Housing Lottery: What's Your Number?

Columbia just released the housing lottery numbers for next year's dorm selection. I will not even attempt to explain to you how the housing selection system works here as it is an enigma to everyone I know and not completely relevant besides, but I will say that if Columbians are passionate and obsessed with anything, it is housing. For at least a month straight all you hear about is housing, who is going to live where with who...

Now partially this is because Columbia has some pretty bad housing. No matter what, people do get over theirlousy housing and survive, but the bottom line is, housing matters. A lot.

Where you live - in college and beyond - has a big impact on you. Whether it's a matter of who you're living with, who your kids associate with, how your loud neighbors deprive you of sleep (I'm not bitter at all, really), how dedicated to Judaism the shul is, how far your walk to shul is, what shiurim exist, what values the community holds, etc., your home has a great impact on who you become and who your family becomes.

I think that concept sometimes gets lost in between finding something affordable, finding someplace where you can find a job... And clearly all of those are important things, but I would think that people choosing where to make their homes should spend at least as much time and energy on it as do college students.