It was the year of the first lottery. I recall sitting around the television room at my fraternity house, drinking beer, and watching our futures unfold. Kind of scary. My number was fairly high but I felt badly for those in the room who had a low number drawn. This dragged on for hours as I recall.
I was raised in a small town in western Kansas and knew the person who ran the local draft office. After the drawing, she submitted me as eligible for the draft, without my consent, "since my number was high and the likelihood of the draft getting to that number very small". Of course, that all depended on how many others were ahead of me, and since the community was small, I was concerned there might not be many ahead of me. She was right, however, so all turned out well for me.
I recall many participated in deferred plans such as the Berry plan, in order to avoid being drafted while in school.
[Ed. note: The Berry plan was an option for medical students subject to the separate "doctor draft", who could thereby defer a two-year military obligation while completing internship].