Last March I sat anxiously in Mac, eating my lunch and trying to distract myself with homework as I waited for a much-anticipated text. It was two weeks after Spring Break, and the housing lottery had begun for rising sophomores. The entire dining hall was filled with nervous freshman clustered in groups of 8 around a computer, waiting to see if they had gotten a much coveted 8-man. The tension became too much for me so I gathered my things and left for O’Neil, and on my way I received the text saying that we did not get a pick time. While we ended up getting quads in Walsh the next day, I found the entire housing process to be extremely stressful. Here are a few tips to make the week of the housing lottery a little smoother:
- Be honest with your friends.
You have probably heard, either from friends or upperclassmen, that many friendships are ruined because of housing drama. I’ve learned that the best way to keep friends is to be upfront from the beginning. If you already have an 8-man set, and a friend or two asks if you want to live with them or if you have room in your group, saying “Oh, um, I still don’t really know what I’m doing yet, but yeah, maybe!” will just come back to bite you. It is much better to be upfront about your plans so your friends who are still looking for housing will have time to join another group. Be as honest as possible, as soon as possible, with your friends so you don’t end up hurting people’s feelings.
- Be honest with yourself.
So you have your group of 8 or 4 people together, and now it’s time to figure out whom you want to room with. DO NOT necessarily pick the person who is your BFF in the group. If you guys have similar sleep patterns, level of cleanliness, study habits, attitudes about having guys over, then by all means, go for it! But, if you know you like to get to bed early and your best friend likes to study in her room late with the light on, or if she’s a neat freak and you clean when you can, being direct roommates might not be the best option. Be honest with yourself about who you can share space with.
- Make a plan and stick to it.
Once you have your group, get together and talk about who is rooming with whom, and how you’ll split up if you do not get an 8-man. While picking your direct roommate hopefully won’t cause much drama, how you will split into separate rooms might. If you don’t get an 8-man, you will probably be upset and even more anxious the night before you have to go for the quads in Walsh, so with tensions and emotions high, deciding that night how you will split might end badly. Make your plan and stick with it, that way the second, third, and fourth day of housing can go as smooth as possible.
- Pick a responsible group leader.
If you don’t already know, you will need a group leader for the week of the housing lottery. The group leader will enter your 8-man’s Eagle ID numbers into the housing system. Pick someone who you know is organized because they need to keep track of all of the numbers and make sure that everything is logged in on time, otherwise you will not be in the lottery. The week of the housing lottery was stressful for a lot of reasons, but I was never stressed about our group being “logged in” correctly, because our group leader was responsible, and I knew she would get the job done. Obviously you shouldn’t force a friend to be the group leader, but if you have a friend whom you know consistently loses things or can forget deadlines, you might not want to encourage her to lead the group.
- Remember, it’s who you live with.
There are so many annoying things about the housing selection process, but the best part is that you get to pick who you live with this year! By now you have probably figured out your sleep schedule, how and where you like to study, and, most importantly, whom you’ve had the most fun with and are most compatible with so far at Boston College, and hopefully these are the girls or guys you’ve decided to live with next year. Whether you live in a 9, 8, 7, 6, or 4 man, or in traditional housing on CoRo or in 66, it doesn’t matter as much as who you live with because it’s the people, not the housing, that make sophomore year great.