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How Fall 2021 Room Selection Will Work

Students should think about the Fall 2021 housing lottery as having 3 steps: pre-placement, blocking, and housing lottery/preference selection.  Pre-placement is by invitation only; blocking selection is optional and initiated by the student. Housing Lottery/Preference selection is the default process for all returning students

Pre-Placement

Some students, by invitation, will participate in a pre-placement process.   Students who are generally pre-placed include RAs, SAMs, GAs, and some students with housing accommodations. Students with approved housing accommodations who prefer not to select in the housing lottery or do not feel they can select a room in the housing lottery/blocking process that meets their needs.  

For example:

*a rising sophomore who is approved for an air-conditioned single may choose to take part in pre-placement, instead of waiting for the housing lottery as it is not likely that an air-conditioned single will be available in the sophomore selection process.

*a rising senior who is approved for an air-conditioned single does not need to take part in pre-selection, as there should be many singles with a/c capabilities available both via blocking and housing lottery.

In the pre-placement process, students will not be selecting exact rooms but will be confirming with Star Longoria (elongor1) their hall and floor preference for a room that will provide the required accommodation.  If you have been approved for housing accommodations or are an RPL you do NOT need to do anything additional at this time. Star will be in contact with you after July 1, 2021.

Blocking

Blocking will begin after final Study Abroad decisions are announced (on or about July 1), so that all active students may fully participate in the process.   Rising Juniors and Seniors may participate in the regular blocking process.   Due to our current occupancy projections, rising sophomores may not block but, rather, may continue to preference roommate(s) and location through the usual Sophomore Preference Process.   In order to maximize class appropriate options for juniors and seniors, sophomores will wait until after both of those classes have selected to be assigned rooms.  This follows our usual priority process of allowing seniors to pick first followed by juniors.

The purpose of blocking is to allow upperclass students to select groups of rooms in close proximity to one another, and is calculated using the average of the group's lottery numbers for the upcoming year.  Blocking is done before students receive their lottery number for the year.

Blocking is NOT mandatory; it is simply a process to select groups of rooms as upperclass students.  If you apply for a block you must accept the block; you may not decline a location after you apply and are offered.   If you receive housing accommodations, please do not apply for a block that does not meet your needs.

Housing Lottery/Preference Selection

Any student who does not select a room in the pre-selection or Blocking Process, and those who are not eligible for Blocking, will select a room through the Housing Lottery. The housing lottery occurs after blocking ends.

Rooms are selected in lottery number order.  As opposed to blocking where the 'average' of numbers is used, during the lottery the BETTER number of the group lottery numbers are used.  Rising Seniors and Juniors will select their specific room and, if applicable, roommate(s).   Rising sophomores will preference building type, bathroom preferences, and roommate(s), and will be assigned rooms in lottery number order.

For example:

Student '22A has a lottery number of 122

Student '22B has a lottery number of 148

In this example, if student ‘22A and ‘22B want to live together, they would select with the average of 135 during blocking, or with the better number of 122 during the housing lottery.

FAQ Fall 2021 Room Selection:

Question: what if I am a rising junior who wants to live with a rising sophomore? May we block together?  

Answer: no, due to our expected occupancy, and in order to fairly accommodate all rising juniors and seniors, sophomores are not eligible for blocking.  You may, however, select a double or larger room with a roommate(s) during the regular housing lottery for your class. In this example, a rising junior and rising sophomore could select a double together during the junior housing lottery.

Question: I am a sophomore and would like a single. How do I select one?

Answer: we do not anticipate being able to offer singles to members of the Class of 2024 through the regular lottery process.   We anticipate having enough singles for members of the senior class and about ½ of the junior class.

Question: I am a junior and would like a single. What happens if there are no singles left when it is time for me to select.

Answer: it is very possible that ⅓-½ of the junior class may need to select into doubles.  The exact number will not be known until the actual lottery process.   We encourage all juniors to think about having a roommate as a back-up in the event that we run out of singles.  Please note that many juniors may prefer to select a large double in their preferred location over a small single in a location less desirable to them.