Housing selection starts in the middle of March at Boston College, but students begin to form their groups in mid-January. Sophomores quickly form their groups of six or four people in hopes of scoring an apartment on campus. BC apartments come with a full kitchen—meaning you can ditch the expensive meal plan.
In the housing process, the group chooses a leader whose job is to sign up every member with ID numbers and get their group verified. Then a computer system chooses groups randomly. The closer you are to being a senior, the higher chances your group gets selected.
Selection begins after 12 p.m. The longer it takes to get an email, the more likely your group gets a “pick time.” If selected, the group leader will get a pick time between 4–8 p.m. Then you and the group just wait for your time to come.
Our group included four girls. We wanted an apartment in a building with 17 floors so would get a breathtaking view of Chestnut Hill.
On March 13, my roommate verified our group at 9 a.m. Then we waited. We each went about our days, constantly texting the group leader to see whether she’d heard anything from Residential Life.
I grew more restless as time ticked on. My knee bounced up and down in a rhythm. I thought my wrist would hurt by the end of the day because of how often I twisted it to check the time on my watch.
Then our group leader sent us dreadful news: We didn’t get the four-man apartment. We felt shocked because every senior and junior that we talked to said that getting a four-man apartment was easy. Not many students applied for them.
That meant the following day we would split into groups of two and hope to get a two-man apartment, which are a scarcity. But we still stood a slim chance at landing one.
The next day we applied again, and waited and waited. Once again, the email came in: “Unfortunately we were not able to give your group a pick time.”
Immediately our excitement deflated. We regrouped into four girls and scrambled to find two other girls who weren’t able to get a two-man apartment either.
The worst part was that six person suites were just that—suites, not apartments. There were no more apartment availabilities which meant another year of obligatory eating bland dining-hall food.
Third day comes around and the group leader once again signed up all six of us. I crossed my fingers and forced out negative thoughts. If I focused on the positive,, we would get the six-man suite.
Apparently I just wasn’t positive enough. For the third time we didn’t get a pick time.
At this point I was completely stressing out internally. I tried to keep a calm composure so no one else would need to deal with my anxiety too.
We went onto the Boston College Class of 2021 Facebook page, hoping to finding two more people to create a group of eight. Eight-man suites were typically sophomore housing but at this point, it became our only option.
All groups on the Facebook page were either looking for two or four more people to create their own groups of eight. So, for the benefit of both our groups, we separated back into a group of two and four. Luckily, we found another group of four girls within a few hours.
The four of us quickly met with the other group of girls. We just met each other and got a feel for one another to make sure no one seemed like a potential crazy roommate.
The group leaders decided it was best if someone new took on that role for the following day. I was the lucky one *insert rolling eyes*.
That next morning, I sat in the living room area at 8 a.m. and signed up our group of eight girls. I texted the group chat once everything was verified and good to go.
We held our breath.
Noon came and the farther along time went the more hopeful we became.
At 12:51 p.m. we received an email and got our pick time. FINALLY! It felt like a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.
Our group got one of the earlier pick times, so we snagged an eight-man suite in the same building, just two floors up.
I felt ecstatic and relieved knowing where I would live next year. Obviously it isn’t ideal, but I would much rather live in the same situation two years in a row. The other option would have been to move backwards and go back to a building without any air conditioning. I just couldn’t survive that.
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