Room Selection

Students must be in “Good Standing” with Olin

• All student account balances must be paid in full or on a payment plan.
• Immunization and Health Record submission must be completed.
• Honor board or other conduct related sanctions specifically limiting room selection eligibility are possible and should be honored by the student.

Students must register for room selection

• All students must review and sign the housing agreement prior to deadline in calendar
• Students returning from LOA or WD must have tentative approvals for return

Students must be planning to enroll at Olin for Fall semester

• All resident students are required to be enrolled full time as an Olin student.
  • Students approved to study away in the Fall Semester do not participate in the Room Selection process.  In November, Residence Life will begin the process of working with you on finding best fit within available Spring housing.

All students at Olin College are required to live on campus and as such students are expected to pay room and board fees regardless of Room Selection participation.  Participation in the Room Selection Process is optional, students who do not participate are assigned to rooms after the selection process closes.  Returning students are welcome to request exemption from the live-on requirement within the following guidelines:

• Start the Housing Exemption process by emailing the Director of Residence Life with the following details:
  • Your reason for seeking to live off campus
  • Your plan for success in living off campus
    • Where will you plan to live? (General area if specific location is not known)
    • How will you manage the commute to campus?
    • How will you stay an engaged member of the community?
    • How will you remain successful in your academic pursuits? 
• The Director of Residence Life will collaborate with the Dean of Students and relevant staff and faculty to assure students have an adequate success plan for living off campus prior to approval for exemptions.  

Summary: If you are not living on campus in the Fall, do not participate in Room Selection.  You will still need to complete the Critical Information form to assure your data is up to date.

Based on the timeline of room selection, students should participate if they are unsure of their Fall plans.  However, if you have confirmed your plans to not be on campus in the Fall you should not participate in Room Selection.  If you select a room and then later confirm plans to study away or take a leave your room will be re-assigned to other students for the upcoming academic year.

• If you are planning to take a leave of absence for the fall or academic year, please contact the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs to start this process.
• If you are confirmed to participate in a Fall away program or leave do not participate in room selection.
  • You will be contacted in November to begin planning housing for your return to campus.
  • If you do select a room, that space will need to be re-assigned for students present on campus – we will not hold space vacant for your spring assignment.
• If you are on a waitlist for Fall away programs or considering a leave participate in room selection.
  • Once confirmed to be away from campus, your assignment will be forfeited.
  • Make sure to communicate with your planned room or suitemates that there is potential for you to not attend in the Fall, it is helpful for them to have a backup plan
  • Remaining students will receive an opportunity to request a change into this space
• If you are planning to participate in a Spring away program or leave you need to participate in room selection for your Fall semester housing.
  • You will select via Room Selection and then in November we will begin collecting information on who is planning to depart for the Spring term.
• If you are returning from a leave or withdraw, you must complete the Room Selection Registration to participate in room selection AND be approved to return from LOA or WD.

Due to the nature of student housing, we know there will be students away for various semesters.  It can be helpful to work with your friends to develop ideas of who will request to fill into spaces when folks are away.  Residence Life does not hold onto that information early nor does it guarantee we can meet all requests; we want to do our best to best provide housing to all students that meets their needs with intentional placement within the community.

Working on a scheme to end up in a specific situation for the spring semester? Take this into account!

• So many students plans change that we do not guarantee or hold spaces to accommodate Spring requests.  Our process has to be Fall focused to maximize occupancy which keeps costs down for all students.
• Typically, half full double rooms and suites with 3 or less occupants remaining will be required to consolidate prior to departure in the Fall Semester.  This means if you choose to share a double room with a student graduating in December or going abroad for the Spring semester, you will either need to have a confirmed returning student assigned to move in or Residence Life will require you to consolidate to another half full double prior to departing for winter break.
• Residence Life will start planning consolidation in November with the goal of having planned spring assignments for all folks who need to consolidate prior to winter break.

• Review & Sign the Housing Agreement for the upcoming academic year.
• Update your emergency contacts and campus directory listing among other data
• Request semester count review & adjustments as needed.
• Registration Closes in late March - see calendar for specific date.
• This form should be completed by all students not graduating this year.  It includes off campus housing information and updates datapoints for students planning to study away in the Fall semester.

• Affirm your housing accommodations with DSO by March 15th (this annual date may shift by a day or so given the specific needs of the given calendar - see portal for specific date)
  • All students who currently have an accommodation to the assignment process will receive an email inviting to affirm plans for selection
  • Students who do not currently have an accommodation need to contact Disability Services to complete a new registration form.

