<p>No they are sophomores!! No need for you to worry about this yet!</p>
<p>@csdad - sounds good! Hopefully my D will have the same positive outcome!</p>
<p>if a freshman wants to live off-campus they should start looking now, though, because the upperclassmen will already have taken a lot of places. given that freshmen now get first pick in the housing lottery and get guaranteed on-campus housing, there’s really no pressure if you don’t want to though.</p>
<p>regarding in-house lotteries, it is important to note that success at them can be really variable. one year I did it and they went really far up in the numbers and I am not aware of anyone who wanted a room and didn’t get one. the next year I did it and unless you got a really fantastic number there was no chance of getting anything, and I would say that <20% of people entered got a room. as you can imagine the second year was very shocking given my previous experience, and for a while it was a very stressful situation, given that I was an upperclassman who sudden had no housing plan for the next year and it was December!</p>
<p>faustarp, was it the case that the year that in-house lottery was so difficult was when they switched over to guaranteeing sophomores on-campus housing?</p>
<p>I think they do the in-house/hall lottery in February now, which feels really late, considering that those wanting to go off-campus are “snatching up” the best places now!</p>
<p>Our freshman daughter is going to rush, so she is hoping she’ll live in a sorority next year. If no, she’ll either live on campus or try to sublease.</p>
<p>good question mathmomvt.
sophomores being guaranteed on-campus housing is not a new thing. it was in place when I first came to Cornell in 2008, and I don’t think it was novel then either. </p>
<p>the recent switch was changing the order in which the classes chose in the housing lottery. the “easy” year for me was the last year when seniors chose first, and then “hard” year for me was the first year when sophomores chose first. (as a member of the class of 2012 I never got to choose first 
) Cornell has always had to have a room for all the sophomores who wanted one, though, so it still doesn’t make sense to me that the lottery changed so much. it would be useful if someone with more current experiences could contribute, since I get the sense that they’re still a rapidly evolving process, even though the oldest house is near to completing its first decade!</p>
<p>I don’t know how the lotteries went last year since most people I knew were either graduating or moving/remaining off-campus. I do know that they are indeed in February, and I agree that that is really quite late!</p>
<p>I don’t see the big deal about West Campus housing, though. My Peer Advisor showed me his single in Becker and it was the same size as some of the Dickson singles.</p>
<p>My S’s double in Becker is smaller than his double in Court was last year. But it is closer to his classes, and he likes the food better on West than on North. But for him the “big deal” about staying in-house (on West) would just be not having to deal with a rental situation just yet.</p>
<p>^
The food on West is definitely better, although there’s less variety. </p>
<p>I think I’d rather get a one-bedroom apartment, but I’m worried about the noise/drinking in Collegetown. My Peer Advisor’s friend once had two drunk girls stumble into his apartment and then sit on his couch for fifteen minutes before realizing they were in the wrong place and leaving.</p>
<p>Is there anything particularly bad about rentals other than the price?</p>
<p>@mathmomvt - I believe that the switch did happen for the class of 2012, so it would have been harder as a junior to get a better room that year. The in-house lottery is first, I believe, and there are x number of spots per dorm that open up before the sophomores can choose. You can contact reslife to confirm. I also think that there things your s can do to better his odds in the in-house lottery if that is the route he wants to go, such as getting on the dorm council, etc. I’m worried about the same thing…</p>
<p>With the rentals, you usually have to rent for 12 months, leaving you with responsibility for the apartment rent for the summer when you probably don’t need/want it. You can sublet, but obviously there is a supply/demand issue over the summer. </p>
<p>With renting you normally will shop for and cook most of your own meals. This can be a huge cost savings for some over the meal plans, but it does take time, and if you aren’t experienced with frugal eating and cooking from scratch, can end up costing you more for lower-quality, lower-variety eating. Of course you can still purchase a meal plan, but you no longer have dining halls as conveniently located, depending on where you usually are during meal times.</p>
<p>Same thing happens on the majority of college campuses across the country…kids can’t wait to leave home, be in a dorm with peers, etc…then within two years they can’t wait to get out of the dorms. For our D, even paying for 12 months will be fairly comparable to a single dorm room for the school year. It will probably give her more incentive to stay in Ithaca over the summer & find a job that will help her build a career resume.</p>
<p>csdad, you’re right about being able to save money on an apartment even if you “eat” the cost of summer rent. </p>
<p>For my S, he had more opportunities for resume-building internships away from Ithaca this past summer, so I’d hate to have him feel tied down to an apartment there. And after cooking for himself all summer, I think he does appreciate having a professional staff to shop and cook for him, even considering the limitations of food cooked in bulk 
I don’t think he’s in any hurry to move out, but I’m sure it will depend on what his friends want to do as well.</p>
<p>there is a decent amount of demand for summer sublets, btw. I sublet a few times, and each time I replied to many craigslist adds before getting one that worked out. if you put the craigslist add out relatively early, you will probably get a decent price, because people are willing to pay quite a bit for the peace of mind about where they’re staying for the summer.</p>
<p>My S is getting worried now that if he doesn’t rent something now, he’ll be screwed if he loses out in the housing lottery. So now he is thinking of looking off-campus. So… any suggestions as to which landlords/complexes to seek out, or to avoid? And may which neighborhoods/areas to seek out for a less party-crazy atmosphere? He’s an engineer, so convenient to that part of campus would be ideal.</p>
<p>I believe that housing is guaranteed for sophs. If he’s a sophomore now, then he probably should be out there on the tour.</p>
<p>My son is out there touring. Apparently, from what I can glean, the big push is to find the perfect <em>collegetown</em> rental for senior year. There seems to be much less pressure if Collegetown is not a necessity. I’ll note that Collegetown is relatively convenient to the engineering side of the world though. Maybe he can find something suitable in “Upper Collegetown”, as in up above College Ave.</p>
<p>He’s not a big partier, and fairly disdainful of that scene, so I’m sure being in the thick of things is not a priority for him, but being close to engineering is, and I know that collegetown falls into both categories. I’ll let him know about the “upper collegetown” option.</p>
<p>btw, by “above” college Ave, do you mean west of it?</p>