<p>I am not sure if I am overreacting or not and would like the opinion of others on CC, though I'm wondering if this is the best forum to post in as I'm sure the responses may be a bit biased.</p>
<p>I was recently admitted to Washington University as a transfer student for Fall 07. I am extremely happy about that and grateful. Shortly after admission I was informed that all of my transfer credits transferred. Fantastic! WashU was on its way to getting my money and my body. However, I was perplexed by the fact that I did not have a housing application in my acceptance folder. When I realized that every other transfer on CC had received one, I decided to call up the office and find out. After leaving 2 messages, sending an email, calling ResLife once, and waiting 5 business days, I received a call from my application processor informing me that housing would not be available for upperclassmen transfers. At this, I was a bit offended and felt cheated simply due to the school's omission of this fact on its website, where it clearly states:</p>
<p>"Housing for transfer students is given on a first-come, first-served basis."</p>
<p>However, I can understand (pretty well) the idea that underclassmen, younger and slightly more needy, should receive on-campus housing priority, though this was not clearly stated on the website and in the end, I felt cheated that I was not even given the opportunity to apply for housing. I was told by my app processor to contact Quadrangle Housing, the affiliated organization that has off-campus housing for students, and so I did. </p>
<p>After briefly explaining my situation, I was informed by Quad that the lottery had passed and housing was full; if I wanted, I could call back on April 2nd to be put on the waitlist for housing. It is at this point that I am very disillusioned and disappointed with the university. As I've said, I can understand housing is tight due to overenrollment and underclassmen should receive some sort of priority, but there are several things that really bug me:</p>
<p>1) The university, in essence, lied on its website by claiming that housing for transfers was on a first-come, first-served basis. That is incorrect. I applied very early (January 15th, deadline being April 15th) to receive my decision early and also to plan for housing early, when in fact I will never even have the chance to apply for housing.</p>
<p>2) I can get over the fact that I cannot have on-campus housing. However, this is my first time to move away from home and some sort of structure is helpful. At this point, the university again has no idea what it is talking about as it can merely refer me to Quadrangle, which said the lottery deadline passed long ago (long before I ever received my acceptance).</p>
<p>At this point, I am left with one option: find an apartment in the area on my own. I understand the concept of growing up, living in an apartment, etc, but I have always had housing as a main criterion when choosing colleges. I want to become a part of the university community and receive the full college experience; were I aware that WashU would be so distasteful throughout this process, I would have never applied. I now understand (after speaking with previous transfers) that this has been a point of concern for several years: again, becoming a part of the community is so important that the excellence of the school is irrelevant in this case and I would have preferred not to have applied.</p>
<p>Just my rant...sorry if it is not well founded or deserved, but I feel like the university doesn't give a **** about me, only my money.</p>