The Insider’s Guide to Campus Housing for Freshmen!
The University of Rochester has plenty of housing options on campus, and residental life is expanding. There is a new building being constructed, complete with air conditioning and carpeting! With its opening this fall, there is a lot of excitement amongst us students, and everyone’s competing in the housing lottery to get to live there. The fate of the first residents of O’Brien Hall lies in the housing lottery! (Sounds like the Mega Millions to me! Who were those lucky ones??)
The Res Quad is a lovely quadrangle surrounded by old architectural buildings, three of which house freshmen: Hoeing, Gilbert, and Tiernan. Students are found lounging about on the quad, throwing Frisbees around, and basking in the sun in good weather. Freshmen also live in Susan B. Anthony Halls (or “Sue B,” as it is fondly called in UR lingo), near the football field. I lived in Sue B my freshman year, so you’ll be able to see why I’m fond of it. It has a dining hall, Danforth, which was just recently renovated and is a must-see when you come visit! Every time I step in, it reminds me of a buffet in a hotel, with the live food stations all around. Right outside the building is the Sue B “bowl”—an undulating terrain on the slope of the hill, with luscious grass and beautiful trees in the summer. It transforms into a snow bowl in the winter, where many snow fights occur and snowmen are born.
When the freshman babies become rising sophomores, they partake in the housing lottery. Sophomores are guaranteed housing too, but they need to apply for the housing through the lottery, which the rest of the upperclassmen are also involved in. The end of March and early April are when you feel the air abuzz with everyone discussing housing options on campus for the coming academic year. So I thought, why not blog about this so you guys can hear about the firsthand experience too?
The housing lottery works on a point-based system. So freshmen, when you are rising sophomores looking for housing, you’ll be given 1 point each. Rising juniors get 2 points and rising seniors get 3 points. Upperclassman housing is available throughout campus in a range of singles, doubles, and six-person suites. Based on the number of points of the total group (the people you apply with), random lottery numbers are assigned. Those with greater cumulative points stand a better chance of a good lottery number. And then when the day of the housing draw comes nearer, you go with your housing lottery number and wait until your number is called to select your room for the new academic year! If housing runs out in the specific place you want, don’t fret! Res Life allows each student to apply for more than one housing space, so they can drop down to their next choice and go for the respective draw. Res Life ensures that all sophomores are guaranteed housing and works very hard to accommodate everyone’s first choices!
But hey, if you love your freshman experience so much that you always want to be surrounded by the amazing incoming freshmen, you can apply to be a Residential Advisor in freshman housing, or a Freshman Fellow, or a D’Lion! I’m going to be a Freshman Fellow next year in Hoeing 2, so any of my future freshman residents out there, feel free to contact me! Freshman Fellows are upperclassmen who advise students with their academic and extracurricular activities and are there for them as mentors on the hall. D’Lions live on the freshman hall to keep the freshman experience alive and be there to help them settle in with the college atmosphere. And of course, the lovely Residential Advisors are there for you anytime! They are in charge of your freshman hall.
As a Freshman Fellow next year, I can’t wait to meet all the incoming freshmen and tell them all about the classes offered here and the diverse activities on campus—and, most importantly, make new friends! College can be overwhelming sometimes, when you suddenly leave home to come to a student community. But that’s why we upperclassmen are here for you!
I’m looking forward to seeing you guys! I hope the insight into our housing is helpful!
