<p>So how did you or your D do in the room draw? Ours was afraid she was going to end up in the basement at Baldwin (these were rooms originally created for the Secret Service when Julie Nixon lived in Baldwin), but she got a small single on the second floor. She is thrilled, she hates the basement rooms, and was ready to take a double instead. She is buying her proxy chocolate today, as she had a rehearsal during room draw.</p>
<p>Our D is very happy, considering the mishaps that led up to the final result. She missed signing up for room-draw on bannerweb(misunderstanding, she thought she only needed to if she wanted to change houses) and got a very low number as a result. </p>
<p>Her house have no (or very few) singles for sophmores, so she needed a new room-mate, as her current one is moving to the quad in the fall.
Until a couple a days ago she didn't have any definite candidates, but then one of her best friends decided she wanted to room with D. Happy days!</p>
<p>Then she forgot about room-draw! She is usually not that absent-minded... Anyway, she showed up late, and her friend, soon-to-be roomie, had managed to snag a nice large double on the "right" floor, and all is well!</p>
<p>No singles left in my house. A couple of juniors actually ended up having to double up. I was very worried because I couldn't find a suitable roommate (non-smoker, not a druggie, and goes to bed before 12:30 AM on weekdays). But I found out while waiting in the line that another girl was trying for an open double. She isn't a smoker or a druggie. She picked her room ahead of me and it turned out that it was the room that I wanted. I also asked if it would be possible for me to have an open double by the end of the night, the people said it wasn't guaranteed. So I figured, why not room with someone who's highly motivated and driven as an example in a room with a bay window?!</p>
<p>Ticklemepink-- you're in Albright, right? Maybe you'll be in the room with the dormer that my D is moving out of! She and her roomie had a third floor corner room in the back which could not have been cooler. It was the sort of dormroom I would have died for way back when. Now she's happily moving to a single in Northrop.</p>
<p>I got first pick in my house among the seniors, though there is a january grad who drew ahead of me. So I have a corner room on the floor I wanted with two huge, fancy, multipaned windows and pretty wood floors and a nice big closet. Plus I really like my next door neighbor and her taste in music, which is good because the wall betwen our rooms is THIN.</p>
<p>D and her roommate for next year got a very large 4th-floor room. The current occupants were gruntled, as they wanted to keep it. Apparently, the rules changed this year so that everyone had to draw.</p>
<p>TMP, my D had a similar sifting process of finding a roomie for next year. Well, not the drugs thing...but no smoking (aren't the houses supposed to be non-smoking?), moderately studious, compatible music, compatible sleep times, and [after observation] little/no prospect of being sexiled.</p>
<p>message from D re. room draw:
it appears there are not enough rooms next year due to a scarcity of
sophmores planning to transfer out or study abroad. I will either have to check out a hotel room (for the entire year) or stay at J's. Additionally the
school is leasing tents for 2 bucks a night. I have not seen what these
tents look like yet but I already told roomie that I'm not interested
in the "tent-doubles" option. </p>
<p>(received 4/1/05)</p>
<p>Sounds like the beginning of the fall. Actually, my D's house things looked bleaker for rising sophmores until they accounted for the rising juniors who were going JYA. Housing for students who did not get what they wanted in the room draw may be able to improve their room over the summer according to my D.</p>
<p>Papajaja,</p>
<p>Please tell me you are kidding...my D will be a freshman, so I'm sure she's on the bottom of the food chain when it comes to housing. They don't ever actually run out of room, do they?</p>
<p>How do they assign the freshmen, since acceptance letters aren't due until May 1?</p>
<p>This is Mini with a Y rather than XX (as above). Actually, first years are NOT at the bottom of the food chain. Each house has specific rooms reserved for first years. There are more doubles for first years than singles (though in the Quad and Cutter-Ziskind, most are singles, even for first years), but most of the rooms are terrific!</p>
<p>Bottom of the food chain (from what I hear) are returning JYAs.</p>