• Once you know your room or suitemates, one group captain will utilize this form to propose your suite & room group configurations.
  • The person completing the form will need Olin ID number, Olin Email, First name (in use), and Last name (on file) for each group member.
  • All students can propose multiple groups and configurations
    • We approve all possible configurations and then allow you to confirm the ones you choose to confirm.  (More in later in Configuration Approval section)
  • Groups can be modified until the proposal deadline via the form
  • Proposed Configurations are due after Spring Break

• After the pre-selection processes close, triple, double, and single configurations will receive specific selection start windows.
• Once all 4 8-person and 15 7-person groups are confirmed, then suite groups will receive specific selection start windows
• Only one suite group member or roommate is required to attend
• If no room/suite member is available, see proxy selection details

When selection times are announced, students will be shared a proxy selection form.  This form is utilized to allow a friend or residence life to make your selection for you.  This form is only necessary when no member of your group can make the selection time you are assigned.  The form allows 3 ways to proxy:

1. Phone In - this option involves us calling you at your selection time for a 3-5 minute call.  This tends to work really well for folks in a class who can quietly step out for a call.
2. Send a Friend - this option involves an assigned friend to come AT YOUR SELECTION TIME to select your room.  This works great for folks who are in a different time zone. (this is the BEST option)
3. Send us Notes - if all else fails, use this form to us all the notes you can so that we can make a selection at room selection for you.  You can still leave a number if you want us to attempt to call you at that time.

• Proxy selection forms are due the day before your selection time
• We plan to notify students of proxy selection results at the time of selection, however if the selection process is delayed students may not find out the results of their proxy selection until the day after selection when a selection confirmation email is sent out to all students who participated in the selection process.

• The Mezzanine and Cresent Rooms in the Campus Center serve as the selection hub all day.
• Pre-Selection occurs during the day with floor plans updated.
  • Students with housing accommodations will be invited early in the day.
  • Triple Room Selection occurs over lunch by design – if the triple you would like is not available your group has time to reconfigure and join double selection that evening.
• Prior to selection day, the Mezz becomes home to preview plans that display the planned usage of rooms in both residences.  During selection, a runner will update these plans as rooms are selected.
• Students can check in at the Cresent room no more than 15 minutes prior to their selection time.
  • Students may get to select earlier than their time listed, but the order of selection will remain the same.
  • If a student fails to appear at their selection time, the process will move forward.  Late selections will only be entertained if time allows at the determination of Residence Life staff.
• One student group at a time will be in the selection zone. 
  • Students seeking to view what rooms are available should do so on the Mezz.
  • Students are asked to move to check out once selection has been made.
  • Students selecting stand-alone singles may bring up to one friend to selection.
• After selecting, all selections must be confirmed at check out.

• Your points equal the number of completed semesters you have at Olin plus the on-going semester if you are currently enrolled.
  • Completed Semesters is all the semesters you are enrolled in coursework exceeding one credit hour at Olin or in an approved away program.
  • Ongoing Semesters is all currently enrolled students at Olin and currently on away/abroad experiences as of March 15th
  • Incomplete Semesters, those where a student left on a leave of absence or withdraw before the end of the semester, do not count in your points total.
  • Leaves of Absence & Withdraws (LOA & WD) semesters do not count in your point total.  Students currently on LOA or WD are eligible to participate but do not get a point for the current semester since they are not enrolled in coursework.
• In your invite to the Room Selection Registration form, your count of completed + on-going semesters on record with Residence Life will be listed.  If this information is incorrect, you will have a chance to request this be reviewed within the Room Selection Registration form. 
• Any corrections must be requested prior to the deadline listed in the portal
• Triple Tie Breaker is a system where we nudge groups with same point totals ahead if they include 1 or more students who lived in a triple room during the current academic year.  These are not points but are designed to thank students for living in triple rooms.
• Max 6 Individual Points: Once you have reached 6 points (usually Spring of Junior year) you have hit the maximum number of individual points.  This ceiling is designed to have all student selecting for their final year be equal in the process.

