Good times, bad times

When Madeline Lu '09 checked the room draw list posted by the Housing Office on Friday, she "screamed obscenities."

Lu's draw group has a slot in the mid-afternoon of the 12th and final day of upperclass room draw.

"We were trying to get a quad," she said. "Now, we'll end up with doubles ... in the lower part of the slums."

Room draw "creates a stressful time of year for students," Rich LeBano '08 said. But his draw experience won't be too stressful: He has a first-day draw time for upperclass housing.

"For some it's more stressful than others," he said. "[It involves] figuring out who you will draw with, and some can face a certain amount of rejection. The system is not perfect."

The ability to draw simultaneously into Whitman, Mathey, Spelman, independent and upperclass housing has added more options, and more confusion, to the process.

"[The options] probably would have made a bigger impact on my decision if I hadn't been in an eating club," LeBano said. "I knew I wouldn't do a joint meal plan."

Rob Bernstein '08 and a friend of his have the first draw time for Mathey, which will become a four-year residential college in the fall. Bernstein was assigned as a freshman to Rocky, which is paired with Mathey in the new college system.

"I'll probably draw into Mathey because ... I could probably get a much larger single [than I could in upperclass housing]," Bernstein said. "I'm just out to get the best room I can under the circumstances."

But he said he doesn't plan to play a part in the social aspects of residential college life in Mathey or Rocky. "I think you may end up with upperclassmen drawing back into colleges who are making the decision solely on the basis of room availability and [who do] not have any desire to join the residential college community," he said. "My draw-mate and I are very involved in the social scene in our respective clubs."

Jennifer Smith '08, who has the first draw time in Whitman, felt relieved. "It means I'll probably have pretty decent choices for rooms," she said. Smith is a copy editor for The Daily Princetonian.

"I chose to do Whitman because I'm not really a fan of the clubs, and I can't cook," she said.

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Smith said that she was sure that she was going to draw into Whitman. She said that the only disadvantage to living in a residential college as an upperclassman is increased isolated from other upperclassmen.

"I'm not sure if that will still be a problem [since there are more upperclassmen in Whitman]," she said. Also, Whitman is farther away from the center of campus than other upperclass housing, she added.

Having a draw time on the first day is a relief for LeBano. "As I'm drawing by myself, I'll at least know that I'll have a good room," he said, noting that he wants a room in 1903 or Dod Hall.

He lives in Brown this year and wants to stay in the middle of campus. "Location is really important," he said. "I'd be more willing to choose a small room in the center of campus."

He added that a laundry room is very important. "One thing that I didn't like about Brown is that it didn't have a laundry room," he said.

Rising sophomores in Forbes also have some complaints. Xinyi Duan '10, whose group has one of the college's last draw times, said she thinks it's "fair" that the Housing Office assigns draw times "randomly."

But, she added, it seems unfair that students who have undesirable rooms one year can end up in undesirable rooms again the following year.

Another member of Duan's group, Vichi Jagannathan '10, is responding to the group's bad draw time with humor.

"I think it would be fairer to have a footrace," she said. "Everyone starts at the Wa, and then it's ready, set, go; and then you run, and first one to the room gets it."