On Friday, the Office of Residential Life & Learning released housing lottery numbers for sophomore housing via email.
All rising sophomores, who are required to live on campus per the two-year residency requirement, were given lottery numbers which ranged from 1,000–2,900. Interested rising seniors and juniors had to apply for a lottery number in the fall, and those accepted last semester were assigned numbers between 1–400 and 500–900 respectively, with some flexibility.
“This system has been in place for some time now,” Angy Sosa, associate director for residential operations, wrote in an email to the Daily. “Over the years we have continued to adjust and build out better ways of using the system.”
Lottery numbers determine the order in which students can select their housing option for the coming year. Sophomore housing options can be a departure from the hall-style singles, doubles and triples of the first-year dorms.
“I got [No.] 1,143, so I got pretty lucky,” first-year Adriana Pervizaj said. “One of my friends … got [No.] 1,009, so hopefully I’ll be rooming with her doing a quad in Latin Way. That’s what I hope happens, but I’m not really sure on how the process works.”
Ten, six and four-person suites tend to be a more popular option among rising sophomores as they offer a more communal living situation.
“I was going for a suite originally,” sophomore Dylan Fee said of her housing selection process this past year. “But you know, I ended up getting a double. I feel like that happens to most people because we didn’t have a good enough number.”
For students who might want to live with their friends in a suite but don’t have a low enough lottery number, Sosa recommends regrouping for a smaller size space.
“Keep trying!” Sosa wrote. “There is no particular method to the group formation or selection processes to ensure any particular room type, but having multiple options is the best way to ensure first years can live with their chosen group.”
For students who may want to live in a single dorm but may not have the lottery number to do so, Sosa explained that having a good lottery number is not their only opportunity.
“Many students believe that it’s your lottery number that will determine your access to a single room, but actually, if you hold out for general selection, you will also have the possibility of a single room in various locations,” she wrote.
Pervizaj mentioned that the housing process has been confusing, with different dates and misinformation being floated around.
“I’ve definitely been having to look for more information because people were posting before that lottery numbers were supposed to come out two weeks ago, then it was supposed to be last week, and then finally, they said today,” Pervizaj said. “So I really just didn’t understand when they were coming out.”
Pervizaj referenced Sidechat as the source of much of the misinformation. The platform has been filled with Tufts housing-related memes in the past couple weeks, as well as upperclassmen who have been through the process before weighing in on their own experiences.
“I also feel like a lot of it’s kind of research on your own about which dorms are the best fit for yourself,” Pervizaj said. “I wish they had more pictures and tours of the dorms so you can see what you’re getting yourself into.”
For accurate information on the process, Sosa recommends utilizing the resources provided by the Office of Residential Life & Learning.
“The website has a lot of information,” she wrote, “but we will also be scheduling webinars where students are able to further understand the process and what their lottery number means. … Something to keep in mind is that every year, groups of students change, their thoughts on the best locations change, etc.”
Fee is waiting to hear back about her application for a resident assistant position while also trying to find a backup housing plan if she doesn’t get the job.
“I’m looking for a place to sublet if I don’t end up getting this RA job,” Fee said. “But as of right now, I don’t have anywhere to live just because of the awkward time period of all the applications coming out.”
Fee said that she didn’t apply for a junior lottery number, adding that the timeline of both applications could line up better. She is expected to hear back about the position, which offers free housing, by the end of February, well after many of her peers signed leases for the next academic year.
“I did consider [applying for a lottery number] briefly,” Fee said. “I kind of wish the RA application came out earlier, and decisions came out earlier, more around the time when people are getting places.”
While on-campus housing options are currently limited for upperclassmen, a new residence hall on Boston Avenue set to be finished in 2025, as well as an expansion of the Community Housing initiative known as CoHo, seek to increase on-campus beds available to upperclassmen.
“Once complete, new housing projects would increase the number of spaces available for students,” Christina Alch, director of ORLL, wrote in an email to the Daily. “However, it’s possible that there could be noise or other disruptions during construction, which may cause us to remove a small number of spaces for some of that time.”
