Hi! For various reasons, it looks like I’m only going to be able to pay my deposit around the first week of April. I understand that this will put me pretty low priority on the housing queue. My top choices for housing were BJ, Snell-Hitchcock and Max (for fancy architecture and general majesty as well as library convenience), but as all those are pretty popular, is it even worth requesting any of them at this point? Am I basically throwing away my choice by voting for them?
tldr; even though my top housing choices are BJ, Snell-Hitchock, and Max, should I instead list houses I do not personally vibe with as much in the interest of actually being able to have some sway in where I go.
Thank you so much for any input!
First of all, the deposit earns you a spot in the queue but doesn’t require you to list your res. hall and room preferences yet. That deadline is much later (early June last year). So you have plenty of time to figure this out AFTER you enroll.
Second, they take credit card for the deposit and no transaction fee, so if you happen to be “cash short” and have access to plastic, I’d use that and send it in tonight.
Third, when you peruse the housing portal, make sure that your choices reflect your preferences. It sounds like location is more important than room type? (ie you are flexible about getting a single or a double) so make sure your room preferences reflect that flexibility, then go ahead and list dorms near the Reg (Max, North, Snitch are closest, then BJ and South).
Snell-Hitchcock is a small dorm and we know that the singles at least fill quick. Not sure whether doubles go as quickly - fortunately, there is time for you to find that out. North, Max, BJ and South altogether hold at least 2,500 kids which is more than 1/3 of the entire student body (many of whom are living off campus). So you will likely get one of your choices. And May 1st is more than a month away.
BTW, you don’t have to worry about specifying a house preference - those are assigned later in the summer.
Good luck!