Matt Cook also asks which of the two is better? In my Freshman year I started out in a double with one roommate (as the term double implies). Anyway, at the end of my first semester I moved into a triple which ended up turning into a double because one of the roommates was asked to move out by the administration (long story). At the time I lived in the International House (215 South Prospect) which had a great deal of space and I would highly recommend to any incoming students.

Which did I prefer though? I really liked the idea of sharing space with only one person, I felt that the room upkeep was easier, and actually having a roommate forced me to be neat because I didn't want to get my things..i.e dirty laundry getting mixed up with his. So the difference, had I been in a quad, would have been that I'd have to watch my stuff from getting mixed up with 3 other people. In a double you would have to worry about divvying up less of the room than you might in a quad. In Pearl, that one quad I was talking about that had a bathroom actually had 3 separate rooms because it used to be an apartment, so there's a good amount of space in there for the roommates to spread out.

If you have applied for Early Decision and get first pick, applying for a double might not be a bad idea, but if you don't get what you want, don't be devastated. You never know who you're going to be with and what you will experience. But I'd apply for a double over a quad any day.

One thing that I suggest to everyone on tour is that when you get the contact info for your roommate, contact them and coordinate what to bring up to school. Otherwise you might get crowded if you bring too much stuff up. Bring only what you can live with for your first semester, after that bring a little more up when you have an idea of what kind of space your dealing with since all the rooms are different and you only saw 1 or 2 rooms on tour....hardly a good sampling when it comes to our halls and rooms, but we don't have that kind of time when it comes to tours.

Good luck with housing!

Cheers!
MSK