<p>I don’t think you are required to live in honors housing if you are accepted into the honors college, are you? I heard that the dorms in Sutherland are some of the nicer ones, but the location obviously is not as central as Towers or the dorms on the Schenley quad.</p>
<p>On the other hand, going into the housing lotttery would mean that your son could end up in an even worse housing choice. Our experience with housing is that although you get to specify 3 choices, most likely you don’t get your choice! It seemed like lots of kids who wanted Towers got other dorms, while kids who wanted other dorms were placed in Towers, kids who wanted singles got doubles, and vice versa, go figure. My D who wanted Towers got placed in the all girls dorm. The housing is not done first come, first serve, like some other schools, so you can’t increase your odds of getting your preferred housing by depositing early. In that sense, joining a living learning community or honors housing would give you more certaintey.</p>