Three’s company

Christine Guerrini

From the time I sent my letter of acceptance and deposit to Villanova, I anxiously awaited any and all information about what my new life would be like.  One of the most important details I wanted to know was who would be my roommate.  

I checked Novasis as soon as the room assignments were scheduled to be posted, but to my dismay, I had to wait several extra days until they actually showed up.  When they finally had the assignments online, I stared in disbelief as two names appeared on the screen.  

“It must be a mistake,” I thought, before almost falling over from the shock.  How could this happen, isn’t one bad enough?  

Well, I’ll tell you how it happened.  Like any college, Villanova’s admissions office has a set quota for the incoming class.  This year, the goal was 1,530 resident students. Offering admissions to a number of applicants in hopes of meeting their quota, the admissions office received quite a few more acceptances than anticipated.  Actually, the number of students who accept admissions has increased over the past few years.  

“A good example of the variability in acceptances from year to year is the current junior class,” says Marie Schauder of Residence Life. “With attrition factored in, [the] current junior class is smaller than the last two classes.”

So then, all you triples out there may have asked yourselves, why me?  The simple answer: because you procrastinated on your acceptance offer.  As stated in the 2005-2006 Housing and Arrival Information handbook, those students with later dates of deposit were assigned to typically double-occupancy rooms to compensate for the hoards of fresh meat coming onto campus.  And to reimburse us for our situation, our parents get a one-third discount off the housing bill.  Yes, that certainly calmed my anxieties.  

I wasn’t alone, however.  Well, obviously, I wouldn’t ever be alone with two roommates!  

“At first, I was freaking out about it,” said Adriane Bernabei.  Like many new students, she was unsure of where to put all of the furniture, clothes, storage bins, mounds of food, and other necessities.  

“It’s very homey. It gives you a very cozy feeling.  And I guess if everyone agrees about where stuff goes, it all works out,” one of my roommates, Carisa Bautista, said as she laughed.  “It looks cluttered but you know we like it.”

According to Marie Schauder, the 2005-2006 academic year opened with 444 freshmen assigned to tripled-double rooms.  Students were offered the option of submitting room change cards on the first day of classes; currently, 24 freshmen have been de-tripled with 11 still waiting.  This was a slight increase from the past fall semester, which opened with 435 freshmen assigned to triples.  By the spring semester, however, only 297 triples remained.  

So maybe there’s still hope for the unhappy triples?  But, actually, many freshmen opt not to detriple after getting settled in.  

“It’s cool because you get two new friends instead of one. We all get along really well,” Christine Manning said.  On top of that, many students don’t want to leave the other friends they’ve made on their floor or building. Whether you’re in a triple, have been de-tripled or just like to laugh at those of us who got stuck in this situation, I say, “Well, at least we’ll always have one more friend than you do.”