How is housing assigned?
• Step #1: You tell us what your housing preferences are. This would include which building(s) you’d like and if you have a particular person you want to room with. • Step #2: Let us know if there have been any changes. Sometimes when students attend their summer preview day, they meet someone they’d like to room with or find out information that changes which building they’d like to live in. If this happens to you, be sure to stop by Residence Life before you leave campus that day to tell us of the change. • Step #3: During the third week of July, we sit down with all the information we have available. This includes the housing preference information you’ve provided and any other info you’ve given us via email, phone call, etc. We then use a list of all the students in the class ranked according to when the Admissions Office received your deposit. We house the person with the earliest deposit first and then work our way down the list to the last person to deposit.
Housing is assigned on a priority basis according to date of application for admission. Students who return housing contracts postmarked no later than May 1st, will be assigned a space in university housing or university-sponsored housing based on the date of application for admission to UMD and the availability of space. Students who wish to share a room should apply for admission within a month of one another and each should indicate the preferred roommate on the housing application.
Housing offers are not made on a first come, first served basis, rather according to a lottery number process. After each housing deadline date passes, applications are assigned random lottery numbers. Starting with lottery number 1, applicants are assigned to available spaces in each hall. As halls are filled and students first preferences are not available, second preferences are considered and assigned as space permits. This process continues through the fifth preference. As halls fill, we may be unable to offer students any of their preferences (see Housing Preferences section below for further information).
