Surrounding the Quad lawn on all sides is Cabot House, known for its high piano per capita and named for one of Boston’s oldest families. With its strong emphasis on community, a plethora of singles, and Rakesh cameos in annual theater productions, Cabot is definitely worth getting Quadded for.
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Cabot surrounds the Quad lawn on all sides, so, needless to say, it has a lot of space. All of the buildings except for the Islands are connected by an underground tunnel system, meaning you can go to the dhall in the dead of winter in your pajamas, and then crawl back into bed without ever having to go outside. Good.
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Sophomores will end up in either hallway singles, n housing (the same number of rooms as there are people in the suite), or n+1 housing (everyone gets a single!). That’s right. A single your sophomore year. Let that sink in for a second.
Entryways are oriented both vertically in the Islands (cf. Wigg), and by floor (cf. Weld), but both setups facilitate community.
We interviewed Hayley E. Edgerley ’19 and Jack W. Deschler ’19, the HoCo co-chairs of Cabot House, about the things that make Cabot special.
Incoming sophomores itching to get involved in House life can get started right off the bat with Cabot HoCo’s sophomore rep program, where a sophomore can sign up to help out with a HoCo position. Both Edgerley and Deschler first joined HoCo through this program in their sophomore years, and unsurprisingly, they spoke emphatically about Cabot’s community.
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“Community I would say is Cabot’s number one priority,” Edgerley says. “From students to tutors to the Khuranas, [they] really put in a lot of effort to make this a really special and warm, welcoming place from the second sophomores…or even freshmen on Housing Day walk into the House.”
The student-run Cabot Café is a focus of House life and is open Sunday through Thursday all the way until 1 a.m., attracting both pset-ers and casual café-goers. Deschler highlighted two traditions unique to Cabot—Cabot Culinaries, where a group of students cook a nice meal once a month for other Cabot residents, and Cabot Formal Hall, where students dress up for a fancy dinner once a month.
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“Everything, I think, is organized around bringing people together,” Deschler says.
When asked about their favorite Cabot memory, the co-chairs had many to choose from. However, Edgerley says that hers was Quad Formal, “Having everyone in Cabot and everyone in Currier and Pfoho…come together on the Quad Lawn…it’s kind of magical.”
For Deschler, it was the Cabot Musical. “I sort of stumbled into directing High School Musical in the Cabot Theater last spring,” he explains. “Everyone from different walks of life in the House was coming together…to support this one thing and it was really really cool.”
Still don’t know how to feel about living in Cabot? We got Deschler and Edgerley to answer some of your (likely) most burning questions:
Okay, I like to party. How do I party in Cabot? How do I get home after if I party at the River?
JD: Each Quad House has its own dedicated party room. Cabot’s is called the Aquarium and the fact that there are so many suites in the House means that a lot of people are able to put together their own social gatherings…which isn’t necessarily possible in a lot of other living configurations.
HE: Half the time that I would go out [last year] I would end up being in the Quad anyway, because there is a lot going on here on the weekends. The shuttle has always made me feel very safe…you’re probably close to some shuttle stop. There is also a night van service that will pick you up from whatever location and drop you back at the Quad, if you feel uncomfortable walking home at late hours.
Tell us a fun fact about Cabot.
JD: Cabot has the highest piano to student ratio, with a Steinway in every common room.
Closing thoughts?
JD: No Cabot, no America.
(Something you will understand apparently if you get housed in Cabot.)
Read our overviews of the other Houses here.
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