<p>well you should submit your app soon, but you don’t have to pay till like a week before you move in, and you pay in installments. </p>
<p>“The full Summer 2010 contract period will be May 23-August 14. Our contract period is based on the UC Berkeley calendar and is subject to change. There are also options for contacts for half of the summer. The first half of summer contract runs May 23-July 2 and the second half of summer contract runs July 3-August 14.” [Summer</a> Co-op Housing](<a href=“http://berkeleystudentcooperative.org/summer-housing]Summer”>http://berkeleystudentcooperative.org/summer-housing)</p>
<p>The coops are a great place to meet people, and they really ease the transfer process. If you move in during the summer, you get .75 point (you get a point each semester you stay), so you’ll have seniority when choosing your rooms in the fall. Food isn’t available during the summer (but at my house we always have essentials like milk, eggs, flour, and usually set up some sort of allocation of funds for other food), but during the fall you get an amazing meal cooked for you every night. All of the food is organic, locally grown, etc.- we’re crazy about food ethics!</p>
<p>Also, if houses like Euclid, Davis, and Kingman look like your favorites, I’d DEFINITELY apply for those during the summer- they’re impossible to get into during the fall. They’re smaller, and when spots become available in houses, people are placed based on seniority, but once you’re in you’re in, they can’t kick you out because someone with 3 points wants in. That’s why most people end up in Casa Zimbabwe or Cloyne their first semester, and then apply for a different house after a semester or two. As for the houses, I haven’t been to all of them and I’m obviously biased toward mine. However, what I didn’t know when I was filling out my preference sheet is 1) although Oscar Wilde is the LGBT themed house, not everyone’s gay, and 2) African Americans are a minority in the African American-themed house (in case you were worried about getting placed there and being socially shut out or something). I haven’t been to Lothlorien, but I hear it’s really, really disgusting.</p>
<p>When filling out your preference, put as many as you can- I put all but the women’s only houses and the UCB/grad student/upper division ones. But you can apply now to the UCB houses even if you haven’t been accepted yet, because they don’t check your eligibility status till a couple weeks into the semester. </p>
<p>Fill out your app now- you can always withdraw it. It’s a $40 app fee, and if you withdraw you get $30 back. If you sign a contract, the $40 goes to your first payment. Once you sign a contract, it’ll be hard to get out of that without losing money or something like that, but you don’t have to sign it till a few weeks before summer starts. So seriously, apply now.</p>