Last week, students picked their housing for next year after being assigned a priority number, but what is that process like? Jessica Watts has the story.
ON THURSDAY, APRIL 13TH, RESIDENTIAL SERVICES RELEASED HOUSING PRIORITY NUMBERS TO ALL STUDENTS THAT WILL BE LIVING ON CAMPUS NEXT YEAR. THE LOWER THE NUMBER, THE BETTER YOUR ODDS AT GETTING THE DORM YOU WANT TO LIVE IN. IT’S FAIR TO SAY IT WAS NORTHWESTERN’S VERSION OF THE HUNGER GAMES.
[Soundbite “The Hunger Games”] “Happy Hunger Games!” And may the odds be ever in your favor.”
MEDILL FIRST-YEAR JUSTIN PRICE ECHOES THIS SENTIMENT.
[Justin Price] “I think people are kind of scrambling to find like, oh, I have to find a
roommate who has a better housing number so I can get in here, or what am I gonna do?
My number is like in the thousands!”
THE HOURS BETWEEN TUESDAY AND FRIDAY LAST WEEK WERE THE MOMENTS OF TRUTH: STUDENTS GOT TO PICK THEIR HOUSING. BY 1:30 PM ON THE FIRST DAY, THE TWO MOST COVETED DORMS ON CAMPUS, SCHAPIRO (OTHERWISE KNOWN AS
LINCOLN) AND KEMPER HALL, WERE FULL FOR RISING JUNIORS AND SENIORS.
[Soundbite “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”] “It’s a Golden Ticket!”
I SAT DOWN WITH JENNY DOUGLAS, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS AND SERVICES AT RESIDENTIAL SERVICES, WHO FILLED ME IN ON WHAT THE HOUSING PROCESS IS
LIKE.
[Jenny Douglas] “Current students submit their housing contracts by a certain deadline,
and those students then receive a randomized priority number that provides them eligibility for certain times within the returning student room selection process.”
UNLESS YOU ARE INVOLVED IN A FRATERNITY, SORORITY OR A RESIDENTIAL
COLLEGE, YOU ARE REQUIRED TO GO THROUGH THE LOTTERY SYSTEM PROCESS AS AN INCOMING FRESHMAN OR RISING SOPHOMORE. RISING JUNIORS AND SENIORS,
HOWEVER, HAVE THE OPTION TO LIVE OFF CAMPUS. PRICE IS ONE OF THE LUCKY FEW THAT WAS ASSIGNED TO LIVE IN LINCOLN HALL THIS PAST YEAR. HE ALSO DID NOT HAVE TO PARTAKE IN THIS YEAR’S ROOM SELECTION PROCESS.
[JP] “Next year, I’m in a frat, Delta Tau Delta. So, the way it works is sophomore year,
your pledge class kind of moves in there and lives together in the frat house. So next
year I’ll be living in the frat house with a roommate.”
SO, WHAT IS THE PROCESS LIKE FOR SOMEONE GOING FROM LINCOLN, ARGUABLY
ONE OF THE BEST DORMS ON CAMPUS, TO A FRAT HOUSE VERSUS SOMEONE GOING
FROM DORM TO DORM?
[JP] “Honestly, I think the experience for me is probably gonna be different, it almost
might be somewhat of a downgrade going into the fraternity house next year, just in
terms of like the quality of the room and kind of what we have access to. But at the same
time, I think moving from a smaller community of just the four of us in our room to kind
of getting to be in a community in the house where we all know each other and living in almost our own dorm in a way, I think is gonna be interesting.”
MOST OF THE OTHER RISING SOPHOMORES ON CAMPUS WILL BE MOVING FROM
DORM TO DORM, OR POSSIBLY STAYING IN THE SAME ONE, BUT THERE ALSO NEEDS TO BE ROOM MADE FOR THE INCOMING FRESHMAN CLASS. DOUGLAS DETAILS THE PROCESS.
[JD] “We’re pretty strategic with how we allocate beds to the different classes because
it’s important to us that students have an opportunity to interact with people from other
class years. So, we can take everyone’s preferences and see sort of who wants what, and
so we use that to inform the percentage of returning students to a building, for example.”
I ASKED SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATIONS FIRST-YEAR AMERICO GARZA WHAT HE THINKS OF THE LOTTERY SYSTEM PROCESS.
[Americo Garza] “I wouldn’t say it’s exactly efficient, but if you were to tell me to make up
a process that would make it much easier, I couldn’t give you something. The way I thought I was given the number was based on who had better housing and who had worse housing. So I feel like the people who had said worse housing should get better
housing or at least, you know, determine based on where their classes would be where they would prefer to be at.”
LIKE EVERY SITUATION, THERE ARE PROS AND CONS TO THE LOTTERY SYSTEM.
SOME SCHOOLS GO BY GPA OR CLASS RANKING WHEN DETERMINING HOUSING,
OTHERS GO BY A FIRST COME FIRST SERVE BASIS. THE LOTTERY SYSTEM KEEPS
THINGS COMPLETELY RANDOM, AND DIVERGES FROM INCREASED ACADEMIC
COMPETITION AMONGST STUDENTS. HERE’S WHAT RES SERVICES WANTS
NORTHWESTERN STUDENTS TO KNOW ABOUT THE HOUSING PROCESS.
[JD] “I think that residential services has been pretty thoughtful about creating the areas on campus and making sure that students have access to different amenities like faculty
or facilities. If a student feels disappointed in their building, what I would want them to take away is that they have access to a whole area of things that is consistent. We find that the programming that’s offered by RAs and by Faculty in Residence really gets students engaged and in community with each other across the area.”
ALTHOUGH THE LOTTERY SYSTEM WAS THE TALK OF THE CAMPUS LAST WEEK, NOW THAT IT’S OVER, STUDENTS ARE ANXIOUSLY AWAITING THEIR NEW HOMES. WHETHER SOMEONE BELIEVES THEY HAVE GONE FROM THE BASEMENT TO THE PENTHOUSE, OR VICE VERSA, THE LOTTERY SYSTEM HAD STUDENTS TALKING.
“WHAT DORM ARE YOU LIVING IN NEXT YEAR?” HAS BECOME AN EVEN MORE
POPULAR QUESTION THAN “WHAT’S YOUR MAJOR?” WAS DURING WILDCAT
WELCOME.
FOR WNUR NEWS, I’M JESSICA WATTS.
