# First-Year Experience

**Source**: https://dso.college.harvard.edu/first-year-experience
**Parent**: https://dso.college.harvard.edu/new-student-communications

## We provide incoming or first-year students with guidance, programming, and resources to help them transition from high school to college.

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Together, our team ensures academic and social well-being and growth for first-year students. Stop by our office to meet with your Resident Dean, borrow games or kitchen items, or sign up for a music practice room.

## First-Year Residential Life

Incoming students live in the central part of campus which includes the first-year dormitories, Annenberg dining hall, Widener and Lamont libraries, and academic buildings. You're also just steps from stores and restaurants in Harvard Square.

First-year students are assigned to one of four residential neighborhoods called "Yards", each with a dedicated Resident Dean. Each Yard includes dormitories, and within the dorm students are grouped into entryways of 15-45 students.

#### [Learn about life in the Yard](/life-yard)

## Our Mission

We strive to help first-year students:

- Build a strong foundation of skills and strategies needed to be successful in college
- Navigate from the first year to their future at Harvard College and beyond
- Foster intellectual curiosity and build connections based on personal interests
- Engage substantively and reflectively in the living and learning communities that surround them
- Recognize and seek guidance at appropriate moments for themselves and their peers
- Respect the multiple voices and perspectives of our community and commit to productive dialogue

## Contact Us

Office Hours:

Monday - Friday\
9am - 3pm

6 Prescott Street\
Cambridge, MA 02138\
617-495-1574

#### [Email Us](mailto:firstyear@fas.harvard.edu)