• Students selecting into double and triple rooms or suites propose their group intent then have their points averaged as a group via the Proposed Configurations Form.
• Groups are then stratified by average points accumulated to determine selection order.
  • For instance, a suite group with 3 seniors will select before a suite group with only 2 seniors, but if there are 2 groups with 3 seniors the random draw order of the 6 seniors across the two group will be reviewed to determine which group selects first.
• Students with accommodations may be offered the ability to withhold their points from the group average.  This is designed to allow for a student whose needs can be met by a suite single to join a suite group without bringing the suite average down.
• To select a space, groups must propose enough Fall semester students to fill space.  Incomplete groups will not be able to select into group spaces.

• Groups with same point averages will be assigned a Group Draw Number at random.
  • For instance, if there are 3 groups of 7 seniors seeking suites, the three groups will be assigned a random number to determine which will select first, second, and third before a group with 6 seniors and 1 junior.
• Triple Tie Breaker is used in the stratification of the groups.  If there are groups that have both an equal average of points and a triple tie breaker, these groups will be randomized for the draw order.  Triple tie breakers do accumulate but never supersede a point.

As an appreciation from the community, students who lived in a triple room during the current Academic year get a one time “nudge” in the room selection process.  Example: Should 1 or more triple room resident join a suite group and that suite group were to tie in average points with another group, the group with the triple resident will be nudged ahead in the selection order.  While groups with multiple triple residents will get nudged past groups with one triple resident, the nudges never push a group past higher point groups.  This nudge is only available in the selection for the year following your time in a triple room.

Residents who select a triple room at this room selection will be eligible for the Triple Tie Breaker nudge at the room selection for upcoming should they end up actually living in a triple room.

A: Students must be approved to return prior to registering for room selection.  Once registered, please complete a proxy form to establish a selection plan if you won’t have a group member in person at selection.

A: Students who fail to participate in room selection will be sent a housing assignment form and will be assigned to available beds over the summer by Residence Life staff.

A: Our selection process is designed to give equitable access to students for the limited resource which is housing assignments.  While planning where you might best be able to select is a smart idea, the selection process does not take pre-planning efforts into account to assure equitable access through our process.

A: No, all incoming students are assigned housing after room selection closes.  We intentionally group incoming students to best bond the incoming class.

A: Yes, we do not have gender matching rules within housing.  Incoming students are assigned same gender matches except where otherwise requested via the housing profile, but within Room Selection any student can select with any other student as their room and/or suitemate.

A: We discourage selecting housing with a significant other as a breakup will not be considered a reason for a prioritized room change and during times of high occupancy, we will not be able to offer room change options.

A: Unfortunately, we are not able to hold space for students not living on campus in the Fall.  Students not on campus in the Fall will not select a room until November.

A: Students with single accommodations will receive a list of which spaces are available to them at room selection when floor plans are posted.  Our plan is to have at least one space identified as a single in each wing to optimize available choices during accommodation selection with a total number of spaces identified yielding at least three options for the final single selector.  After single selection, remaining singles become available at double selection.

A: Yes, after the Proposed Configurations form deadline planned housing usage will be shared to allow students to begin planning their options for selection day.  Triple groups will even have a chance to select a triple or decline a triple and move to double selection later that same day.

A: Shortly after proposed configurations are due, groups will be notified of their results due to the limited nature of housing.  These students will be given a short time period to re-group for double and triple rooms prior to selection times being assigned, but we encourage proposing a backup group for this reason.

A: No, single rooms outside of suites are held for students with accommodations or R2s, all other spaces outside of suites will be double or triple rooms.

A: Until the proposed configuration form closes, any changes can be made via the form.  After this point, only same-point changes will be approved – meaning you can swap a junior for a junior.  In these cases, anyone can veto the swap causing the entire configuration to be canceled.  If a group is canceled, the next proposed configuration on the waitlist will be offered space within the selection process.

A: No, selection times are not transferable to assure equitable access.

A: Students & groups are ranked via point totals, then a draw number is created using the Random Number function in Excel.  Students & groups are then ordered by the random draw number and time slots are assigned in ascending order.

A: Complete a proxy form to assign a friend or residence life to complete your selection for you.

A: Selection will not be paused to accommodate late selections.  If a window of time becomes available when late arrivals are present, they may be given the opportunity to select.  If not, students who miss their selection time will be assigned to available housing after selection closes.

A: After the dust settling period established to assure selections are properly recorded, change requests can be sent to Residence Life via reslife@olin.edu

A: Contact Residence Life with a replacement assignment as soon as possible as the bed will be assigned to another student as needed.