Joining the rest of the campus community and beginning their Brandeis journeys, midyear members of the class of 2023 will move onto campus on Jan. 10. But with the number of  midyears this year, the question has turned to where incoming students will live this spring. 

In an email to the Justice, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs Tim Touchette said midyear students will be living in Ziv Quad, East Quad and the Village. He says that this is no different from prior years. “It’s been several years since all midyear students have been assigned to housing in the Village. Some have gone into East and some have gone into Ziv 130,” Touchette told the Justice. 

He specified the breakdown this year —  27 midyears will be in Hassenfeld Hall, 21 will be in Pomerantz Hall, 24 will be in Village B, 33 will be in Village C and 29 will be in Ziv 130. 

According to a Jan. 15 BrandeisNow article, 101 midyear students and 21 transfer students came to campus in January 2019. Dean of Admissions & Financial Aid Jennifer Walker said the final number of midyear students coming in in 2020 is not finalized. 

Walker wrote in a Monday email to the Justice, “It is hard to know exactly how many midyears will arrive until move in day because between now and then a few may decide to pursue other plans (this is normal). We are presently projecting a midyear class of around 130 students. There will be no transfers starting this January.” 

Touchette added that the algorithm used to place the midyears into rooms is the same algorithm used to place first-year students who started in August. 

“The only preference students can have is if they would like to request a single. I'm happy to say we were able to accommodate all requests for single rooms. The information communicated to students about where they will be located in the spring has included the Village, East and Ziv as possible locations,” he added. 

The students were informed of their room assignments on Dec. 5, Touchette told the Justice. 

Some of the midyears placed in East Quad will be filling in doubles that currently only have a single occupant, meaning there will be midyear students living with sophomores. Touchette said that sophomores were offered the opportunity to consolidate so that they could live with another sophomore, and many did. 

“We tried to avoid using rooms where there was a current student. However, based on numbers, there are a few spaces where we did not have a choice and used the matching information available to make the best matches,” Touchette said. 

He said that all students were notified of the possibility of a new roommate last semester and that the Department of Community Living will be following up with students who ended up receiving a midyear roommate in January.

Walker told the Justice that there is no specific class size that is “normal” for the midyear class. Although Admissions aims to enroll 100 midyear students each year, some classes are smaller and some are larger. This year’s midyear class has a larger yield than in years past. 

She said, “We set a target number and do our best to achieve it. The work of Admissions is not exactly a precise science as we are trying to predict the behavior of 17-year-olds, including many who have a myriad of wonderful collegiate options.” 

—Emily Blumenthal contributed reporting