<p>What exactly do you do with schools that do not guarantee housing like Cornell? This is one of the schools on my list, but I live in Va, and so if I don't have housing after freshman year than that's going to be a problem...</p>
<p>people got screwed by the housing lottery this year, such as my friends who didn’t get a good time slot for choosing rooms and now are living in apartments near north campus, but next year they are changing the system to give rising sophomores priority, then juniors, etc. So after your freshman year you will get first pick ahead of rising juniors/seniors for dorms. You will have a good pick for sophomore/junior year and by the time you are a senior you will want to live off campus anyway.</p>
<p>You just rent an apartment off campus. Very few upperclassmen live on-campus at Cornell. It’s easy to find apartments for rent at rates that are significantly cheaper than the rates for the dorms, especially if you are willing to walk a good distance.</p>
<p>^Just to add what B-Schooler said, some apartments even offer free shuttle going from the apartment area to school. So, definitely look for one!</p>
<p>most upper classmen desire to live off campus, whether it is in an apartment, co op, or greek house. I know of very few people who really want to live on west campus etc their soph/jr/sr year and there is no possible way for you to be screwed out of housing completely. There is plenty of housing on/around campus. You will have a place to live.</p>
<p>my understanding is that housing is guaranteed for freshman/sophomore year. Sophomore year being a lottery but as long as you do what you are supposed to do by the deadlines, you are guaranteed housing somewhere for those two years.</p>
<p>Yeah off campus housing is plentiful and cheap in comparison with university housing. There are tons of houses and apartments for rent within 5-10 minutes walk from campus and many upperclassmen live in co-ops, fraternities, and sororities. It’s rare to find a junior or senior that *wants * to live on campus.</p>