Office of Housing and Residence Life @ Mason

Housing Selection – Group Priority

February 6, 2012

Hi Everyone,

A bit of information about group priority:  A variety of surveys, conversations with students, and other assessments show that a student’s true satisfaction with their living arrangement has far more to do with their roommates and suitemates than it does with which building they are in.  Basically, “who” you live with has a greater impact on your living experience than “where” you live. (We aren’t saying the “where” isn’t important for many students, just that the “who” ultimately impacts the experience more.)  Group priority in selection will dramatically increase a student’s chances of selecting a suite with suitemates they want to live with.

We have been getting a lot of questions that basically all come down to “How do I increase my chances of selecting what I want?” Our best advice, and what we have been sharing at information sessions, is to form a group with people whom you really want to live with.

• Who you apply with is very likely who you are going to be living with, so don’t put people in your group just to alter your group’s average seniority. Sure, a bunch of seniors could put a sophomore in their group to lower their average seniority in an attempt to not be on the Guaranteed Waitlist.  But most groups who apply for housing together are going to end up selecting together, so, do those seniors really want to live with that sophomore?  In most cases, the answer will be no.  We can’t tell you how many people will be on the waitlist until all of the applications are received in mid-February, so there really isn’t much point in trying to game the system to avoid the waitlist.  With Rogers and Whitetop opening, we anticipate having the smallest waitlist in recent years.  Read more about seniority in our last blog entry.
• Form a group of four to have the widest variety of options. Over 70% of the spaces available during housing selection are in suites for 4 people.  These represent all configurations of bedrooms (4 singles; 2 singles and a double; 2 doubles) and all buildings.  All rates/price ranges are covered.  Since most students will end up living in suites for 4 people, it makes sense to form a group of 4 and intentionally select together, rather than being 4 random people in a suite.
• If you are a group of two, try to become a group of four. We are pretty confident that too many groups of 2 will form, since it is easy to find one person to live with, but harder to find two more. Given the relatively small number of suites available for 2 people, and the relatively large number of suites for 4 people, excess groups of 2 are probably going to be living in 4-person suites.   It is worth doing the extra work now to find another pair and intentionally select together in a 4-person suite, rather than having random suitemates.
• If you are a group of three, be prepared to have a fourth suitemate. Almost all of the 3-person options are actually 4-person suites where one bed is already assigned to the RA or an incoming exchange student.  You’ll find out who the fourth person is over the summer.

Having trouble forming your group? Check out our tips on what to talk to potential roommates and suitemates about, join our Roommate/Suitemate Finder Facebook group, and attend a Roommate/Suitemate Finder event.  The remaining events are February 6 at 730pm in the Ridge (former Corner Pocket) anf Feb 15 at 730pm in Ike’s.

Entry Filed under: Housing Selection 2012-2013,OHRL information. Posted in  Housing Selection 2012-2013 ,OHRL information .