Lowell is Top Pick in Freshmen Housing Poll Though Many Students Are Still Undecided

Lowell House will most likely be the top choice among freshmen in this year's housing lottery according to a Crimson telephone poll conducted yesterday.

Lowell was picked by 18 percent of 940 freshmen surveyed, followed by Adams and Quincy, which tied for second place at 13 percent each.

The poll showed, however, that 17 percent of students questioned, or 164, were still undecided about their first choice House less than 24 hours before today's 4 p.m. deadline for submitting forms to University Hall.

The Crimson's annual housing survey this year represents the highest sampling ever of a freshman class. The poll reached more than 58 percent of the 1597 students registered this year as freshmen, although not all rising sophomores participate in the lottery.

Officials did not indicate, however, how many freshmen would choose to live off-campus next year, or how many would be exempt from this year's lottery for medical reasons.

First Time Since 1980

This is the first year since 1980 that Lowell look first place in that poll, although it has traditionally been among the top three finishers. Last year's poll of 272 students placed Eliot and Quincy at the top with 15 percent each, followed closely by Lowell.

Adams's second-place finish this year returns it to its usual position in the top quarter of the House list. It tell from this category for the first time since 1977 last year, when it placed sixth in the poll.

For the second consecutive year. Mather House is at the low end of the poll, with fewer than one percent of freshmen indicating it as their top choice. Currier, North and South also continued to attract few students as first-choice Houses.

Previous Crimson surveys have not measured whether freshmen were undecided.

Assistant Dean for Housing Thomas A. Dingman '67, who oversees the lottery process, declined yesterday to estimate the number of open spaces in any of the 12 residential Houses. He and other officials have said that such information contributes to an increase in last-minute changes and choices based on irrelevant factors.

College officials have said that, because the lottery is run according to a random assignment of numbers to rooming groups, basing preferences on polls and open space figures is generally ineffective in guaranteeing a particular final result.

Dingman has also declined to confirm the accuracy of previous Crimson polls, saying that it has varied from year to year. But he refused to discuss official statistics regarding percentages and choices, other than to say that a record high 92 percent of students last year received one of their three choices. Percentages of 940 freshmen polled: Lowell  18 Adams  13 Quincy  13 Winthrop  9 Eliot  9 Kirkland  7 Leverett  6 Dunster  4 Currier  2 North  1 Mather  * South  * Undecided  17 *Less than 1 percent