About the College Houses
A distinctive feature of the Franklin & Marshall experience is the College House residential community. These are not run-of-the-mill dormitories, but lively centers of intellectual, extracurricular and social engagement governed by the students who live there.
Our Houses are dynamic spaces where students and faculty are encouraged to continue conversations begun in the classroom, lab or office — adding an important and distinctive dimension to the overall living and learning experience at F&M.
Each House is assigned a faculty mentor (don) and administrative facilitator (dean).
A New Way to Learn
All first-year students are assigned to their College House based on the interest they express for their first-year Connections course, a seminar-style learning environment.
The seminars set the pattern for the year to come — a vibrant intellectual life that doesn’t restrict learning to the classroom.
Students choose from first-year seminars ranging from general academic courses in chemistry, music composition, Russian history, human genetics and the like, to more specific areas of study, such as Civil War fictions, Zeno’s paradoxes, underworlds and afterlives, and more.
You're In Charge
House residents chart their own courses for study and play. Each house receives a substantial annual budget that students may spend on social programs, academic and community activities, special projects and more. Here are a few examples of events our students have organized within their Houses:
- Formal dances
- Theatrical productions
- Play-reading discussions
- Dinners with artists, authors and notable alumni
- Pizza parties, bagel breakfasts and field trips
- Student-run publications
The Houses
Every F&M College House crest was developed by the earliest student residents of the respective houses. The best part about the College Houses, our students say, is that students are in charge of their living spaces and organized activities.