Anxiety is high among Sacred Heart freshmen, with the release of their lottery numbers that determine their sophomore housing selection taking place on March 25.
Source: Instagram, @sacredheartuniversity
The sophomore housing process began in January with emails requesting students to pay their housing deposit and will end in April with room selection. Rising sophomores are required to live in one of the following eight residence halls: Bergoglio Hall, Bowman Hall, Cabrini Hall, Christian Witness Commons, Frassati/Weisel Halls, Mother Teresa Hall, Oakwood Gardens and Scholars Commons.
“My roommates and I are definitely interested in Wiesel, Frassati or Bowman Hall,” said freshman Lila Tarczali.
While students are not guaranteed to select the residence hall they want, they are assured to have a bed on campus or off campus at Oakwood Gardens in the fall.
“We have plenty of housing for everybody,” said Gregory Madrid, executive director of Residential Life.
Prior to the first day of housing selection, freshmen should figure out not only who they want to live with but also create a backup plan if they cannot select a dorm that fits their group number.
“If you don’t have a backup plan, this is a very, very stressful process,” said Madrid.
Housing selection occurs through the university’s housing portal. The student with the lowest lottery number selects on behalf of the group on their assigned date and time.
“I received number 119,” said sophomore Lily Eglevsky. “I was very grateful that my number was low enough where I could choose housing on the first day.”
If a student receives a high lottery number and cannot select the dorm they want, they can join a waitlist for another residence hall. Depending on the number of people in a group, students have multiple opportunities to receive a lower lottery number.
“It’s not just your number, it’s your group’s number, so there is hope,” said Madrid. “You can have number 1,200, but your friend has number five.”
Although the sophomore housing process has not changed in recent years, students’ dorm preferences do change because of factors such as group number, building or room amenities, and proximity to academic buildings or other facilities.
“We have a group of four and are interested in having an extra living space to all hang out in and most of the halls we like have those within the room,” said Tarczali.
To accommodate over 1,000 students and their preferences, the university uses the lottery system to fairly distribute numbers to avoid conflict.
“I believe everyone getting a number completely random makes a huge difference in giving everyone an opportunity to experience housing here, especially Upper Quad housing,” said Tarczali.
However, students do not need to live on the Upper Quad in Pioneer Village to enjoy their sophomore dorm experience with their friends.
“I ended up choosing Scholars Commons because I eventually decided to live with seven other girls,” said Eglevsky. “We got the dorm we wanted and living with my roommates has only strengthened my friendship with them.”
The housing process teaches students to navigate conflict and challenges them to embrace uncertainty.
“Obviously if the plan doesn’t go as we all have hoped, there will be opportunities for us to find a place where we are all happy,” said Tarczali. “I also believe everything happens for a reason so wherever we end up is where we all belong and will thrive.”
Because of the unpredictability of the lottery, students should remain calm when receiving their numbers and selecting their sophomore housing on their assigned day.
“It’s most important who you live with as opposed to where,” said Madrid. “Everywhere can be a home.”
