All rising sophomores and seniors seeking housing were housed in last week's general lottery, and four singles remain unassigned as a buffer for students still deciding whether to live on campus.
A number of rising juniors seeking on-campus residences were not accommodated at the lottery, but Tufts does not guarantee on-campus housing to upperclassmen.
For rising sophomores, this year's lottery brings a welcome change from last year, when 125 members of the Class of 2010 were put on a waitlist after all rising juniors and seniors who requested housing received it.
This year's lottery "went very smoothly and was actually one of our better years for housing from beginning to end," said Yolanda King, director of the Office of Residential Life and Learning.
Preparation for the lottery was initiated slightly earlier than in past years, and the housing booklet was distributed before the conclusion of the first semester, King said. She credited this year's Freshman Class Council for hosting "True Life: 2011 Needs Housing," a program designed to educate freshmen about housing. King called the program "a tremendous success."
Freshman Katherine Evering-Rowe said she was satisfied overall with her lottery experience.
"I think I kind of came into Tufts with a bad impression because we didn't get our rooming assignments until so late [last year], but I understand this is because our class was so large," she said. "I actually anticipated the process to be a lot more disorganized than it actually was."
Evering-Rowe's lottery number was 2501, but her roommate brought their average up to 2775. This average was not high enough for the double in West Hall that they desired, but they were able to secure a room in Miller Hall instead.
"I thought ... everything went relatively smoothly" at the lottery, Evering-Rowe added. "I think for people with lower numbers it's just an extremely stressful process."
Rising junior Ethan Hochheiser and his friends acquired a residence in Hillside Apartments. They had a collective average of between 5800 and 6000, but not all rising juniors were so fortunate.
According to Hochheiser, some of his friends from the Class of 2010 who desired to live on campus were not given housing and were put on a waiting list. "I don't know what their options are; they're kind of in limbo right now," he said.
About 200 juniors were able to receive on-campus housing, 29 of them during the general lottery, King said.
The four singles left over will be kept for the sophomores who are considering living in fraternities or sororities or on-campus dorms and for those who have not decided whether they will transfer. These rooms will not be offered to rising juniors.
Despite complaints about the lottery system in the past, some students feel that there are few alternative methods with which to coordinate the housing process.
"There are obvious downsides to it, but I'm not sure what type of a better system there would be," Hochheiser said.
Evering-Rowe agreed. "I can't really think of any other way that they could organize it," she said.
ResLife is currently exploring the possibility of making the entire selection process electronic. The details of this are still uncertain, but King explained that the search for vendors of an electronic method is underway. She sees the program happening in "the very near future," she said.
"If they could make that work, I think it would be nice," Evering-Rowe said.
In the meantime, ResLife "should stick to the system," Hochheiser said. In his opinion, diverting resources from other more valuable avenues such as academics and athletics is not something that Tufts should pursue just to provide more housing options.
