Ballot
Corpus’ JCR room balloting system has two fundamental features:
- Your ballot position is completely random (within the course-based pot system).
- You have a free choice of room.
There are three ballots: a group ballot, for groups who want to live in the same flat, an individual ballot and a 9-month-contract ballot. You will be given a ballot score n, which means you will be the nth person to choose a room. Any students can choose any available room. In the individual ballot, the available rooms will include any rooms in flats not taken in the group ballot and any rooms not taken by people seeking a 9-month contract.
If you have any queries, email the Accommodation Officer.
AO, Let’s Go
Your handy guide to the new(ish) Corpus accommodation system!
The ballot list
The ballot list is divided into 5 bands: A, B, C, D, E. The band in which a student is placed is determined by the subject they study and the exams they have in the upcoming year i.e. the more important the year is academically for you, the better your band and, in turn, your final score will be. We are not changing how the bands are assigned, only the names of the bands to make it a little less confusing. If you wish to know in advance what band you will be, best to ask someone in the year above who studies your subject. Within each band, the order of students is generated randomly. Thus, the ballot list assigns every student a final ballot score on the basis of their band and the outcome of the random generation within this.
Important note for freshers: If you’re a 1st year student studying Medicine, Biomed, Maths, Physics, Chemistry or Experimental Psychology (i.e you have exams next year), you have two options: you can be band D this year and B next year, OR you can be band E this year and A next year. The standard is D-B but if you wish to switch to E-A then you need to let me know by the end of this week. The benefit of switching is that you can probably get a nice college room next time round, but obviously the disadvantage is that your score would be pretty low this year.
The group ballot
Right buckle up, this is the exciting bit and requires concentration.
If you decide to form a group and apply for a group property, you will lose your main ballot score and instead your number will be 1-5 based on your band i.e. band A becomes 1, band B becomes 2 and so forth. A group applying for Lampl could be as follows for example:
PART 1: To ballot for a building, a representative from the group must email me (rhiannon.percy@ccc.ox.ac.uk) directly with the full names of the members of the group, their year, their subject, their ballot band (I will check so pls don’t cheat) and the building in which they wish to live. For Lampl and Liddell, people will no longer specify flats, instead just state the desired building at this point. The representative should also provide a (fun) group name so I can keep track and they should cc in all members of the group.
Note: A student cannot be in more than one group ballot. If their name appears in more than one email, I will automatically disregard the later application in favour of the original one.
When the ballot closes, places in the relevant properties will be awarded in order of group scores – lower score wins over higher score. If there is a tied group score it will be pulled out of a hat.
We are aware that this element of randomness is a wee bit scary. But our intention is that, by reducing scores to bands only at this point, students with very low individual scores won’t become ‘poison chalices’ while priority based on academic demands can be maintained.
The students involved will be notified confidentially of the outcome of their application.
PART 2: If there are any group ballot properties left unoccupied, I will publish a list of the remaining properties to unsuccessful group ballot-ers who have the opportunity at this point to regroup (quite literally lol) and repeat the process.
At least 50% of a new group must have been in a group from part 1. This means a group of 3 must have at least 2 members the same; a group of 4, at least 2; a group of 5, at least 3; a group of 6, at least 3. This was Owen’s idea to prevent snakiness last year.
Once again students involved will be notified of outcomes confidentially. Part 2 can be repeated if the same happens again.
For Liddell and Lampl: Once we know the groups in each building, I will email the representatives of the groups in order of priority and they must reply specifying the flat which they would like.
Any student who has been unsuccessful in the group ballot will re-enter the individual ballot with their original score.
Individual ballot
There are five pots, from highest to lowest priority: A, B, C, D, E
Students are placed into these pots according to the number of exams they have that year. Students with no exams, such as second year PPEists or third year Classicists, are placed in the D pot. Students who have second year exams, other than Classicists, are placed in the D pot. Students with third year exams who had exams in second year and classicists are placed in D and B. Students who have their finals in one sitting in their third year are placed in the A pot.
Students may ask the AO to change pots: for example, a mathematician who will have the “D, then B” schedule may request to change to “E, then A”, thus swapping a more desirable second-year room for a more desirable third-year room.
Accommodation for the next year is chosen students ordered first by their group and then their placement within that group.