Bryn Mawr’s dreaded annual room draw took place on April 26. Over the past two years, room draw has taken place virtually via eRezLife over the course of three days, with each class year selecting rooms on separate days. This year, however, the Office of Residential Life decided to change things up — room draw took place over the course of one single day, starting at 10am and ending at 6:12pm. While still conducted virtually on eRezLife, there was also food, activities, and decorations in the Campus Center and on Merion Green, in an attempt to support students and build community.
Despite the gloomy day, celebrations were in full force on Sunday, with an inflatable slide and bounce house outdoors, chalk writing celebrating room draw covered the ground in front of the Campus Center, and cotton candy handed out at the entrance. Inside featured fresh popcorn and various crafts, as well as hula hoops and beach balls scattered on the floor. However, students present at the celebrations seemed more subdued, sitting in front of their computers frantically searching for available rooms. At the beginning of the day, the inflatable slide and bounce house sat conspicuously empty outside.
“One of the biggest pieces of feedback we’ve received over the last two years regarding Room Draw is that students miss the community feel of when Room Draw was in person or on Zoom,” wrote Amelia Warner via email to the student body. Now, room draw is “a day of room selection, community building, and FUN!”
But is room draw really a day of fun? For most students, it is one of the most stressful processes of the year. Those with late times are forced to watch helplessly as their hoped-for rooms disappear before their eyes, and they must scramble to find an available room. Many end the day frustrated or unhappy.
This year’s changes were received with mixed opinions by the student body. Some like the change and appreciate that room draw is not stretched out over multiple days. Others think that condensing the process creates more stress for underclassmen, who have less time to adapt as room availability shrinks, especially for rising sophomores who are going through room draw for the first time and are more often than not unprepared.
The in-person celebrations therefore felt a little incongruous with students’ real-life experiences. While the attempt to build community is appreciated, multiple students expressed that instead of a bounce house, they would have liked the return of hall groups.
Previous to 2024, room draw included the option of hall groups, where students could form groups and choose a set of rooms where they could live next to each other. When Bryn Mawr migrated to a new room draw system on eRezLife, hall groups were no longer available, to the dismay of the student body.
Hall groups gave students the opportunity to prioritize their social circle, bringing into consideration the importance of having friends close by during college, combating loneliness and isolation. Without hall groups, it has become a much more difficult process to live next to one’s friends. Additionally, hall groups eased the room selection process, as electing to live in a hall group often meant choosing a selection of various-sized and quality rooms. This left more good rooms available later on and evened the playing field for those with bad time slots.
At the end of the day, though, room draw does sort itself out. Despite the tense moments, frantically watching rooms become unavailable, and the uncertainty that comes with it, everyone gets settled eventually. Sometimes, the dorm you didn’t want to live in becomes your favorite and you stay for the next three years. Sometimes, your unknown neighbor becomes a close friend. And if things are really bad, you can always request to switch your room.
Room draw will never not be a stressful occurrence. But maybe getting some cotton candy and playing in a bounce house makes it just a little bit better. Still, bringing back hall groups would be an added bonus.
