Alma Bwogger Betsy Ladyzhets and Senior Staff Writer Sarah Harty recap Barnard’s housing lottery.

Hello Barnard students! We know it’s been a crazy day in the Cage for Columbia’s first day of room selection, but what about Barnard’s calmer, more civilized, online lottery? Bwog brings you all the data you need to choose where you’re living next year (if you’re lucky enough to have a choice, that is. We see you, sophomores who will inevitably end up on the Guaranteed List).

Last week, the first-ever SR123 lottery took place. This meant that Barnard seniors who were picking as a single or in a group of two or three could go before all the underclassmen, increasing their chances of getting coveted spaces in Sulz Tower…and Hewitt…and Elliott? Ok, we won’t judge. Interestingly, every person in the SR123 lottery picked into a single, corridor-style room. Guess y’all really don’t like each other.

In the SR123 lottery, 74 students picked into Sulz Tower, with the cutoff at 300/118. 21 picked into Hewitt, with the cutoff at 209. And 11 whole students picked into Elliott, with the cutoff at 202. This means that there are only 71 singles not in suites left for all the other students. Let the bloodbath commence.

Today, the rest of Barnard’s classes began to pick, with the four-person groups going first. The idea of the Barnard Housing Lottery is to add people into groups instead of splitting them apart, so the suite lotteries begin with four and go up to six. This year, as in most years, 620 was heavily favored, with 12 groups picking in and the cutoff at 300/15. Four groups went into 600, with the cutoff at 300/26. At Barnard, it’s kind of a trade-off between nicer rooms and reasonable distance to campus. Still, the four-person suites at 601 w. 110th st (known as 110) and Cathedral Gardens were still snapped up. Three went to CG, with the cutoff at 200/27, and two to 110, with the cutoff at 200/35.

Many students don’t pick in the lottery, for various reasons: they missed their time slot, they didn’t get the room they wanted, they want to add another person to their group (or try to split into singles), or there are just no rooms left that match their group’s make-up. This year might be particularly rough, as many rooms previously in the lottery are no longer available, including the coveted but pricey 110 studio singles. In the SR123 lottery, a whopping 169 students didn’t pick, and among the four-person groups, 30 of them either chose not to or weren’t able to pick into suites. This means 289 students will be continuing on to the next few rounds.

Good luck to the five-person groups picking on Friday. We’ll have more data for you then!

Sulz Tower via Bwog Archive