Your College > Guide to the Accommodation Ballot
Guide to the Accommodation Ballot The annual accommodation ballot takes place in Hilary Term and includes everyone who is not leaving Corpus at the end of that year. JCR members are split into several ballot groups depending on their year and subject; these are as follows (note that the year refers to the year that you will be in the following year): A1: 3rd year finalists in PPE, History, English, History and Politics, Biochemistry, Classics and English, Materials, Maths*, Law, History and English, Physics*, Medicine*, PPP*, Experimental Psychology*, Chemistry*, Maths and Philosophy*, Physics and Philosophy*, CAAH. 4th year finalists in Classics A2: 3rd year finalists in Chemistry*, Physics*, Experimental Psychology*, PPP*, Medicine*, Maths*, Maths and Philosophy*, Physics and Philosophy*. B1: 2nd years in Classics. 4th years in Physics, Maths, Materials, Chemistry, Biochemistry. B2: 2nd years in Medicine*, Chemistry*, Experimental Psychology*, Maths*, Physics and Philosophy*, Maths and Philosophy*, PPP*. C: Freshers; rooms are allocated to those coming up the following year by the college authorities before the ballot. D: 2nd years in History, Classics and English, English, PPE, Law, Biochemistry, Materials, History and English, CAAH. 3rd years in Classics. *First years in Experimental Psychology, Medicine, PPP, Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Philosophy, and Physics and Philosophy have two choices of ballot position for their second and third year; they can choose either B2 in second year followed by A2 in third year, or D in second year followed by A1 in third year. The JCR Accommodation Officer will e-mail these students in Hilary asking which ballot choice they are going to make. About half-way through Hilary the JCR Accommodation Officer will put up in the JCR a list of everyone in college on the ballot and which ballot group they are in. Students should check that they are in the right ballot group and contact the Accommodation Officer if there are any problems. If anyone is living out in private accommodation the following year and so wishes to be taken off the ballot then they should let the Accommodation Officer know. Next the JCR Accommodation Officer will draw the ballot in public under supervision; this will be done randomly within each ballot grouping (A1, A2, B1, B2, D). A list of everyone’s ballot position will then be displayed in the JCR and e-mailed around. The sign-up sheets for group accommodation will then be put up. This is accommodation that is balloted for as a group; if more than one group wants a particular house or flat then the average ballot position of the members of each group will be taken and the group with the lowest overall average will get the house or flat. Students can sign up for only one group property at a time. After the group sign-up sheets are taken down, the successful groups will be notified by e-mail and everyone else will go into the individual ballot, which is usually held at the beginning of 8th week. The accommodation for group and individuals is usually as follows, though it changes slightly from year to year depending on, for example, which rooms the college authorities allocate to freshers. The JCR Accommodation Officer will publicise the list of the accommodation for each year when it becomes available. Group Accommodation: Fellows’ Building Shared Set (3 rooms) 25 Boulter Street (3 rooms) 16 Chilswell Road (6 rooms) 64 Warwick Street (5 rooms) 6 Park Town (4 rooms) 120 Woodstock Road (6 rooms) Liddell Building Staircases 2 and 3 (4 flats with 4 rooms, 3 flats with 3 rooms) Individual Accommodation (on-site): Quad: 3.1, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6 4.3, 4.4, 4.6 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4 6.1, 6.5, 6.6, 6.7 8.8 11.2, 11.3 West Building: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Thomas Building: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 New Building: 39, 40, 41, 42 New Building Annexe: 48, 50, 52, 54 Kybald Twychen: 1, 2, 5, 6, 9, 10 Magpie Lane: 7.2, 7.4, 7.7, 7.10, 8.1, 8.4, 8.6, 8.7, 8.9, 8.10 Individual Accommodation (off-site): 68 Banbury Road (9 rooms) 215 Iffley Road (6 rooms) 142 Walton Street (6 rooms) 149 Walton Street (8 rooms) Liddell Building Red House (8 rooms) Liddell Building Staircases 2 and 3 (2 flats with 4 rooms) After the group accommodation has been sorted out, the members of the successful groups will be taken off the ballot and the revised ballot positions will be put up in the JCR. The individual ballot will then take place and works as follows. Everyone on the individual ballot comes to a meeting in Hall with the Accommodation Manager, the Domestic Bursar, and the JCR Accommodation Officer. A list of available rooms will be displayed on a board and each person’s name will be called in ballot order. When a person’s name has been called they call out which room they want and that room is crossed off the list. Those at the bottom of D ballot may find that the available rooms have all gone by the time they get down to the end of the ballot. If so, then those people will still get rooms in college accommodation when they become available; they may get the room of a fresher who didn’t get their grades, or another room somewhere left vacant for some reason. But the college will definitely find them a room somewhere, so they won't be left homeless. Those living in group accommodation need to let the college know who will be living in which room as soon as they can.
