But he says, “I’m kind of in a rut. I feel like meeting more people.”

Crutcher says that in addition to deciding to float, next year he plans to take on more extracurricular activities in order to meet new people.

Frankel acknowledged that there is often a stigma attached to floating. Some say that floaters tend to lack a solid group of friends or have problems interacting in social situations.

But Frankel points to his own experience as proof that the situation differs from person to person.

“I’m very social, and I floated,” Frankel says.

THE STIGMA OF FLOATING?

Administrators agree with Frankel, saying that it is impossible to categorize all floaters as one particular type of person since there are many reasons why a person might choose to block individually.

Dean of Freshmen Thomas A. Dingman ’67 says that students have often approached him to discuss both the merits and disadvantages of floating.

According to Dingman, when a person is particularly concerned about the prospect of blocking alone, the Freshman Dean’s Office works hard to help them find a new roommate.

But sometimes, he says, students approach him with concerns about how floating will impact their social status.

“Some have simply wondered what it means about themselves in other people’s minds, and that, it seems to me, is unfortunate,” Dingman says.

He says that the Freshman Dean’s Office and the Office of Student Life have been working hard to try to remove some of the stress of the blocking process by asking all freshman proctors to meet with their entryways to discuss the lottery. Floating is among the issues that the proctors are supposed to raise with their entryways, Dingman says.

Associate Dean of Student Life Joshua G. McIntosh says that he is “cautious” about making assumptions regarding people who float.

According to McIntosh, the Office of Student Life does not prefer some Houses over others when assigning Houses to one-person blocking groups.

“Despite popular belief and mythology to the contrary, the process of assigning students to Houses is completely random.” McIntosh says of the Housing lottery.