1. How does the housing ballot work?
1.1 Choose a group of friends to live with next year
Have a chat with your friends and decide on who you'd like to live with next year. These
discussions could take a while, so the sooner you have them, the better! You may ballot
individually, or in groups of up to four people, and you have all been given a form on which
to indicate your preferences. Forms MUST be handed into the Accommodation Office by
9AM on Thursday 28th February.
1.2. The ballot
The ballot order will be drawn in the bar on Friday 1st March at 7.00pm. You are all
welcome to attend so that you may know your position immediately, and so that you can be
sure the ballot is conducted fairly. For those of you unable to attend, the ballot order will be
tweeted live @FitzJMA and posted to the Facebook JMA page whilst the ballot is taking
place, and will be displayed on the website and on the screens outside the buttery the next
morning. The ballot is drawn group by group to determine the order of picking. The ballot
will be drawn in the following order:
I. Academic and Organ SCHOLARS from the current 2nd and 3rd year
(those who attained a First in their exams last year but NOT choral scholars.)
II. Current SECOND YEARS.
III. Current THIRD YEARS who have a confirmed fourth year
IV. Current FIRST YEARS
Note: Scholars balloting with other scholars are still entitled to pick first, but if they choose
to ballot with those who did not get a First, they will lose their priority. Also, you can
only ballot with people from your own year of matriculation.
1.3. Choosing a room from the rooms available
The order for choosing rooms will be posted online and on the screens the morning after
with a stated time for you to go to the Café to pick your room.
Group I will pick on the evening of the ballot (1st March).
Group II will pick on Saturday 2nd March
Groups III & IV will pick on Sunday 3rd March
In order to help with planning ahead, a form will go up on the screens over the weekend so
that you can indicate which rooms you are intending to pick. This will not be binding, but it
is helpful for those at the bottom of the ballot to know which rooms will be available for
them.
A spreadsheet containing details of all rooms will be updated by our Website Officers
throughout the ballot weekend so that you may follow which rooms are taken and by whom,
which can be accessed here: http://tinyurl.com/FitzRents2013
1.4. Signing of Contracts
The signing of contracts will take place in the Tutorial Office on Tuesday 12th and
Wednesday 13th March between 08:00 – 12:00 noon, and 13:00 – 15:45.
2. When does the ballot take place?
The ballot will be drawn on Friday 1st March at 7.00pm. Group I will pick on the evening of the
ballot. Group II will pick on Saturday 2nd March. Groups III & IV will pick on Sunday 3rd March
Try to ensure that you'll be in Cambridge on the day that your group are choosing rooms, as you
will need to come to the Café in person, even if balloting as a group or being pulled up. This is to
ensure that everyone gets a room.
If you are unable to be in Cambridge on these dates, please
contact me immediately so that we can make alternative arrangements. (My CRSid is jddm2)
3. Which rooms are available?
All undergraduates are guaranteed College-owned accommodation, so there is no risk of anyone
being forced out to a privately rented house. Typically, current 2nd years opt for rooms in Wilson
Court, Gatehouse and New Court. There may be a few of these rooms left over for current 1st years,
but the majority will live in M and N staircases, or in College houses.
The following College houses are available on a 29-week contract:
- 1 Benson Street - 6 rooms
- 3 Benson Street - 6 rooms
- 92 Huntingdon Road - 8 rooms
- 94 Huntingdon Road - 7 rooms
- 128 Huntingdon Road - 9 rooms
It should be noted that there are no storage facilities in 29-week houses during the vacations.
Fitzwilliam College Housing Ballot Guide 2013The following College houses are available on a 39-week contract:
- 75 Oxford Road - 9 rooms
- 87 Oxford Road - 4 rooms
- 89 Oxford Road - 5 rooms
- 8 Huntingdon Road - 9 rooms
All houses must be filled by 'pulling up', and are only available to current first years.
Blueprints for most rooms inside and outside of College are available below, and
shall hopefully be displayed on the screens outside the buttery during the ballot period.
4. Pulling up (First years only)
If you are the first person to choose a room in a particular house, you must “pull up” enough of your
friends from lower positions in the ballot to fill up every room in the house. It is crucial that you
plan who you are pulling up before you go to the Café to state your room choice, as you must state
who is being pulled up to fill the other rooms when you choose your own.
When pulling up, you may pull up individuals, entire groups, or even subsets of groups, provided
that everyone is happy with the new arrangement. For example...
Let's say you choose to ballot as an individual. You rank highly, and decide you want to live at 1
Benson street (6 people). Great. Now, you must pull up five other people. To do this, you could pull
up two others who balloted as individuals, two people who balloted together as a single group, and
then one person from a group of 4.
As of this year, it is now possible to pull up into M and N corridors, but only after all the outside
houses have been filled. Individuals and groups may take rooms in M and N corridors at any stage,
in the normal ballot order.
Houses, and M and N staircases, are available only to current first years.
5. Length of contracts
A 29-week contract means you will need to vacate your room at the end of each Residence Period
and take most of your belongings home during the holidays. Residency lasts 10 weeks during
Michaelmas and Lent terms, and 9 weeks during Easter term.
