Housing Lottery Begins Today; Results Are Due by March 19

University officials will feed freshmen housing applications into computers this weekend with almost no change from last year's procedures. The results will be announced by March 19.

In order to maintain "balanced" sex-ratios in each of the 13 Houses, officials will "tinker" with the otherwise random process by establishing minimum and maximum quotas of men and women for each House, Susan A. Neer, the College's housing officer, said yesterday.

According to a Crimson poll of 155 freshmen published yesterday. Adams and Winthrop Houses are the most popular among this year's freshmen, while Mather and the Quad Houses are the least popular.

Needy

"Adams House has always been popular. With an excellent location and a good sex ratio, we're extremely representative of the diverse student body," Robert J. Kiely, master of Adams House, said yesterday.

Although the Quad Houses are among the least popular choices this year, the number of students who have chosen to live there has been increasing steadily in the past few years. J. Woodland Hastings, master of North House, said yesterday, adding. "I think that the Quad is distant on the horizons of most freshmen. They just don't seem to look this far."

Several freshman said yesterday that they had listed House preferences strategically in order to avoid being "quadded." "If there's a God, He's not at the Quad." Jay Hudson '84 said this week.

As in past years, rumors about the character of the Houses and strategies for housing choices have flooded the freshmen class, Neer said, adding that "I haven't heard a rumor that has been right so far."

"If you know someone on the board of trustees or have been taken before the Ad Board for being too rowdy it won't affect which house you'll get at all," she said.

Questions about the name and address of each freshman's parents and high school were eliminated from the housing application forms several years ago in order to dispel rumors that such factors were being considered, Neer said.

Handicapped students are exempt from the lottery, since only a few Houses, such as Quincy and Currier, have special ramps and elevators.