The two housing models differ in significant ways.

The Harvard Crimson reports.

The Yale Model

While Harvard freshmen spend part of their spring semester finalizing blocking groups, performing rituals to game the randomized upperclassman Housing assignments, and anxiously awaiting their fate on Housing day, their Yale counterparts trade excited speculation for certainty from day one.

On Housing Day, celebrated the Thursday before spring break, Harvard freshmen wait eagerly for a knock on their door to signal their Housing assignment for the next three years. For Yale freshmen, their fate comes much earlier and with less fanfare—the college notifies them of their four-year housing assignment weeks before move-in day.

At first glance, these two housing systems look familiar. Both sort students randomly into one of 12 dorms—called “Houses” at Harvard and “Residential Colleges” at Yale—and both feature a centrally-located cluster of freshman buildings: the Yard for Harvard and Old Campus for Yale.