Freshman and Transfer Room Selection

Welcome, incoming Shark Residents! It is important for each of you to understand the details and steps related to the returner room selection process. It is particularly important that you make yourself aware of the Group system, as this will play a role in your room selection start time. Please review the information below.

Incoming Student timeline

What are Groups?

This year, students within each selection category will be split into groups to reduce the number of students accessing the room selection system at a single point in time. Each group will be about 50-100 students based on contract submission order. The first 50-100 students to submit an application will be Group 1, the next 50-100 will be Group 2, etc.

Members of a particular group will be able to start their selection process at the time designated for their group. They will still be able to select after the next group begins, but their selection options may decrease at that point due to the increased number of students selecting.

For example, if a student in Group 1 has a selection start time of 12:00pm, they may begin selecting at 12:00pm. If a student in Group 2 has a selection start time of 12:15pm, that student may not begin selecting until 12:15pm. If the student in Group 1 still has not selected at 12:15pm, they may still select a room at any point, but they will not longer have priority selection before students in Group 2.

Group numbers will not show up in your Housing Portal immediately, but will be made available to you at least 48 hours before your selection period begins so you may plan ahead.

How to Select a Room

Please view our step by step guidelines below for more information on how to select a room within our housing system.

How to Select a Room

How to Select a Roommate

Because every student is selecting their own room this year, we will not be accepting roommate preferences. Instead, students should work directly with their preferred roommates to ensure the same room is selected.

If you do plan to live with specific people, you should keep in communication with them during the process so you all select the same room. A room/suite will be locked while one person is selecting, so the next person must wait until that person has completed the process before trying to access the room/suite. Our office will not reserve spaces for preferred roommates.

If you don't have specific roommates in mind, we encourage you to fill out the Personal Preference Survey available in the Housing Portal. This will help with general roommate compatibility decisions during self-selection.

Please have multiple plans for where, and with whom, you wish to live next year. We cannot guarantee that any particular room or room type will be available at your time of selection. If your preferred room or room type is not available during selection, you should still select a room and then join a wait list to switch after the room selection process is complete.

Timeline: Priority Deadline Applicants (Groups 1-7)