"It was definitely worth it," said Larissa MacFarquahar '90, another pollster. "Otherwise we would have been a lot more conservative [with our house choices.]"

On a more serious level, two economics professors conducted their own survey of the freshman class. Assistant Professors of Economics Susan M. Collins '80 and Kala Krishna distributed detailed questionaires to freshmen with their lottery forms. Collins said they will use the results to discover" how individuals and groups plot their strategies in a competitive environment," and "how individual preferences are combined to form group preferences."

The results of their survey are not yet available.

Now that the lottery process is all over, freshmen remain sharply divided over whether the housing office should inform groups of their lottery numbers.

"My guess is that because we knew our number we got a house that we are happier with," said Cooper, who learned Tuesday that he will be living in Cabot House, his first choice.

"I don't think they should tell us our numbers. A lot of people put houses they really didn't want to live there get pushed out," Valente said.

Said MacFarquahar, "It would be much better if we didn't know our numbers. It was so much of a hassle."

It remains to be seen whether their complaints will be heard. Said Dingman, "The Committee on House Life will take up whether this is the best way to do things." Where They're Going

House  1987  1986  1985  1984 Adams  136  121  131  148 Cabot  132  132  117  120 Currier  135  141  145  147 Dunster  121  107  126  115 Eliot  153  126  144  162 Kirkland  113  102  123  110 Leverett  135  161  161  144 Lowell  119  167  154  128 Mather  130  151  116  137 North  131  98  122  79 Quincy  164  174  142  170 Winthrop  121  112  128  128