This year, the housing lottery system has received a 21st century update. Traditionally, the housing lottery has been conducted through in-person events, which sometimes left students waiting hours to choose their rooms.
In 2013, the Office of Residence Life made the first step in a transition to using the internet to speed up the process, by replacing the step of choosing lottery numbers out of a paper bag to the random-number-generator that is still used today.
This semester, however, ResLife is making the even larger jump to a new website for housing.
All housing this semester will be done through the new website mcdaniel.erezlife.com, which students are automatically able to log into using their standard McDaniel account information.
The housing application became active on this website beginning on March 1, and must be completed by all students wishing to take part in the lottery process. Additionally, the standard $200 housing fee is due by March 20, and can be paid either in person at the Bursar’s Office, or through the MyMcDaniel portal. Links and instructions for payment are located on the eRezLife site as well.
The website, in addition to hosting the new lottery system, also has other resources, including information about the Campus Safety shuttle, a full list of room and board rates, meal plan information, and break extension request forms.
All rooms in dorms, as opposed to apartments (singles, doubles, triples, quads, and substance-free housing) will be chosen through an online lottery process using the new website, during the month of April. This system will allow students to fully register online, and will no longer require attendance at room selection events in person, as has been the case in the past.
Not all rooms will be a part of this lottery process, however—a few still require separate applications or in-person attendance. The lottery process for independent housing (North Village and Gardens apartments) will be organized in the same way that it has in previous years, with an in-person lottery during the week of March 30, prior to the online room selection process.
Affinity housing (including housing for Greek lettered organizations) is chosen through a separate application process that is currently open. Language housing is conducted through the associated academic departments, and Honors housing is conducted through the Honors program.
The Office of Residence Life plans to release more information about the details of the new online process later in the month, once housing applications and deposits have been submitted.
