You wouldn’t have survived housing five years ago
They had to choose off physical floor plans on the walls at Vandy Cabaret room
Now that the housing selection process is among us, the stress of the process has indeed infiltrated campus once more. But the current system is nothing compared to the process five years ago. After speaking with an alum, I found out the old housing selection was even more outdated, and more frustrating than UIS.
Jen Hartin, a communication major and 2011 grad explained when she was a freshman selecting her housing for sophomore year she had to “go to the Vandy Cabaret room and show up at her allowed time. Inside the room there would be large floor plans for all of the buildings hanging on the walls.”
Jen described the scene as “mob-like” as 10 room leaders would be in the room at the same time calling other members of the group and trying to choose where to mark their group in on the maps.
Jen explained people even “walked in front of her to take a room she was about to,” which is a lot more direct than seeing it vanish on a computer screen.
Despite all of the fuss over housing Jen still had a great time living at BC. During her four years she lived in Keyes South, Walsh 501, 221 Chestnut Hill Ave, and Mod 38A.
When asked what her favorite housing experience was she said, not surprisingly, “definitely the Mods. I blocked with my friends and having a yard was great.”
Jen’s least favorite experience was living off campus. She found, like many do, “junior year was a weird year with people abroad and most of her friends on campus while she was off.”
After asking her perspective on living in the new dorm versus the mods she said she would still choose the Mods because “tailgating is a huge part of BC culture and the outdoor space is nice.”
After all of her years at BC, Jen found that the housing process for selecting for sophomore housing was the most stressful, undoubtedly as a result of the manual selection and hectic environment.
But moreover she went on to say it was hard to split people up because all of the people on her floor freshman year were really close and “two girls even had to get an RA involved because they wanted to pick out of a hat.”
Some things never change.
So whatever pick time you get these coming weeks, and whether you end up on CoRo or in the Mods, be thankful you do not have to sign up for housing in Vandy on a giant sheet of paper.