Room draw for the 2018-19 academic year took place this past Sunday, April 29. For some students, room draw was a success and they got the room of their dreams. For others, it was less than ideal.

Room draw’s schedule includes four different options. The first three are special, and students must indicate their interest in these rooms and sign up in advance. These special room draws include substance-free, quiet hall, and gender-specific. Then there is the normal room draw with times designated for each class year.

Each student is assigned a room draw number, and this number indicates their place in the order of picking rooms. Students often come into room draw with their top room options listed, but since it is a constant process, there is no guarantee their room will still be available by the time their number is picked.

For Marnie Monogue ’21, room draw wasn’t quite what she expected, but was still a positive experience.

“I was surprised that it was old-fashioned, pen and paper, everybody stands in line, I sort of expected it to be online, like class registration. But it was kind of exciting because it was happening in real time,” she said.

Further, Monogue and her roommate did not get their first pick of room. “We sort of had to move on from Plan B to Plan C, and so on to try to figure it out,” she said.

While Monogue didn’t get her top choice, she is still happy with her room and future roommate. She will be living in Langan again next year.

“It’s kind of nice I don’t have to change buildings. … I currently live in the Pit so I’m glad to not be in the Pit anymore,” she said with a laugh.

For Zeyu Chen ’21, room draw was more confusing than he had initially anticipated. However, once he started the process, it made sense and worked out well.

Chen got his first-choice room, and he and his roommate will be living in Smith, a substance-free dorm. Chen and his friend group will all be living in Smith next year, so he has the benefits of his friends being close. “Pretty much everyone in my friend group partnered with another [person in the group]. … A lot of my friends will also be living in Smith,” he said.

Chen appreciates Smith for its substance-free living environment — which he feels tends to be quieter — and the presence of his friends. It is also a benefit to him that the dorm is centrally located.
Like Chen, Elizabeth Collinger ’21 also went through the special room draw process as she chose the gender specific option.

“I lived in a women’s only floor this semester and I thought it was nice. Also, I have to deal with less people, which is really nice, because it is stressful,” she said.

Due to Collinger’s efforts to scout out the rooms before room draw, she got the room. “First, we asked [technical assistant] Lauren Myers which specific floors would be gender specific, because they don’t give [the information out]. Since we asked, we went around to the different rooms on Clark third and knocked on rooms and were like, ‘Hi, can we look in please,’” she said.

Collinger is excited about her room because of the amenities, the close location of her friends and the fact that one of her friends will be a Community Advisor for the floor.

“I’ve got a sink, and it’s a corner room, and I’m really living my best self,” she said.

Across campus, Phinn Lloyd ’21, Victoria Park ’21 and Emma Heikkinen ’21 will be living in a triple in Read next year.

“Emma asked if we wanted to live in a triple next year and it sounded like such a fun idea,” Lloyd said.

Lloyd, Park and Heikkinen knew that they wanted to live in South and have a room set up with a bigger main room and two adjacent rooms. They got their second choice, which was a bonus. Additionally, the three plan on getting a pet for the room.

“We’re thinking about getting a small animal. We’re going to make it a door tag as well,” Park said.

“Like a Wal-Mart fish, or a Wal-Mart crab,” Heikkinen added.