The Lawn Selection Committee notified recipients of the coveted 47 Lawn rooms last week, sending out acceptance letters on Wednesday.
While competition is fierce, undergraduates consistently vie for spaces to live where some say is the heart of the University.
"There's more to U.Va. than just the institution," fourth-year steering committee member Heather Gordon said. "The Lawn embodies what we value at the University."
In October, a steering committee of 10 student leaders and four faculty members assembled an additional 25 students to serve on the selection committee.
Over the course of a week, every committee member reviewed the 234 applications for the 47 available spaces. After reviewing applications, committee members voted for future Lawn residents.
The committee took a holistic view of applications, factoring in grade point average as well as academic and leadership involvement, said Lissa Percopo, steering committee member and current Lawn resident.
Gordon said there was no specific formula for choosing candidates.
"We weren't looking for the same thing - there's no magical formula for living on the Lawn," Gordon said.
Applicants also had to write an essay explaining what the Lawn means to them.
"I wanted to give a room to everyone," Percopo said. "Everyone had a different reason for wanting to live on the Lawn."
Although the process for selecting the recipients was difficult and long, "it made me appreciate living on the Lawn every day and realize how special it really is," she said.
The Lawn offers housing for 54 students, but seven rooms are endowed and are not part of the application process. Four rooms are reserved for student organizations, including Kappa Sigma fraternity, the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society, Trigon Engineering Society and the Honor Committee. Another room automatically is reserved for the Lawn head resident.
William Harmon, vice president for student affairs, selects one pre-med student as the occupant of room one each year.
The final endowed room is designated as the Gus Blagden Room, which often is called "The Good Guy Room." Instead of applying, students are nominated by their peers for this room, and a separate committee selects someone who makes life at the University a better place on a daily basis, Percopo said.
Third-year Engineering School student Jeff Ludwig was one of the lucky applicants to be offered a Lawn room.
"It's an honor" to live on the Lawn, Ludwig said. "Everyone reveres it as the spot where Thomas Jefferson started the University."
April Shimshock, a third-year Commerce student, also expressed her excitement about being chosen to live on the Lawn.
"I was attracted by the amazing people you get to live and interact with," Shimshock said. "I knew what a high caliber group of people applied in the first place ... and I feel really honored" to have been accepted.
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