<p>Rooms are assigned (for the vast bulk) according to the area of campus preferred. (You can list a favorite house if you like, but they don't have to take that into consideration.) The house characters change from year to year, so there's no hard-and-fast rule as to where folks go. The Quad tends to be a little louder than elsewhere - more folks in a smaller space! and reputation, but relative to other schools, there is no place at Smith you'd call rowdy. Upper Elm is close to the campus center, and next year Cutter-Ziskind will house a kosher/hallal kitchen. Houses are beautiful, though some don't like the 50s architecture of Cutter-Ziskind (inside, however, reputed to be very nice indeed.) Lower Elm (where my D. is) is closest to the town, so if you like dropping into town to clear your head, get a cup of coffee, or browse a bookstore, this is the best place to be. It is right across from the art center, and not far from most classrooms. Green Street/Center Campus is closest to the center of the campus, the science labs and engineering building, and the theatre/dance/music complex. By reputation, studious, though it is also close to the athletic fields.</p>
<p>But the Smith campus is just not that large. 15 minutes walk from the furthest end to end.</p>
<p>If your d. really cares about campus area, she should send in forms as soon as she gets 'em.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. I think we'll work on sending in forms tonight, but I don't think she has much of a preference. All the residence halls seemed nice. Which house has the vegetarian dining hall? D is a vegetarian.</p>
<p>hi all,<br>
D was only kidding when she sent the message... it was april fool's day. by all reliable sources, smithies will not be housed in tents.</p>
<p>It's tough being gullible. You know, they took that word out of the dictionary, at least that's what they tell me.</p>
<p>Currently King/Scales (Quad) has veg/vegan dining. All dining has a veg option of some kind. Students can eat in any dining hall.</p>
<p>as pointed out, green street housing is convenient to athletic facilities. however, athletes wherever they live on campus can take meals following afternoon practices at a green street house that extends dining service into the evening.</p>
<p>There are a few houses (I live in Haven-Wesley) that will not have as many first years as usual do to various circumstances. The housing coordinator let seniors move into the house before accounting for those who are JYA, and many of them were '07Js, so they had first pick. There are more seniors in the house next year than there are singles, so some juniors who were counting on singles or suites are in doubles next year. As a result of juniors taking "sophomore" doubles, some of the current first-year rooms were opened up to rising sophomores. My roommate and I picked last and lucked into the room we wanted (it seems like no one else wanted to live in Wesley) but I was almost stuck with the room I live in this year (picking last, we had two rooms to choose from as I believe that during the night another first-year room had been opened). </p>
<p>Randy Shannon came to talk to my house about the changes, and King/Scales went through a similar situation last year, with fewer first-years than they have normally.</p>
<p>More drama might occur during the middle of the year when the '07Js graduate and juniors go abroad for the spring semester, and room changes seem to be quite likely.</p>
<p>JYA? Junior year abroad? Is it expected to take that year abroad?</p>
<p>It is not expected but Smith does have a very active JYA program. I don't know what the numbers are but many students do take all or part of their junior doing something other than being at Smith.</p>
<p>Above was Mini XX - Mini Y adds: among the biggest attractions for my d. at Smith was the quality of the language programs and the JYA options. Frankly, none of the other LACs we looked at, or Ivies, could hold a candle to them. They have the oldest ongoing JYA programs in Western Europe in the country: in Paris, Geneva, Florence, and Hamburg. Unlike many JYA programs, they require two full years of language study, a course in something like "stylistics" for the country you wish to go to, and a pledge not to use English as part of the program once there. The opportunities are incredible, and Smith is very, very generous with financial aid to support them. The new President is on record as wanting to expand their global reach (I just received a letter from her on Monday), and has been visiting in Asia of late, perhaps with an eye toward....</p>
<p>My kid is going to spend a year in Florence, and I am SO jealous!</p>
<p>SGM, the JYA options are dizzying. I think about 2/3 of juniors do them. I think my D is hoping to do one semester in Washington, one semester in Budadpest.</p>
<p>My fave was a semester with the Royal Shakespeare Company....</p>
<p>SmartGirlsMom, Tenney is the vegetarian coop:), but it has a loooooong waiting list.:(</p>