As Stanford proceeds with plans for students to return in the fall, the University is also launching a complete overhaul of the residential experience under the ResX initiative, which splits campus into eight neighborhoods. 

Neighborhoods will be made up of a variety of housing types, including all-frosh dorms, all-sophomore dorms and University Themed Houses (UTHs). 

The deadline to fill out neighborhood applications is 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, April 25. If you want to live in a UTH — including cultural, ethnic and academic theme houses, cooperatives, Row houses and Greek houses — you’ll need to apply during the pre-assignment process, which opens June 7.

Any student from any neighborhood can live in a UTH, which will be filled completely by preassignment. Because of that, Stanford is advising students not to rank neighborhoods based on theme programs: All students will always be eligible to preassign anywhere.

So, what factors should you consider? To help you decide where you want to live next year, here’s The Daily’s breakdown of what each neighborhood has to offer. (And, in case you missed it, here’s our explainer on how the assignment process actually works.)

Neighborhood S

Neighborhood S is made up of 12 houses, including Robert Moore South (BOB) and ZAP. Both BOB and ZAP are reserved for upperclassmen. 

BOB, the only house in Neighborhood S located on the Row, is a 9-minute walk and a 2-minute bike ride from Main Quad, while ZAP is further away. From ZAP, located in Cowell Cluster, it takes a 16-minute walk and a 4-minute bike ride to get to Main Quad. (All commute times in this article are based on Google Maps.)

S is also home to the east wing of the Wilbur residential complex, including two all-frosh dorms, one all-sophomore dorm and one just for upperclassmen. For frosh, Cedro and Junipero both contain 86 one-room doubles, while Arroyo — a former all-frosh dorm — offers sophomores 82 one-room doubles. (Both dorms also contain a handful of singles, but these traditionally go to student staff members, not residents.)

Wilbur is a three-minute bike ride away from the Main Quad and a nine-minute walk. 

Neighborhood S also includes these UTHs: Okada, a four-class Asian ethnic theme dorm in Wilbur; Terra, “the unofficial LGBTQ+ co-op dorm”; and Kappa Alpha Theta, a sorority. Both Terra and Kappa Alpha Theta are located in Cowell Cluster.

Neighborhood T

On this side of Wilbur, Rinconada and Soto serve as all-frosh houses, while Trancos will be exclusive to sophomores. 

Neighborhood T also includes these UTHs: Otero, located in Wilbur and focused on public service and civic engagement; the Chi Omega sorority, located near Lake Lag; and one of the largest co-ops on campus, Enchanted Broccoli Forest (EBF) — which is an all-vegetarian house also located near Lake Lag. Chi Omega and EBF are both around 13 minutes walking or 5 minutes biking from Main Quad.

Neighborhood A

Residents of Neighborhood A will be able to explore the various communities that Stern Hall and the Row has to offer. Located on East Campus, Stern has two all-sophomore houses, Sally Ride and Twain, and two all-frosh houses, Donner and Larkin. 

You can expect a seven-minute walk or a two-minute bike cruise to the Main Quad from Stern. 

Neighborhood A also includes these UTHs: Burbank, an art-themed house located in Stern; Casa Zapata, the Latinx-themed ethnic dorm (also in Stern); Columbae, a house where residents prioritize environmental consciousness and vegetarianism; fraternity Sigma Nu and sorority Delta Delta Delta; and Mars, a self-operated house for upperclass students on the Row.  

Getting to the Main Quad from Mars, Sigma Nu or Columbae takes roughly seven minutes by foot or two minutes by bike.

Neighborhood N 

If your dream is to live on the Row, Neighborhood N is the most promising with eight Row houses. Neighborhood residents can draw into five of those houses, including Durand, Pluto and Roth.

On the other hand, there are only one all-frosh and one all-sophomore house, although both are large residences: Crothers and Toyon, respectively. Crothers, located in the center of campus, has 300 one-room doubles, 21 singles, and 3 one-room triples. Toyon offers 106 two-room doubles — the most among all campus residences — 26 one-room doubles, 13 singles, 12 two-room doubles and 3 one-room triples. 

Crothers is a one-minute bike ride and a three-minute walk from Main Quad, and Toyon is just a few minutes further. 

Neighborhood N also includes these UTHs: substance-free house Robert North, co-op Hammarskjold, and Greek house Kappa Sigma (another two-room double heavy hitter).

Neighborhood F

Clustered together, Neighborhood F is primarily located in Gerhard Casper Quad. First-year students can choose from former upper-class residences Branner or Castano. Branner has 135 two-room triples, 20 one-room doubles and 11 singles. Castano contains 54 two-room doubles, 28 one room doubles and 11 singles. 