A 39-week contract means that you are not required to vacate your room at the end of each
Residence Period, and are able to stay in it during the holidays and come and go as you please. (3 x
13 weeks rent per term) This year, there is the option of a 39 week contract in any room in L and Q
– Y blocks, apart from those marked on the spreadsheet, as these large rooms are required for
commercial purposes during vacations.
To clarify: contract lengths may be mixed within corridors in L and Q – Y blocks, unless stated
otherwise in the rents spreadsheet.
6. Rent prices
Rent prices for every room, either inside or outside of Fitz, are available here:
6.1 House Descriptions
College Rooms:
Old Court: L (no washbasin)
Old Court: M and N (washbasin and shower in every room) See blueprint (NB: blueprint is the same for all floors, hence multiply-numbered rooms).
New Court: Q, R, S, T (fully en suite)
Blueprints:
Wilson court: X and Y (fully en suite)
Blueprints:
Gatehouse court: U, V, W (fully en suite)
Blueprints:
College Houses
1 Benson Street - 6 Rooms (blueprint)
This is one of the closest houses to college. It has a living room, a small kitchen (with cooker and hob), and a conservatory.
On the college computer network.
Room 1
Nice sized downstairs room, faces straight onto the street. Room 2
Another nice sized downstairs room, at the back of the house facing onto the garden. Light and spacious.
Room 3
On the first floor. Skylight. Smaller than an old court room, but cosy.
Room 4
Also on the first floor and of a similar size to room 3 with skylight, but with a higher ceiling.
Room 5
Massive room, the largest in the house with lots of light and space. Two skylights, and two large windows facing onto the street.
Room 6
The attic room, a reasonable size, with an en-suite bathroom (well that's what they call 2 cupboards containing a shower and a toilet!). Cosy and self-contained.
3 Benson Street - 6 rooms (blueprint)
This house is almost identical to 1 Benson Street. It has a living room and a conservatory that can also be used as a dining room. The Kitchen was refitted recently and the showers have been replaced too (likewise in 1 Benson). On the college computer network
The rooms are virtually the same as in 1 Benson, and accordingly have the same rent.
92 Huntingdon Road - 8 rooms (blueprint)
One of two college houses that are directly opposite college. The kitchen has a microwave and a hob. It has a good dining and living area. It can be quite noisy due to the close proximity of the main road. On the college computer network.
Room 1
Large room at the front of the house on the ground floor. (There is a bus stop outside the house so it can be quite noisy in the morning!)
Room 2
This is a smallish room on the ground floor.
Room 3
This a medium sized room on the ground floor with en-suite SHOWER.
Room 4
This room is at the front of the house on the first floor and is quite LARGE, this room is quite light and spacious.
Room 4a
This is a smallish room on the first floor.
Room 5
This is a medium sized room on the first floor.
Room 6
This is a medium sized room on the first floor, at the back of the house.
Room 7
This room is on the top floor of the house, which is large.
94 Huntingdon Road (blueprint)
Ground floor - good kitchen, shower and toilet
Room 1 - front, very large, bay window
Room 2 - good size
Room 3 longish room, on side of house, good size
1st floor - bathroom and separate toilet
Room 4 - front, v. large room
Room 5 - medium size room
Room 6 - large back
2nd floor
Room 7 - large, light room with velux window
128 Huntingdon Rd – 9 rooms (blueprint)
This house has one of the larger communal living areas of all the college houses. The kitchen/living area is large with a sofa and other seating. The garden is small and the house is set back off the road. It has a bike rack and storage space in the garden shed. On the college computer network.
Room 1
Large-ish room on the top floor.
Room 2
Large-ish room on the top floor
Room 3
Small cramped room on the first floor
Room 4
Huge room on the first floor lots of light
Room 5
Small cramped room on the first floor
Room 6
Nice sized room on the first floor
Room 7
Nice sized room on the ground floor – quite dark
Room 8
Huge room on the ground floor with large bay window that looks into the front garden
Room 9
Large room with en-suite and own kitchen at the back of the house, on the ground floor.
87 Oxford Road (blueprints - ground floor & first floor and attic)
All ground floor rooms with washbasin
Room 1 front, medium size
Room 2 ditto
Room 3 front, very good size
Room 4 - back medium size
Conclusion
I would strongly encourage you all to visit the rooms and houses that you're interested in living in
next year, as you will have only a 5-minute slot on the day to choose from the rooms still available.
I like to think that the dynamic in Fitz is friendly enough that students should be comfortable asking
those in the years above for a quick look around their house or corridor, and I hope that current
second years and third years will be welcoming to any visitors they may receive over the next few
days!
Final piece of advice for the first years – if you'd like to live in a house, I'd advise you to ballot
individually. A basic knowledge of probability should be enough to explain this reasoning.
I shall be compiling a Frequently Asked Questions section on the Housing page of the JMA Website
in the run-up to the ballot weekend, so please check there before emailing either myself (jddm2) or
Sandra Welch (spw25) with any questions you may have.
