The Office of Residence Life unveiled new changes last month for rising seniors participating in the housing lottery. The upcoming housing lottery features the return of a senior-only lottery as the first rounds of placements.
The senior-only lottery will be split into two days. The first day will allow already-matched groups of seniors to apply for a variety of housing options. On the second day, traditional lottery rules will be lifted, allowing individual students to select a single bedroom within a suite, apartment or house.
Julie Mulé, the senior associate director of Residence Life, confirmed these details in an email sent to juniors on Feb. 20.
“[This] would allow more flexibility for the seniors to enter one lottery [but] have a multitude of choices of housing styles,” Mulé said.
Seniors looking to live with underclassmen will participate in later lotteries based on housing type.
According to Mulé, this change was spearheaded by student feedback. In previous years’ lotteries, seniors who didn’t attain placement in a high-demand suite or single-room options had to go through multiple rounds of lotteries until they managed to be placed in a residence hall.
“We had some senior groups … of the same students coming back [to drop-in hours] and saying, ‘It didn’t work out for me again this time. What should I do next?’ And it would take maybe weeks for them to get a housing assignment because of the way we spread out our lottery events,” Mulé said.
College-owned off-campus properties, Tator North, McCartney South and the new McCartney II Residence Hall, slated to be completed by August, will be included in the senior-only lotteries.
There has been no decision as to whether the senior-only lottery will be kept for future years, according to Mulé. Continuing the program will depend on its success this March.
Some rising seniors are excited about the benefits this new lottery system will provide for them.
“I definitely like it because it gives seniors a higher chance of having an apartment the last year of college,” Imani Elson ‘25 said. “It’s a way to gain more independence and mimic life after college without having to actually leave college.”
“I’m happy they brought it back … I think it’s fair to have the seniors take the first pick because it’s our last year here,” Samantha Natividad ‘25 said. “It may seem unfair to sophomores and juniors, but at the same time, there’s new housing, and there’s gonna be still a lot for everyone.”
The senior-only lotteries will take place on March 6 and 7. The Office of Residence Life is still assisting students looking for help in planning for housing lotteries.
