Housing selection ended last Tuesday, eliciting mixed reactions from both students who participated in and those who pulled out of the housing lottery due to the uncertainty of the process.

Spaces in popular housing venues remained at unuaually high lottery numbers this year, possibly due to expectations that did not line up with housing results from previous years. "We were definitely not expecting a Rosie because usually they go out,...and we had 157," wrote Carly Chernomorets '16, who was pulled into a suite in Rosenthal Quad last minute despite her initial plan to live in East Quad, in an email to the Justice.

According to the statistics on the Department of Community Living's website, suites in the Rosenthal Quad ran out at number 73 in 2011. "I think that a lot of people assumed that they would not be able to get a Rosie because of their numbers, so they just decided to try for East pull-ins," Chernomorets said.

Many students' decisions regarding housing were made based upon results from previous years. The unpredictability of housing has led students to remain cautious in anticipating housing choices prior to selection.

As a senior, Missy Mandell '13 did not participate in the housing process. However, she was forced to live off campus this year. Mandell attributed this year's unexpected results to the experience students had with housing last year. "I predicted before housing appointments this year that numbers would take much longer to run out because of the high number of current juniors forced to live off campus last year," she wrote in an email to the Justice. 

However, DCL warns students to be wary that statistics from previous years cannot always project the results for each succeeding year. "When reviewing [these statistics], be aware that many variables change each year including designations and class size, and the order that housing is selected and completely taken varies from year to year," reads the DCL website.

Jacob Aronson '15 said he waited inside Sherman Function Hall, where housing selection took place, for about five and a half hours before he was able to find someone looking for an extra person to fill a suite in the Ziv Quad.

"I had number 1667, which wasn't bad. But judging from the scale of housing the last two years, it wouldn't be good enough to get me on campus housing," Aronson wrote in an email to the Justice. "I had made plans previously with several friends and would have had several options for off-campus housing if I went immediately to them instead of going on the wait-list."

Despite his difficulty in finding on-campus housing after a plan to obtain a six-person Ridgewood suite fell through because there were only five people in his group, Aronson is content with the housing process. "With proper forethought, planning, and quick thinking on your feet, it's actually a rather enjoyable activity. ... I went into housing this year knowing the chances of my first housing plan were not strong, and so when the Ridgewood didn't pan out, I wasn't overly disappointed," he wrote.

According to Yedidya Mosche Ben-Avie '15, he entered the housing lottery "but pulled out when I started forming a group to live off campus." Ben-Avie's number was 2198. "We assumed we weren't getting in," he wrote in an email to the Justice.

Although some upperclassmen assumed that they would not receive on-campus housing, housing is still available.

According to the tracking page for fall 2013 housing availability, as of yesterday, four Charles River two-person apartments, three singles and 11 doubles in East Quad, one Village C double, two doubles and one single in Schwartz Hall, one double and one single in Usen Castle, 17 singles in Massell Quad, nine singles in North Quad and four six-person suites in Ziv Quad remain.

According to the DCL website, there are about 1,200 beds on campus for upperclassmen. "Students who do not receive housing during room selection have a very decent chance of receiving housing through the wait list. For the last three years, all students on the wait list were offered on-campus housing," the site reads.

Although housing selection has closed, anyone who requested housing but did not receive it can contact the DCL. "Some spaces are intentionally held from room selection to allow us to accommodate any unforeseen circumstances that may arise over the summer months for students, such as new medical needs related to injuries.  Any spaces that were unassigned at room selection will be assigned to students who remain on our waitlist," wrote Senior Director of Community Living Jeremy Leiferman in an email to the Justice.

According to Leiferman, only about 100 rising juniors and seniors were unable to select housing. All rising sophomores were able to select housing. "At this point, we anticipate that roughly the same percentage of undergraduates will be living on campus next year," he wrote.