One Year Later: Housing Winners and Losers

In one small corner of McBain's sixth floor, the cruel whims of the housing lottery are easy to see.

In McBain 622, Ashley Banks and Rosalind Grush, both CC '08, enjoy the fruits of lottery number 23. Light streams into their 269-square-foot double through the bay window, which Banks enjoys on the room's window seat. The two frequently host gatherings for their friends-it's "more than enough room for people to twirl around," Banks said.

Just across the hall, Terence McAndrews, SEAS '08, and Sam Roberts, CC '08, have been forced to fill much of their 200 square feet with lamps. One of the smallest doubles on the McBain shaft, the room gets almost no natural light. It's the type of room that only students unlucky enough to get lottery number 2,974-the lowest number in group selection among last year's rising sophomores-would ever be subject to live in.

A look at where last year's lottery winners and losers ended up provides a glimpse into the best and the worst housing that Columbia has to offer. On one end there are East Campus townhouses, Hogan suites, and Watt two-bedrooms. On the other, there are tiny doubles on the McBain shaft, Schapiro walk-throughs, or-perhaps worst of all-Wien.

But exactly one year after students found out their lottery numbers for 2005-2006, a common denominator emerges among students, no matter what their number: their housing situation has worked out just fine.

"Getting a bad lottery number sucks, but good housing isn't much better than bad housing," McAndrews said.

Patrick Li and Dan Raz, both CC '06, might disagree. With a lottery number of 216, the pair was the seventh two-person group to pick a room last year. Their plush Watt two-bedroom apartment has a 269-square-foot common room, plus two decently-sized singles.

The flat-screen TV, DVD player, and video game system weren't included in the room, but that investment plus a couple of comfy lounge chairs created a home theater. Another 30 bucks or so bought a dartboard, and there's more than enough room to throw from the regulation 7 feet, 9.25 inches.

"Columbia is so stupid; this could easily be another room," Raz said.

Li piped in, "But where's the excitement in the lottery if all the rooms are the same?"

Not everyone with stellar lottery numbers ended up with the palatial accommodations of Raz and Li, though. Lucky number one last year went to Stefan Hasselblad, CC '07, who had entered the lottery alone and picked a 113-square-foot Broadway single notable only for its resemblance to all the rooms nearby.

And on the flip side, there was hope for students whose lottery numbers were higher than a perfect score on the new SAT. Emily Hoffman, CC '07, earned number 2,720 and a ticket to Wien 1220-at 94 square feet, the smallest room in the building, but now lives in a studio double in Watt.

"It was an easy choice to go in for summer transfer, and then we got really lucky," Hoffman said. "I was pretty happy."