Only 76 students were placed on the waitlist for Fall-term housing by the Office of Residential Life, the smallest number in several years. Fall-term room assignments were mailed by ORL late last week.
Director of Housing Services Lynn Rosenblum said the 76 people represents the smallest waitlist ORL has had in at least the five years she has been at the College.
Last year, 153 students were placed on the waitlist when housing assignments were announced in May, but the College was able to guarantee all of them housing by the middle of Summer term.
In addition to the 76 students on the waitlist, Rosenblum said there are currently about 38 students on the provisional housing list, which includes students who applied for Fall housing but are still waiting to have their Dartmouth Plans changed.
Rosenblum attributed the smaller waitlist to changes in the housing application procedures and efforts by ORL to encourage students to take leave terms or participate in off-campus programs during the fall.
She said the new grouping option makes the system more fair to upperclassmen, since students can live in singles but still in the same hallway or on the same floor.
"We've worked over the years to reduce the pool of applicants to people who are really needing to live on campus," as opposed to those who apply merely to "test the waters," Rosenblum said.
It is no longer possible for seniors to "pull in sophomores," who take the more desirable rooms on campus from juniors and seniors, she said. "We no longer have to deal with that."
Rosenblum said the more desirable buildings will be filled with juniors and seniors, while many sophomores will live in the River Cluster, the Choates and the Lodge, less popular options for upperclassmen.
The decrease in waitlisted students also reflects the increase in the number of students who will participate in off-campus programs in the fall, Rosenblum said.
Assistant Dean of the Faculty and Exchange Coordinator Peter Armstrong said 291 students will participate in 17 off-campus programs this Fall term -- nearly twice the 158 students who were on off-campus programs last fall.
Armstrong said more students are applying for off-campus programs because "we've been urging departments to talk up the programs."
The Off-Campus Programs Office held a special program with French Professor John Rassias last Fall term to encourage students to apply, and Armstrong said he thinks this "really instilled an interest in students."
The 76 people on the waitlist is a far cry from the waitlists of years past, including 423 in 1994 and 370 in 1993.
ORL was able to avoid a housing crisis in 1994, convincing enough people to take Fall term off that all students on the waitlist who still wanted housing were able to receive it at the beginning of Fall term.
But students were not so lucky in 1993, when ORL was forced at the beginning of Fall term to temporarily house 13 students in study lounges converted into makeshift dormitory rooms because there was a shortage of beds.
There is unlikely to be such a housing crunch this year, since there are still openings in affinity housing programs, including Cutter-Shabazz and Brewster Halls, and some students may change their plans.
Rosenblum said next Friday is the deadline for waitlisted students to take advantage of these options.
Dan Kempf '00 said he is not worried about being one of the waitlisted students.
"I knew that there are people who are waitlisted every year, so I accepted it," Kempf said. "I'm not really worried about it right now."
Although Kempf said he has heard horror stories from upperclassmen about living in dormitory lounges until they received housing, he said he plans to remain on the waitlist and see what happens.
"The College should be able to house everyone," especially with the regulation of the D-plan, he said.
Andy Louis '00 also said he plans to wait and see if he can get a room.
"I really didn't have high hopes when I applied for housing," Louis said. "I'm not that annoyed by it."
Louis said he was probably waitlisted since he applied for a single, and the new grouping option allows more seniors to take advantage of singles.
He said he has heard that it is possible to end up with a very good room even after being waitlisted, because some students inevitably change their plans.
