Boston College students filed to enter the housing selection process for six-person apartments, typically seen as the most desirable options for upperclassmen, on Tuesday. The process ran through a familiar pattern to past years, with the Mods filling up early on in the process. For the third straight year, 2150 Commonwealth Ave. was the slowest—and final—dorm to fill up.
The Office of Residential Life provided periodic updates on Twitter as students claimed their rooms. Selection started at 4 p.m. Over the course of the next hour, just over half of the 76 available Mods were chosen. Like most students, the ResLife Twitter account focused solely on the Mods until 5:37 p.m., at which point it announced the Mods were completely full—coming at almost the exact same time as last year.
During that period of time, some students opted to try for Ignacio Hall or Rubenstein Hall. At 6:15 p.m.—over half an hour after the Mods closed—Ignacio Hall had reached half capacity, while Rubenstein had “tons of openings.”
In the span of the next two hours, Rubenstein filled at a much more rapid pace than Ignacio: Despite clocking in at only 20 percent full to Ignacio’s 67 percent at 6:40 p.m., by 7:45 it had nearly caught up. This comes in stark contrast to last year, as Ignacio closed right as Rubenstein reached the 50 percent mark.
Students avoided BC’s newest dorm, 2150, which opened in 2016. At 7:00 p.m., only 5 percent of the building’s six-person rooms had been claimed. An hour later, ResLife reported that the number had only grown a measly 13 percent—at which point Ignacio and Rubenstein had filled completely.
At 8:44, ResLife released a tweet explaining that a technical error had stopped the last 4 percent of rooms in Ignacio from being selectable after two students reported the issue on Twitter.
The day’s housing selection closed at 9:24 p.m., when ResLife announced that the final wave of students had picked.
Four-person apartments opened up the next day and filled in nearly the opposite order among buildings available both days. These rooms are scattered throughout 2150, Ignacio, and Rubenstein and make up most of Gabelli Hall, Vouté Hall, and 2000 Commonwealth Ave.
Students with early pick times gravitated toward the top floors of Gabelli and Vouté, which are all larger townhouses. All of them filled in the first 30 minutes of selection.
In the next several hours, 2150 filled the fastest, reaching 95 percent capacity by 5:20 p.m. Ignacio and Rubenstein sat at 83 and 50 percent occupied, respectively. At 5:35 p.m., all three were full.
As late as 6:16 p.m., 2000 was 0 percent full. The seventeen-floor apartment building, positioned between Cleveland Circle and Lower Campus, usually attracts juniors looking to stay on campus for all four years.
ResLife announced at 7:09 p.m. that the only remaining rooms were in 2000. Just half an hour before, only one percent of its rooms had been claimed—a testament to the popularity of the other buildings.
Correction (3/18/19, 5:22 p.m.): An inaccurate statement regarding the placement process for the unfilled rooms in Ignacio Hall was removed.
Featured Image by Jonathan Ye / Heights Editor
