Sometimes the Process Can’t Change

In this Issue:

• Today we talk about upcoming housing selection and course registration and the realities that someone has to be last, and sometimes our processes can’t change. We also talk about how to have realistic expectations for the housing selection and course registration processes.
• There will be a Housing Webinar for families on March 8 from 5-6:30 p.m.; registration will be shared here next week

Someone has to go last

Every year, I run a post in the Daily Deac entitled “Someone has to go last” (you can read the most recent one here). The short version is that when it comes to things like course registration or housing selection, someone gets the first spot, and someone gets the last spot. And while no one wants to be last, the reality is someone has to be. 

Housing selection is coming up March 20-23, and fall course registration is coming up March 27-April 7, so it’s a good time to talk about the idea that someone will be last in those processes and will need to make the best of it. This year I also want to add a new theme to the message, and that is “Sometimes the process can’t change.” What do I mean by that?

Sometimes the process can’t change

We design processes like housing selection or course registration to be equitable to all 4,000+ students. When a student – or a family member – asks for an exception to process, in nearly all cases the answer is going to be “no.” And that is not because my colleagues want to be difficult, or that we don’t want to help a student. It is because if we make an exception to policy or practice for your student, we need to be able to do that for every other student in order to be fair to all. That simply isn’t possible.

Here is an example: course registration time tickets are assigned based on how many hours your student has earned (excluding AP, IB and any prior college work credits). If your student has a course registration time ticket that opens at 7 p.m., and they have a lab that meets at 7 p.m., they cannot ask the Registrar’s office to bump them back to an earlier time ticket. The student will be able to register after their lab (or they may be able to arrange with their faculty to step out for 5 minutes, etc.), but we do not move time tickets to earlier slots.

I’ll give you another example, this time with housing. Let’s say your Deac’s best friend is Pat. Pat is going abroad this fall (while your Deac is staying at Wake), so they can’t live together. Your Deac needs to find a new roommate, and decides to room with Alex. Your Deac and Alex go through the housing selection process and select a room together in a building where they have other friends living. They both sign the binding housing agreement. 

Now imagine Pat changes their mind and decides not to go abroad after all and wants to live with your Deac (they are best friends after all). Because your Deac and Alex selected a room together, that is their assignment. Even if Alex might be amenable to switching rooms, there may not be an open bed in a building they want, or they may not want to move in with someone they don’t know. So Alex has every right to keep the room they selected. Thus, the original housing assignment stands. 

As a parent or family member, you might be tempted to be mad. Why can’t my student live with their best friend?! They want to live together! Understandable feelings to be sure. But imagine that the tables were turned, and your Deac had made a roommate match and a housing selection they liked – and suddenly your Deac was told they had to move out because another friend of the roommate’s wants that space. Your Deac would be furious and hurt, and rightly so. And as a parent or loved one, I bet you’d be furious too!

This is an example of why we uphold our processes. 

How to have realistic expectations of the housing selection and course registration processes

On its most basic level, the students with the most seniority get to choose first: rising seniors go first, then rising juniors, then rising sophomores (incoming first-year students starting in fall 2023 will get housing and courses over the summer; more to come on that later).

Within those broad strokes of seniority, time slots are assigned. So your Deac might be in the first group of seniors to select housing, or have an earlier course registration time ticket based on their earned hours – or they might not.  Students (or families) cannot ask for changes to their assigned time to register or select housing.

With housing selection in particular, rising sophomores need to understand that they will be at the end of the selection process. That likely means the newest residence halls like Magnolia and Dogwood will be off the table to them, as will Deacon Place, unless they are part of a roommate group that includes juniors or seniors.

So then the strategy for rising sophomores is to think carefully about what is most important to them. Do I want to live with this one friend, no matter which building we are in? Or do I want to live in this particular building, even if I don’t know the other people in my suite/apartment very well? And it will be important for both roommates – or all the students in a roommate group – to be on the same page about what they want, and how they will handle it if their Plan A isn’t available when it is time to select rooms.

Planning ahead, knowing what is important to you, having a Plan B, C, or D, and committing to a very open line of communication with others you might live with are critical to the housing selection process.

Encourage your students to use Housing Help resources

We also have many resources available to help students during housing selection, including a live Help Desk during housing selection. Students can also use our “Find Your Way” webpage available at https://rlh.wfu.edu/ which includes resources to help them understand the housing selection process, as well as answers to our most frequently asked questions.

Parent and family housing webinar (March 8)

Residence Life & Housing will be holding a Housing Selection webinar for current parents and families (P’23-’26s) from 5-6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 8. You can register here. (Note that the technology only allows 500 people to register, but we will record it and post it after the event for any who cannot attend it live). In this presentation, representatives will walk families through the basics of the housing selection process, understanding residency requirements, and more.

Parting thoughts

Where your student lives is important to them, but help remind them that their experience while living there matters even more. As your student navigates the housing selection process, encourage them to be thoughtful about what their residential expectations are for next year – not just where they live and who they live with, but how they will choose to build community wherever they are. 

In housing as in so many other things in life, you get out of it what you put into it. So no matter where they are, if they approach their residential experience with an open mind and intentionally work to form connections with those around them and maximize their opportunities for belonging and friendship, they will be more likely to find those things.