Freshmen Favor Adams House

If freshmen were assured their first choice in the upcoming housing lottery, Adams House would be the most popular of the 12 residential houses, according to a random Crimson telephone survey conducted yesterday.

Twenty-three percent of the 302 students polled said they would like to live in Adams, the third most popular house among the 569 freshmen polled last year.

The Class of '88's favorite, Quincy House, moved down a notch this year, copping first-choice honors from 17 percent of freshmen participating in the unscientific poll.

Like last year, Winthrop House came in slightly behind Quincy in popularity, with 14 percent of freshmen respondents saying they would like to make the 'throp their three-year home.

But for some, first choices will change today, when freshmen for the first time learn their randomly selected lottery number before submitting forms ranking their house preferences.

The college decided to reveal the numbers this spring in order to reduce Yardling anxiety. In a campus-wide referendum last year, 75 percent of freshmen said they would like to know how they fared in the numbers game before selecting a house.

Yardlings have already submitted their rooming group forms, and will have to tell the college before 4 p.m. Monday where they want to live.

College officials have declined to comment on the accuracy of the annual Crimson poll, saying only that it varies from year to year. Officials have also refused to reveal the actual house preferences expressedby past freshmen, making any independentdetermination of the poll's accuracy impossible.

The Crimson will conduct another survey afterfreshmen receive their computer-generated housinglottery numbers.

Kirkland House, last year's fifth-placefinisher, nabbed 13 percent of the freshmenpolled, making it the fourth most popular houseamong the Class of '89.

Lowell House, last year's fourth-placefinisher, followed, garnering top marks from 8percent of the freshmen surveyed. Eliot House camein sixth this year, as last, with 7 percent.

Leverett House, first among 6 percent ofrespondents, was the survey's seventh most popularresidence, while Dunster and Mather Houses eachgarnered first-choice marks from 3 percent of thefreshmen polled. One percent of the Yardlingssurveyed said Currier House was their preference.

Undecided

Cabot and North Houses were the first choicesof fewer than 1 percent of the freshmen polled,and 6 percent of the respondents--about half oflast year's figure--said they were undecided.

After submitting their forms Monday, theestimated 500 to 600 rooming groups will beassigned to the houses by a computer generatedprogram, which takes only seconds to determineYardlings' fate