Despite unexpected snow and sleet, a projected 1,500 students braved the elements to attend the 11th annual on-campus Housing Expo, according to Boston University Director of Housing Marc Robillard.
While in previous years the exposition was held in the George Sherman Union, this was the second time it was staged in The Shed in West Campus.
“[The Expo] originally started because students wanted tours of the halls, but we have over 100 residences on campus,” Robillard said. “Here, everything is in one place.”
Students had the opportunity to view floor plans for all residences on campus and to talk with students who live in the residences. Volunteers representing each hall were present to answer questions and discuss their living experiences.
Robillard said he hopes the students walk away from the expo with more information to give them confidence in the upcoming housing selection.
“Our goal is that when students select a room, they have a better idea of what they are looking for and have a higher number of options,” he said.
“Any student who has paid their deposit by March 1 gets housing,” Robillard added. “Whether or not we have a shortage is an issue we cannot predict yet.”
There were, however, some factors that may have prevented a higher attendance.
“The location out here hurts, plus the weather didn’t cooperate either,” he said.
Omkar Palekar, a College of General Studies sophomore, said he attended the housing fair to make a more educated decision on his housing form.
“This year, I got stuck in West Campus,” Palekar said. “I want to be better informed so this won’t happen again next year.”
Some students were skeptical on the effectiveness of the exposition.
“People here today are spending so much time going over these floor plans and deciding where to live,” said Joy Peterson, a College of Communication sophomore. “At this point everything’s so up in the air, and things could work out much differently than people are anticipating.”
Peterson suggested it would be helpful if the floor plans were available online.
“It would make things a lot easier, and I wouldn’t have to come down here and fight the crowds,” she said.
Karen Shields, a COM sophomore, said there should have been better training of the hall representatives.
“I was disappointed in the [hall representatives’] knowledge,” Shields said. “In a lot of the places, the reps didn’t know what were doubles, triples and so on. It was hard to know what would be a good place to live because not all the facts were there.”
The housing exposition also served as an opportunity for students to drop off their $400 deposit to guarantee their spot for next year.
COM junior Florence Ng was pleased with the convenience of being able to pay the deposit and browse available housing options in the same place.
Many students were also enticed by the amount of CDs, games, food and novelties that were given away.
“All the free stuff wasn’t bad either,” Ng said.
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