Housing Services will make two changes to Sunday’s online housing lottery for freshmen based on student feedback. GW will have a back-up plan for the availability screen that went down on the first round, and students will be assigned rooms from the top floor down.
Residence Hall Association President Noel Frame said GW switched from handing out the lower rooms first because the first floor rooms of residence halls are “configured differently than two and up” and are generally smaller.
Sonn said the housing availability screen will be functioning. Availability updates will be posted on the RHA and CLLC Web sites, instead of GWeb, if any technological problems occur, he said.
The selection two weeks ago was riddled with a few computer glitches that did not allow students to view currently available spaces in dorms and ended up double-assigning some rooms.
Housing officials also said all freshmen with housing selection numbers will receive a residence hall assignment for next year by the end of the selection process this weekend.
Housing Services reported that there are 1,783 beds in the 13 buildings reserved for rising sophomores, who will select housing beginning at 8 a.m. Sunday. Two hundred and eighty spaces are also available in Pelham and Somers halls at the Mount Vernon Campus.
Residence Hall Association President Noel Frame predicts Munson and Guthridge halls, which have 263 open beds, will get selected first. These buildings are “pretty attractive” because they have apartment-style rooms that traditionally house upperclassmen, she said.
Frame said Madison and Crawford halls are usually selected last because they are more “traditional dorm-style residence halls,” with a kitchen on each floor.
“There’s really no bad buildings, but there’s definitely some that are more desirable than others,” Frame said.
Frame said the addition of more than 1,000 beds to this year’s lottery in City Hall, Pennsylvania House, Somers Hall and the new Elliott School of International Affairs at 1957 E St. will allow RHA to eliminate any housing waiting list.
No rising juniors or seniors were placed on a waiting list after their housing selection Feb. 24.
Last year’s housing selection ended with a waiting list of 400 rising juniors, who selected second in the lottery. Sixty-four freshman, who picked first, were on the list at the end of selection.
“If we have (rooms) left over, I’m happy because we can’t predict how big the freshman class will be,” Frame said.
Housing Services Director Andrew Sonn said every rising sophomore selecting Sunday is guaranteed Foggy Bottom campus housing.
If no Foggy Bottom space is available, he wrote in an e-mail, students wishing to live there will have the opportunity to select a Mount Vernon space or place their name on a Guaranteed Housing Offer Form within 48 hours of housing selection.
