The night before blocking forms were due, Graham M. Frankel ’12 and his soon-to-be blockmates suddenly realized that their potential blocking group included nine people­, one more than the maximum of eight.

In a “down-to-the-wire last-minute deal,” Frankel and his blocking group were forced to resolve the situation. Since Frankel wanted a single bedroom and didn’t have a natural roommate in the group, Frankel was left alone as the other eight blocked together. Frankel would link with their group but block as an individual—a form of blocking that has been dubbed “floating.”

Although linking guaranteed that his friends would be in the same neighborhood, Frankel entered Pforzheimer House alone. Two years later, he serves as co-chair of his House Committee and is friends “with over half the house,” he says.

There are a variety of reasons why people choose to pursue Frankel’s path and float.

Some, like Frankel, have too many people in their blocking group, forcing one individual to go it alone. Others failed to find their niche freshman year and want to use sophomore year to explore new social environments. Still others use floating as an opportunity to meet more people.

TO BLOCK OR NOT TO BLOCK

Every February, discussions in Annenberg Hall and freshman dormitories revolve around the creation of blocking groups. But fewer conversations center on the possible benefits of floating.

Kip C. Christianson ’13 says that by November, he already knew that he wanted to block individually.

He says that although he had offers from several blocking groups, he considered joining them for “all of five seconds” before choosing to stick with his decision to float. He says that he met many interesting people over the course of his freshman year, and he thought that floating would facilitate a repetition of that experience sophomore year.

“I knew that in my freshman year the people I had associated with had been generally similar to me,” Christianson says.

“The decision to float came from a desire to experience more of what Harvard had to offer,” he says.

Christopher A. Hopper ’13 says that like Christianson, he was excited by the opportunity to meet new people and therefore was not seriously concerned when he realized that his entryway mates in Stoughton North had already filled the blocking group he had intended to join.

Hopper says that although blocking might add some security to the Housing situation, he was ambivalent because he said he is “an adventurous person.”

Among those interviewed, most floaters described themselves as “adventurous” and as harboring a desire to broaden their network.

André B. Crutcher ’14, like Frankel, had a potential blocking group of nine people.