1. High lottery number? Forget about picking where you live!
Here’s the deal. Everyone has a “choice” in where they live, or so they say. But if your number is in the 6000 range, for example, and no one else in your group has a much lower number, most of the good spots will be taken. So, yes, you get to pick from what’s left, unless you’re among the unlucky last few who must be randomly assigned.
2. It’s so random! (The range is absolutely ridiculous)
Yes, it’s supposed to be random. Random makes it fair, right? Sure, sure–until you realize how ridiculous the range is. The fact that you can be in the 5000 range and one of your friends is in the 3000 range really doesn’t seem so fair after all.
3. Got the best number? Get ready for course registration round two. You can literally see the spots being taken right before your eyes!
So it’s come down to this. You have the best lottery, so you have to brave the housing system. You may have been the lucky one as far as numbers are concerned, but that makes you the unlucky one who gets to experience one of the most stressful things ever. And you thought course registration was bad!
4. Current first-year student looking for housing next year? The housing gods are definitely not with you!
Your number is almost guaranteed to be lousy, as if you weren’t already having problems with deciding who you want to live with and where.
5. There’s the possibility that you and your girls won’t have many options and will have to split up.
This is definitely a worst-case-scenario type deal, but it’s not like something like this hasn’t happened before. But this could definitely be a real issue if you have a group of six people. Six-person options are few and far between.
6. And sometimes the cheaper options run out before you register.
Housing can get pretty expensive, and you’re not willing to drop $6000 for a space you won’t even be inhabiting for more than 8 hours a day. And, besides, everyone wants to live in one of the West Villages! The fact of the matter is that you aren’t the only one trying to save money.
7. Everyone and their mothers are trying to get into Willis!
You had the perfect plan! Willis is much cheaper than the West Villages and you heard is about as nice. Bad news: almost everyone else is thinking the same thing. It’s a toss up unless you have a really good number.
8. You know people who have much lower lottery numbers than you.
It’s a fact of the housing lottery: there will be people who have higher lottery numbers than you and there will be people who have lower lottery numbers than you. But there’s something painful about knowing who has the number one pick.
9. You want a single?
I don’t want to crush your dreams, but those are pretty limited.