<p>Upperclass students got an interesting email this afternoon.</p>
<p>Single rooms with a/c are being offered at the Lutheran Seminary for, I think, about the same price as a double on campus. There is also a reduction in two of the meal plan costs for students living here. The disadvantage is that the housing is about a mile away from campus. I think there are around 25 spaces. I tried to convince my daughter to jump at it, but she doesn't have a car and thinks it is too far away to walk (NOT TRUE- I walked five miles to school everyday---uphill----in the snow), and she does not want to leave her roommate in a lurch. </p>
<p>I had a feeling that Gettysburg was getting crowded. While the incoming class is only a bit over 30 more students than last year's class, I guess more upperclassmen have been sticking around, too. Two things I noticed prior to this email were that some incoming first years are going to be housed in Musselman Hall, which is traditionally reserved for upperclassmen, and the website now says that only approx. 90% of students live on campus. I'm not 100% certain, but I am pretty darn sure that number was higher than 90% before. Seems like they may have loosened the requirement to stay on campus a bit. </p>
<p>I am sure it will be an interesting shuffle. As kids fill this housing, random spaces in other dorms will open up. I'm curious how short of space they are, and wonder if this will impact the size of the class of 2017.</p>
<p>Very interesting. Thanks for the info. Can you provide a link to where you found the Musselman info? Every time I tried to find housing info on the Gburg website, I seem to strike out. Thanks.</p>
<p>This is the closest link I could find, but Musselman is no longer listed for first years that I could find.</p>
<p>Hmmm…I wonder if they have been able to since squeeze the first years into the six first year dorms. Maybe some kids have decided not to attend since I first saw that some first years were going to be in Musselman. </p>
<p>I searched for musselman hall first year on the gburg site just now, and the closest thing I got was the first year residence/orientation staff. It came up for Huber Hall, and all the staff there has their location listed, except for the last student–her name is V. Anyhow, she does not have a floor in Huber Hall; she has nothing listed at all. I think she may have originally been the Musselman Hall staff person. I could not find anything about first years in Musselman, so maybe it has changed since I originally found it. And, no, I’m not crazy. It WAS there. My daughter saw it, too, and she was the one who told me that Musselman is traditionally for sophomores.</p>
<p>ETA: But interestingly, when you perform the search for “Musselman Hall First year”, the link that comes up second is labeled “Gettysburg College-Huber Hall and Musselman First Floor Staff” and mentions first year programs in the little blurb underneath it.</p>
<p>Apparently there is still more shuffling taking place. Perhaps a few first years will end up in Musselman after all. Or, maybe it is just upperclassmen who will be shuffled to different housing arrangements than they selected.</p>
<p>Note: Unlike the email offereing students the chance to move to the Lutheran Seminary at reduced prices, I did NOT see this email. A friend of my daughter’s said one of her friends received it, so take this info with a grain of salt. It seems some students at Musselman were told they could voluntarily relocate, or they might be forced to. This makes sense in light of the fact that random spots are probably now open as students opted to move to the seminary. If true, though, it certainly stinks for those students who bid to room with say, their best friend from freshman year, and now may have to be split up and again room with a stranger. I certainly hope Gburg will give them some sort of discount on their housing this year, if that’s the case. </p>
<p>Does anyone know if first years have received their housing assignments yet?</p>
<p>Update: It is official that they are moving people out of Musselman to make room for a floor of freshmen. Four of dd’s friends who had been in two doubles were given a list of empty spaces to bid on, or they would be moved to somewhere not of their choosing. They were able to get into a 5 person suite with another girl. I sure hope the college is NOT charging them the higher room rates because of this switch.</p>
<p>No, Musselman is not a particularly sought after housing option. My daughter says it is traditionally mainly sophomores, but many sophomores choose other options. My daughter mentioned the Ice House Complex and Stevens Hall as places where some of her friends are housing next year. My daughter is in a suite next year, but that is mostly because she is rooming with two other sophomores and a junior. The junior, although she was pretty much last on the housing selection list for rising jrs. because of the fact that she is rooming with sophomores, was able to snag a suite and pull dd and friends with her. The reason their jr. friend asked them to room with her is that the students she had been rooming with during HER sophomore year are studying abroad next year, and she had met my dd and friends in a class and they all got along well. Just thought I’d mention that if your dd would like to try for a suite her second year, she might want to put out some feelers with any current sophomores who are remaining on campus as juniors. My daughter did not plan it this way, but it just worked out as a happy byproduct of becoming friends with this particular student. </p>
<p>I think the reasons that the college is using Musselman for the overflow freshmen is that 1. it is traditional dorm style housing, and 2. if you glance at a map of campus, you’ll see that it is right near all the other first year dorms. </p>
<p>BTW, I asked daughter when she got her housing assignment last year. She said that she had thought she had been told it would be available Aug. 1, but that it was available somewhere online before that. Sorry that she doesn’t remember where…she only found out her assignment early because her roommate found it and contacted her.</p>
<p>One last thing I thought of that might interest your daughter—although first years do not register for spring semester classes until later in the year, all the classes are listed to look at. You can find them in the registrar’s section of the website; click “class search.” This way your daughter can look at times and sections and come up with a few plans. She is lucky in that she should be able to register before most of the first years, but even with that advantage, she might not get her first choice of classes, so it’s important to have a few different options in mind. My daughter knows this firsthand; she was unable to get a class she wanted for this year and had to go with an alternate, despite being one of the first rising sophomores to register. </p>
<p>Thank you, great info! D is freshman and getting anxious about roommate and housing assignment, pretty much like the rest of the group I’m sure!</p>
<p>Aww, you beat me to it! D got an email today saying that assignments are finalized and in C-Nav. Her email also said that there will be some first years housed with sophomores on the second floor of Musselman, and that they added some apts. in two other buildings, although when we looked one building up, it said it has sometimes been used for theme housing. Maybe it was a “spare” building that they just had to upgrade a bit. We couldn’t find any info about the other building.</p>
<p>Roommates should also be listed in CNav, I think.</p>
<p>DD also said that Hanson is one of the better halls, and her hope for your d is that she does not get a weird roommate. DD has been down that road; trust me, it wasn’t fun. It wasn’t horrible for her, but basically she and her roommate co-existed in the room and that was all. Could have been worse, I suppose. </p>
<p>Anyhow, best of luck to all the first years with housing mates. Everyone must be getting so excited! My d will be back on campus in less than three weeks—the summer FLEW by.</p>
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