MHC opens singles housing lottery

In an e-mail sent out to the student body last week, Mount Holyoke’s Office of Residential Life announced that it would be reopening a mid-year singles housing lottery, “for the first time in several years.” As of Oct. 7, qualifying seniors, juniors and sophomores — in that order — will be able to sign up to draw a number for the possibility of procuring a single by Oct. 24.

While this is the first time that many students have heard of such an initiative, the program itself is not new. “During these past few years, Mount Holyoke has experienced being completely at capacity with how many students were on campus compared to how many spaces were available,” explained Todd Porter, assistant director of Residential Life.

The lack of available space due to this housing “crunch” hampered the College’s ability to orchestrate a singles housing lottery. At this time, this is no longer the case. “This year, we are not experiencing the same issues and actually have rooms that are open that we want to offer to students who were unable to get a single during [the spring] lottery season,” Porter said.

In an effort to prevent the continual “domino effect” of delay resulting from students moving from one single to another, the lottery is currently open only to seniors, juniors and sophomores who are living in a double, triple or quad.

While a precise figure is difficult to determine at this particular point in time, students who have entered the lottery will be vying for approximately ten open singles. Porter cautioned that “that number can go up or down depending on a variety of circumstances.” Priority will be given to seniors, then juniors and finally, sophomores.

Some students found this process of favoring seniority to be unfair: “I’m slightly annoyed at the idea of seniors getting priority even if you pick a higher number, seeing as they already had first pick last spring and therefore are more likely to be satisfied with their rooming situation anyway,” Savannah Marciezyk ’16 lamented. Despite this fact, Marciezyk remains “pretty hopeful about [her] chances. Having transferred to Mount Holyoke this year, Marciezyk declared that she decided to apply for a single because she’s “really just tired of living with strangers.”  Marciezyk transfered to Mount Holyoke as a sophomore this year. “They assigned me a dorm and a roommate, which is kind of like being a freshman all over again,” she said.

While, for the most part she has not had any problems with her roommate, she admitted to being a very private person.

Marciezyk hopes that the singles lottery will afford her more space and privacy for when her boyfriend comes to visit, as well as a better location: “I live in Dickinson Hall, which is not only really far away from the center of campus but also doesn’t get continental breakfast, which is a real bummer for me.”

Margaret Stanne ’16 is also hoping to score a single in order to maximize her privacy. She’s currently living in an open double. While she stated that she would understand if Residential Life decided to assign her a new roommate next semester, she wasn’t too fond of the idea. “I very quickly learned that I liked living by

myself,” she said.

Marciezyk, like Stanne, understands that as a sophomore her chances at success are unlikely, but she remains optimistic. “I pulled a pretty decent number, so I just have my fingers crossed!”

Many students welcome the additional opportunity to get placed in a room of their choice. “What I love about lotteries is that every year I am surprised at how things can turn out,” Porter stated.

Stanne offered the following advice for other hopeful students:  “Just go for it! You don’t know what you’ll end up with, so you might as well try.” The last day to draw a number will be Oct. 18.