Alex Romano

Formerly known as the RAP is this year’s housing selection process. Although, I’m not sure what it’s called this year.

Even though they supposedly changed the process, it’s still extremely confusing.

All of the information that housing provided on-campus residents or those who might be interested in living on campus is very informative.

There were many improvements this year compared to previous years, but it’s still puzzling to me.

What they’ve seemed to do is actually explain things this time around, rather than trying to simplify the complexity of the system.

For example, the email housing sent to residents with their lottery number and instructions was over 500 words long. The housing selection application information page is over 800 words.

The basics page of the housing selection information page is almost 400 words. I know we all have to be responsible students and read everything, but people just aren’t going to read it.

There are 15 links on the side bar of the selection information page for 2011–12, not including the eight links of fine print. If I wanted to read a scholarly journal, I would have gone to JSTOR.

It’s just too much, which leads to a lot of confusion.

The actual selection process is absurd.

For those who are selecting new rooms, you have seven minutes to find the room you want, go through all the steps to pull in your friends, select their meal plans and finish the process before it kicks you out of the system.

Just like when selecting classes, the system seems to lag with so many people going into it at once that it makes it even more difficult.

During this, you don’t have the option to go back and see if there are other rooms available. So you have a choice: take the first room you see that seems best, or take your chances losing that room to find a better one.

Sophomore year I ended up losing the room I originally had because I took that chance. Why can’t it just let you view other rooms while allowing you to hold onto a room for a couple of minutes?

The positives: housing has reached out to students more this year than ever in the past.

Holding information sessions to answer students’ questions are great. They also created a system where you can input your lottery number to see how many people are potentially ahead of you in selecting.

Utilization of Facebook, a blog and Twitter are great. They always respond on their housing@gmu.edu account.

Housing also seems to be engaging the student body more for their input on future housing projects; such as holding a forum to ask us our opinion on the carpet they’re going to use in Housing Project VIII.

Thanks housing, for letting the students have input on the carpet. So housing does seem to be improving.

Let’s just hope they simplify stuff a bit next year.

Alex Romano is currently the Program Director of WGMU Radio and co-host of “Mixing it Up and Back,” Sunday nights 9-10 p.m., where you can hear a preview of the Weekly Rant live on-air. Alex is also a former member of SG’s Senate.