, when the lamps have just been lit up and it feels like we’ve been transported to a quaint, faraway town with cobblestone streets — the views near my new dorm have really felt magical at times.
There’s definitely pros and cons towards leaving your residential colleges but above all, it’s such a quintessential Princeton experience. In many ways, going to upperclassmen housing is representative of becoming a junior: you experience a change in your life which is not entirely bad and not entirely good, but it’s a change that epitomizes your transformation into an upperclassmen and moving forward in your university career. At the end of the day, what’s a Princeton journey without some challenge by choice?