Simpson students cross their fingers and hold their breath as they eagerly press towards the window at the student development office to discover their room selection number. While most students have studied the room selection process religiously there are a few new questions this year.

The most anticipated housing option this year is the new Station Square apartments. According to Laurie Dienberg Hoppe, the assistant director of residence life these apartments will not be available during the room selection process.

Instead there will be a waiting list. Students may sign-up for the chance to move in later in the semester.

Dienberg Hoppe said that like the theme houses, the additional price listed for these apartments is due to the fact that they have two bathrooms per apartment and subsequently require additional plumbing at an additional price.

Another stipulation placed upon the new Station Square Apartments is that it is substance free, which means no use of alcohol and tobacco products. Another provision is that this building will be under 24 hour quiet hours. These regulations will be throughout the 2003-2004 school year, while the current residents finish out their contracts or move out at their leisure.

According to Dienberg Hoppe, the results of the Quality of Life Survey filled out by students earlier this year are not ready to be announced. She said however that typically apartments are the most popular followed by theme houses, Buxton and then the traditional dorms. As for the popularity of individual apartments she said that Colonial and Washington usually fill up first, followed by Hamilton and then Weinman and the Detroit apartments.

Many people hoping to get the best apartment or dorm room imaginable have been known to select their roommates on their room selection number rather then on how long they actually get along. Or in the case of new students, they most likely don’t know their roommates. The residence life department takes many steps to help avoid or resolve any roommate conflict.

The current system was crated by students three years ago and is up for evaluation in the near future. While this system is a vast improvement over the old system it is still not without criticisms. According to Dienberg Hoppe the biggest criticism of the current system are the random lottery numbers, and not numbers which reflect other issues like grade point average.