Freshmen Placed in Top Four Housing Choices
A smaller percentage of incoming freshmen received their top choices in this year’s Summer Housing Lottery compared with the last two years. The Housing Lottery placed the students of the Class of 2011 in their top four dormitory choices; the last two years, the freshman class was placed in their top three choices.
According to Robin Smedick, assistant director of undergraduate housing, 61 percent (654 students) of the Class of 2011 received their first choice dormitory, 27 percent (288 students) received their second choice, 8 percent (89 students) received their third choice, and 4 percent (41 students) received their fourth choice. Last year, 70 percent of the Class of 2010 received their first choice residence, 23 percent received their second, and 7 percent received their third. (See tables on page 10 for additional statistics.)
The Housing Office partners with Information Services & Technology on an algorithm that achieves the highest rate of satisfaction for freshmen, according to Smedick. Smedick said that the algorithm and lottery process were the same as previous years. The lower percentage of students receiving their top choice in this year’s lottery could be attributed to a larger freshman class, different dormitory choices made by freshmen this year, and more open spaces for freshmen in Next House and Simmons Hall compared to last year. Simmons had 150 open spaces for freshmen this year but only 112 last year. Next House had 154 open spaces this year; it had 133 spaces last year.
Additionally, 10 fewer spaces for freshmen in McCormick Hall may have contributed slightly to the lower percentages, as McCormick generally has a large number of first-choice requests, according to Smedick.
Baker House was the most requested dormitory, with 349 students selecting it as their first choice dormitory. Burton-Conner with 174 students, MacGregor House with 139 students, Simmons Hall with 132 students, and East Campus with 79 students followed for first-choice requests.
There were 1,073 incoming freshmen at the time of the lottery, Smedick said. With one student living off-campus, a total of 1,072 entered the Summer Housing Lottery. By late last week, the number of incoming freshmen had decreased to 1,069.
The Adjustment Lottery opened last Thursday, Aug. 23, at noon and will close tomorrow, Aug. 28, at 6:30 p.m. The Adjustment Lottery is open to all freshmen who are interested in changing their fall dormitory placement except those who have been placed in McCormick Hall or Next House, which have Residence-Based Advising. Lottery results will be available Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m., followed by in-house rush.