how does this housing thing work?!

<p>I got a housing assignment that was pretty decent (not sweating it) but not preferable. My preference would be an apartment in a single room. I like living by myself but I also like having other people around to interact with. I am currently place in an apartment in a double room.</p>

<p>So, I hear you can switch when school starts...umm how exactly does that work? I can imagine everyone will be running for the singles...
I also have these huge 24 cubed boxes that I'd really hate to unpack then pack again...</p>

<p>I was also informed the proccess is different for upperclassmen? They have to partake in a lottery? So its not first come first serve, and you get what you pay for? You have to do a lottery??? Thats sounds horrible to me.</p>

<p>Judging by this and your other threads, you have a lot of research to do about Rutgers. I’ll try to help you through the wonderful world of housing.</p>

<p>Here’s the general overview. There are dorms, suites, and on-campus apartments. Dorms are typically where freshmen are placed (there are dorms on all campuses), although there are dorms for upperclassmen (some have single rooms). Obviously the most coveted rooms in dorms for upperclassmen are the singles. These are mainly on College Ave.</p>

<p>There are also suites. These are a set of seven buildings on Busch where 6 people live together in a suite with three bedrooms, a common room, and bathroom. One is reserved for mainly freshmen in SAS honors, one is for honors SOE students, the rest are for upperclassmen. From what you’ve said, this is probably not the type of housing you are looking for.</p>

<p>Finally, the apartments. There are some lower-scale apartments on Busch and C/D with typically 4 people in 2 bedrooms. There are then three other complexes that are more expensive (Rockoff Hall and Easton Ave Apartments on College Ave and the New Livingston Apartments). These apartments have a bunch of different setups, some with 4 people in two bedrooms, others are 3 people with single rooms.</p>

<p>The way housing is coordinated is through the lottery system. At the beginning of the spring semester, people who want housing for the next year apply for a lottery number. The lottery numbers then come out, usually to a huge response on facebook/reddit etc with people posting their numbers. You will receive a number anywhere from 1 to 20k+. Later, the housing department posts the dates that you can start registering for the various types of housing and what lottery number you need to get in. For perspective, to get the Livingston Apartments for this year, your lottery number needed to be below 300ish. Obviously the most desirable housing has lower cutoffs. When applying with a roommate or roommates, the lowest person’s lottery number is used. Some people actually try to sell their lottery number to strangers by applying for housing for them and then room swapping out. This is very illegal, but some people do it anyway.</p>

<p>Speaking of room swaps, this is how you get into different housing once you have been assigned something and don’t want it or you don’t get along with your roommate or whatever. You need to find someone who is willing to swap rooms with you, then you file a request for a room swap on the housing website. People usually post in the various Facebook groups, reddit, or here looking for people to swap. There was someone a few threads down from here actually trying to swap OUT of Rockoff, which is very very rare. I myself have never needed to do this, but if you have a legitimate reason to switch and can’t find someone, housing may help you.</p>

<p>So what building are you in? I can try to judge your chances of swapping and to where you want to go.</p>