Lantana is the only all-sophomore house in Casper Quad and offers 54 two-room doubles, 9 one-room triples, 22 singles and 28 one-room doubles. For upperclass students, Kimball mostly offers singles and two-room doubles. 

Gerhard Casper Quad is a two-minute bike ride and an 11-minute walk to Main Quad.

Neighborhood F only has one Row house not reserved for preassigned students: self-op Grove. Grove is a 10-minute walk and a 3-minute bike from Main Quad.

Neighborhood F also includes these UTHs: humanities-themed house Ng in Casper Quad, co-op Kairos, and Greek houses Phi Kappa Psi and Phi Beta Phi — both of which mostly have two-room doubles. 

Neighborhood O

With 16 houses for students to choose from, the options in Neighborhood O are endless. Seven of these houses are in Florence Moore Hall (FloMo). Centrally located, nothing is too far — including the Main Quad which is either a nine-minute walk or a two-minute bike ride away. 

There are four all-frosh houses in FloMo. Residents can also draw into upperclass houses 680 Lomita and Storey on the Lower Row.

Neighborhood O also includes these UTHs: Structured Liberal Education (SLE) houses Cardenal and Alondra, co-op 576 Alvarado, Greek life house 675 Lomita, and the Indigenous ethnic theme dorm Muwekma-Tah-Ruk.

Neighborhood R

Most of this neighborhood’s real estate is concentrated in Lagunita Court, a nine-minute walk or three-minute bike ride from Main Quad. This complex runs along the now dried-up Lake Lagunita and is right across the street from Roble Dance Studio and Arrillaga Sports and Recreation Center. Also, many rooms in these dorms have sinks and mirrors.

Neighborhood R contains a healthy mix of upper class and underclass student dorms. Adelfa and West Lagunita are all-frosh dorms, and sophomores have Naranja and Meier to choose from — with the latter offering 54 one-room doubles, 26 two-room doubles, and 29 singles. Students seeking to live on the Row can draw into Xanadu. 

If you’re an upper class student desperate for your own space, you may be drawn to this neighborhood for Roble alone, which offers 130 single rooms in addition to 72 three-room doubles, 9 three-room triples, and 4 two-room doubles. 

If you’re in a rush to reach the Main Quad, you’ll be pleased to hear that Roble is only an eight-minute walk and a two-minute bike ride away.

Neighborhood R also includes these UTHs: Ujamaa, an ethnic-themed house focused on the experiences of the Black diaspora, and 1018 Campus Drive, which will be allocated to a yet-to-be-determined Greek organization. 

Neighborhood D

If you enjoy Governor’s Corner (GovCo), then this neighborhood might be a good fit for you: Eight of the 13 dorms in this zone are housed in the complex built in 1982.

Students who draw into this neighborhood are likely to live in two-room or one-room doubles. Upperclassmen also have the opportunity to live in Suites, where students can live in four or eight bedroom suites with a kitchenette and bathroom shared between suitemates. 

The neighborhood matches Neighborhood O for the most houses reserved for first-years, with Adams, Schiff (previously known as Freshman Sophomore College or FroSoCo), Potter and Robinson serving as all-frosh dorms in Sterling Quad. 

GovCo is relatively removed from Main Quad; it would take one a 12-minute walk or a three-minute bike ride to get there. 

Beyond GovCo, residents can draw in to one house on the Row: 550 Lasuen. 

Neighborhood D also includes these UTHs: East, an academic dorm focused on equity, access, and equality; Yost, an “at home abroad” themed house; Kappa Kappa Gamma, a fraternity; and Synergy, a co-op known for its communal living. 

Shared residences 

In order to give all students the opportunity to live in apartment-style housing, Escondido Village Graduate Residences Building A (EVGR-A) and Mirrielees are distributed throughout the eight neighborhoods. Every neighborhood will include least one wing and/or floor of EVGR-A and Mirrielees. 

Located on the east side of campus, the EVGR residences were opened in 2020 and housed undergraduates allowed to live on campus during the pandemic due to special circumstances. Because next year’s incoming frosh class will be around 400 students larger than usual, EVGR-A will be used for undergraduate housing once again next year. These apartments provide two-bedroom triples, two-room doubles, or studio doubles with a shared common space and kitchenette, although the ovens and stoves have been removed from undergraduate apartments. This building offers other amenities like a theatre, yoga and dance studio and a garden. 

To reach the Main Quad from EVGR-A, it’s only five minutes by bike and 16 minutes by foot if you travel down Jane Stanford Way. 

Mirrielees, built in 1972 and located on East Campus, offers upperclass students a private two or three-bedroom apartment with a shared living room and kitchen. Students who have emotional assistance animals are assigned to one of the two-bedroom apartments in the complex. 

A bit removed from campus, Mirrielees is a 14-minute trek and four-minute bike ride to Main Quad.