As General Selection for undergraduate housing comes to a close this Friday, what many students will remember is the stress that accompanies choosing their rooms. Appointment times in particular are an unnecessarily troublesome component of the General Selection process, as they often conflict with classes. To remedy this, Columbia University Housing Services should use computer-generated selection schedule to make the process fairer for students.
Appointment times are scheduled during normal business hours and often conflict with class times, sometimes forcing students to choose between going to class and selecting their dormitory for the next semester. Unlike Suite Selection, General Selection is a fully computerized process that allows students to browse residence halls, view interactive floor plans, and consider the rooms of their choice. Class year and a lottery number then determine when students can actually select their rooms. Despite the efficiency and simplicity of the system, General Selection still needs improvement due to the time conflicts created by the assigned appointment times. Housing Services does offer students the option of naming a proxy to choose a room on behalf of the student’s wishes. However, should a student find himself unable to appoint a proxy, the room of his choice could go to another student. Moreover, proxies may not be aware of a student’s alternate housing preferences if her original choice is not available.
Housing should take advantage of General Selection’s fully automated system to make room selection times more suitable for students. Housing’s current system does little to smooth the process, as appointment times are spread throughout the most common class times without regard for students’ schedules. However, the process does not require real-time monitoring and therefore could take place outside of business hours. Moreover, Housing’s Hospitality Desk is always open for students with questions, which eliminates the business-hour requirement. By exploiting this flexibility, Housing could shift the appointments to more suitable hours when fewer or no classes meet, such as 6-11 p.m. on weekdays or on weekends. This adjustment would eliminate the stress that arises from time conflicts, which plagues the current system, and would allow students to attend class without risking loss of favorable housing. Though all students may not benefit from this change due to irregular class times, the overwhelming majority of the undergraduate population would appreciate the change.
The process by which students pick their housing in General Selection is already user-friendly, and it is a welcomed break from the chaos that often accompanies other aspects of choosing housing. It is time to take it a step further and schedule appointments at more convenient times for students.
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