Chen, who transferred into North House from CalTech, describes Harvard as "big and cold." She is happy to have a single, she says, but feels thatNorth House is too quiet.

Lauren J. Feldman '97, a transfer from Duke,listed Lowell House as her third choice. However,she's delighted with her new home there.

"I'm absolutely thrilled with my room and mynew room-mate," she said. "In general, Duke roomsare awful."

Duke is in the process of switching toHarvard's system of housing, according to Feldman.At Duke, first-years are currently spread acrossthree different campuses when they arrive. Also,upper-class student housing at Duke is consideredby some to be too selective, and Duke is in theprocess of making housing assignments morerandomized, she said.

Most of the incoming transfers have aphilosophical perspective on the trials of movingin, augmented by their experiences at othercolleges.

"I moved in on the Sunday before classesstarted, and none of my new roommates were here,and that was weird," said Lisa C. Soong '97, atransfer student from Wellsley. Although her roomis "really tiny" she is happy with her KirklandHouse location.

Not as happy as Silverstein, though. Soong'ssatisfaction does not extend to enjoying MatherHouse architecture.

"I knew two things about housing before Iarrived here," she said. "I wanted to be near theMAC, and I didn't want to live in Mather.