Oh the dreadful housing process. No one enjoys it, but like it or not, it has to be done. Every year you cross your fingers in hopes of getting a low lottery number. Trying to rally up the right number of roommates to fit in a room can be hard, especially since you do not know what lottery number you will get. If you thought you would be able to live in a five-person suite, but then get a poor lottery number, you have to scramble to find another person. Every year it’s a struggle, adding to the stressfulness of your week that you really didn’t need after worrying about all the tests and paper due.

But it’s okay because no matter what lottery number you get, there are good and bad sides to each of the housing options.

If you are a freshman looking at sophomore housing, there are four choices: Hill, Village, the suites or Complex. At first everyone wants Hill. It’s older, but has air conditioning and, the best part of all, it has a kitchen. It is one of the only residence halls on main campus that has a kitchen and let me say that although I never cook, just having a kitchen accessible is really nice.

Then there is New Village and Old Village. New Village is the dorms that sit right next to Hilltop parking lot. Although the walk can be far, these rooms are new and big. When I say big, I mean big. They are even larger than some of the rooms on York. They do not have a kitchen, but the amount of space they provide makes up for this. They are also so close to the Hilltop parking lot, which is nice in the colder weather. New Village is listed as Village with numbers that are higher than 540. Old Village is also listed as just Village and has number in the 400s.

Another option is suites: Perlroth and Troup. Suites are okay; some people like them, some people hate them. They are cozy and have a motel feeling. They are not too far of a walk from classes and they are close to the Ratt, which can be good or bad, depending if you like it. They are nice though if you know someone else who lives there because then you don’t have to walk outside the residence hall to get to his or her room.

Then there is Complex. Complex is well…Complex. It has a kitchen, which is definitely a perk of living there, and the common room is very spacious, but the bedrooms are confusing. They are lofted and have a desk underneath. I wouldn’t even really call them bedrooms, more like train car beds. They don’t even have a real door. But if you can get over the bedrooms, the common room, kitchen and bathroom are all considerably bigger than Hill.

If you are a sophomore looking at junior housing there is way less stress picking rooms. There is really only one type of residence hall that most juniors live in which is Crescent. But if you get a low enough number you might be able to live in Westview or Townhouse. Crescent has a kitchen and a good size common room, definitely smaller than some of the dorms on main campus, but still nice. If you want to live closest to the parking garage aim for a low number like 200, 300, etc. If you want to be closer to the shuttle stop aim for a number near 250s, 350s, etc. Westview is really similar to Crescent except it only houses five people instead of six and the common room is a little bigger. The other perk of Westview is there is air conditioning. Townhouse is really similar to New Village on main campus; the only difference is that it has a kitchen.

Overall, all the housing options are really nice and everyone ends up finding perks to all of them. If you do find yourself having trouble with finding enough roommates or not being able to be placed where you want to Residential Life is usually really helpful in accommodating you. Even though the process can be stressful, stay calm and remember it will work out in the end.