How to (and how not to) Respond to Getting Quadded

It’s Thursday, March 9, around 8 a.m. You and your blockmates are nervously and not-so-patiently sitting in your dorm, staring out of your window trying to identify and spot the group of students rushing towards you, and waiting for the fateful knock at your door. You are sleep deprived, nervous, maybe a little hungover hungry, but most of all, coming to terms with the fact that you could get (dare I say it?) quadded. You committed to River Run and prayed to the Housing Gods, but you never know where fate will take you.

Fast forward to 9:30 a.m. Footsteps accelerate as they make their way to your door. Voices shouting “Lowell! Lowell!” fill the stairwell, and your heart swells. Loud knocks at your door echo through your room, and your blockmate rushes over to let the dorm stormers in.

POV: It’s 9:32 a.m. and you just got Quadded.

If this series of events is a description of your worst nightmare, don’t worry. Flyby has got you covered in terms of how to respond and how not to respond to getting Quadded.

Don’t: cry. This one is simple (and pretty intuitive). You will be living in the same House as your dorm stormers next year, so this wouldn’t be the best way to respond.

Do: look forward to guaranteed (ish) singles, no moldy carpets (I’m looking at you Mather) and the lack of rats/mice/rodents in general (I’m looking at you Eliot, Leverett, Kirkland, Mather again…).

Don’t: jump under the covers and hide from your dorm stormers. Again, you are going to be living with your dorm stormers, and this isn’t the best first impression to make.

Do: jump with joy. The Quad is guaranteed to give you great community and lots of fun memories over the next three years, including studying at Cabot Cafe with its immaculate vibes, playing spike ball or sunbathing in the Quad lawn and getting Sunday morning Bagelsaurus bagels.

Don’t: throw anything at the dorm stormers. Not sure if this has ever happened, but just as a reminder.

Do: get hyped for Housing Day 2024 — one of the best parts of living in the Quad is getting to be the bearer of bad news to first-years! Just kidding, of course.

Do: forgive the dorm stormers for gaslighting you into thinking you got put into Lowell.

Do: remember that while there is somehow some sort of stigma surrounding getting Quadded, it will all soon fade. The hype of Housing Day will eventually die down, and you will develop a sense of quad-pride. After all, the final stage of the 7 stages of grief is acceptance—you’ll get there.

Don’t: cry. Did I say this one already?

Do: know that housing is completely arbitrary, and that each house will only be as good as what you make it!

As a brand newly sorted fish, tree or polar bear, getting Quadded comes with a series of inevitable emotions. We promise that happiness, new friends and exciting memories await you however Housing Day ends up. Especially if you get Quadded.