Students filed into Daggett Lounge multiple times over the last week and a half for the annual housing lottery, hoping to secure prime campus housing options.
The lottery began on April 16 with the quints and quads lottery. During this round, popular rooms in Harpswell Apartments, Coles Tower and Chamberlain Hall were all up for grabs, as well as housing in Cleveland Apartments, Pine Street Apartments, Stowe Hall, and Stowe Inn.
Colin Swords ’15 confirmed that these housing options are among the most coveted on campus.
“I think that there are a lot of people who would prefer to live in Chambo or Harpswell. I think that those are going to go quickest—as they always do—but it seems like the majority of our class wants the Tower,” said Swords.
Swords’ premonition proved true, with all three of those housing options going quickly Tuesday night. Despite the competition for rooms, however, most students still found the process fairly easy.
“Last year, I applied for a College House. That process was a lot more stressful and a lot more work was involved,” said Mary Bryan Barksdale ’15.
The reason for this ease may be the relative dependability of the system. This year’s housing lottery is being run almost exactly as it was last year. The only major addition, according to Associate Director of Housing Operations Lisa Rendall, is the new dorm at 52 Harpswell.
“I have heard a lot of chatter about 52 Harspwell. I’ve conducted two tours so that students could go in. We all wore hard hats because it’s a construction site, and we had close to 50 students who came through, of all class years,” said Rendall.
Ben Eisenberg ’17 said that location of 52 Harpswell was a big factor in his interest in the dorm.
“It’s the new housing, it’s chem-free, and it’s kind of secluded,” Eisenberg said. “I think that the quiet location combined with the beauty of the garden would be a really great place to live.”
Many other students shared Eisenberg’s interest. Singles in the new dorm were the first variety of housing to fill up during the chem-free housing lottery during the triples and singles lottery on April 17. The remaining rooms in the building were filled shortly thereafter. Only Smith House, another popular chem-free living option on campus, filled faster.
The singles, triples, and doubles lotteries also went off without a hitch. Single rooms in Stowe Inn were the first to fill this year. Brunswick Apartments—a perennial favorite among students—were quickly chosen in the doubles and triples lotteries. Only Cleaveland Street Apartments triples filled more quickly than the two-room Brunswick triples this year.
As of press time, Residential Life reported that 148 students who plan on being on campus in the fall do not have on-campus housing. Though it is difficult to say what these students’ plans are, it seems likely that many of that number are living off-campus—a choice that some upperclassmen make.
“Generally, the housing is more spacious for a similar price to Bowdoin’s and I like the idea of having somewhere to go back to that feels a little bit like a home,” Eli Peirce ’15, a student who is living in off-campus housing said.