Residential Life received a record-breaking number of applications for College Houses on Tuesday. Three hundred students will vie for 197 available spots in the eight houses, compared to 218 students who competed for those spots last year.
The applicant pool for 2009-2010 comprises 272 rising sophomores and 28 rising juniors and seniors. College Houses contain a total of 205 beds, eight of which are reserved for house proctors.
Associate Director of Residential Life Erica Ostermann said that receiving applications from more than half of the Class of 2012 is "awesome" and a "testament to the strength of the people living in the houses this year doing so much work, working with their affiliates."
Inter-house Council (IHC) President Lindsey Bruett '09 wrote in an e-mail to the Orient that "on the whole, the houses have been doing a really great job this year in terms of being organized and throwing quality events. Having been involved with the house system for three years, I've been particularly impressed this year with the amount of energy that's been sustained throughout the year."
"Many of them have made tremendous efforts with their affiliates, who ultimately become potential house applicants," Bruett added.
Ostermann said that Director of Residential Life Mary Pat McMahon worked with the House system in new and interesting ways, such as discussing the possibility of upperclassmen living in the houses.
Twenty-seven of the upperclassmen applicants live or have lived in a College House. Last year, 18 returners were accepted into the system. Most rising juniors and seniors chose to apply to the same house they have already lived in, according to Ostermann. Eleven chose to apply for only one semester in 2009-2010, most likely because they wish to study abroad for the other semester.
"The presence of upperclassmen in a social house creates a sense of tradition and continuity that would allow any house...to maintain the identity and camaraderie that it prides itself upon," Chester Eng '11, who reapplied to MacMillan House, wrote in an e-mail to the Orient.
"Upperclassmen living in a house for a second year are the best resource that any house could have and it certainly was the case for Mac this year," he wrote.
Jeff Bush '10 reapplied to Quinby House with a number of friends who all lived in the house their sophomore year.
"We got the message that Reslife was making a big push to get more upperclassmen in the college houses and we couldn't resist," Bush wrote in an e-mail to the Orient. "The thinking was that it would be a great opportunity to mix up the social scene at Bowdoin and hopefully bring more upperclassmen to college house events."
"I didn't know a lot of seniors outside of sports when I was an underclassmen, and I think that having upperclassmen in the social houses could change that for upcoming freshmen," Bush added.
Assistant Director of Residential Life Dudney Sylla said the application craze stemmed partly from the "full-out recruitment" of the IHC and Residential Life, which hosted several events during College House Info Week February 9-15.
"Each house hosted two events during the week, most of which included house tours, which seemed to be very popular. On Friday night, each house hosted a casual party for interested applicants," said Bruett in an e-mail.
Throughout the week, the IHC placed current house residents in Smith Union to distribute applications and answer questions, and Residential Life held two information sessions.
"I also think that having Winter Carnival at the beginning of the semester brought some attention to the different kinds of events that the Houses and IHC put on," Bruett wrote.
According to Ostermann, interest may also have arisen from the fact that Reed and Burnett, which were added to the House system in the fall of 2007, are "becoming more cemented."
Though the number of applications for each of the eight houses has not yet been calculated, Ostermann said houses' popularities changes every year, "driven by student interest and what students are saying to each other."
"It doesn't necessarily follow how close the house is to Thorne Dining Hall...there hasn't been a pattern about which houses are oversubscribed," she said. For example, she added, "Ladd has all singles, which you think would be a draw, but the other houses have just as much success."
"I believe that Burnett House will not be as popular as the other houses due to the physical house, the distance from campus, and the lack of good parties," Bobby Shaw '12, an applicant to Ladd House, wrote in an e-mail to the Orient. "I did think about not applying to Ladd and trying to get a quad, but I figured my chances would be better if I applied to a College House."
"Almost everyone I am friends with is applying to live in a house, and I'm not completely banking on getting into Ladd at all, especially because it is the smallest house," Megumi Shizuka '12 wrote in an e-mail to the Orient. "I do think that some houses such as Quinby, Helmreich, and Ladd are getting more of the applicants, but I don't think that any house will be hard to fill."
"Mac is another popular house to apply to since there was strong interest at info sessions we held at Coleman and during College House Info Week," Eng said.
Students apply individually or in blocks of up to four people, which Residential Life tries to avoid breaking, according to Ostermann.
Students are admitted by selection committees, comprised of three individuals: a current house resident who is not reapplying to the house, a current house resident from a different house, both of which are elected by their respective houses, and a member of the Residential Life Office.
Each house also has an Advisory Committee, consisting of three people who read files and advise the selection committees: a current or former house officer, a proctor from the affiliate first-year brick, and the house's faculty adviser.
"We want to put the strongest house together...to reflect the diversity of the applicant pool," said Ostermann. "We try to get everyone into their first choice, but it's really an application to the house system, not a particular house."
She said that oversubscription to houses is "frustrating," but she added that "it's good to have interest."
According to Ostermann, the committees try to create a gender balance, and there seems to be an even split this year among applicants.
Group interviews will be conducted for new applicants tomorrow; individual interviews for returning applicants will continue until Sunday, and decisions will be mailed April 2.