Selection of Residential College Residents

Welcome, current students! Half of all residential college rooms are reserved for incoming first-year students. These students identify specific residential colleges on their housing preference forms as well as write an essay on what they will contribute toward the diversity of the college. Each essay is reviewed by the college master, who in turn sends her or his recommendation list to the undergraduate housing office.

Students who participate in the activities of their college may earn the right to return the following year. RC student members should be well informed about their affiliated college's point system and eligibility for return in a subsequent year. The balance of a college's rooms available to returning students is assigned by an internal housing lottery linked to the number of current residents who desire to return coupled with the total number of points they've earned for their participation in the programmatic life of the college.