Room draw is the process by which Princeton students select their housing accommodations for the upcoming academic year. Room draw takes place in March and April. The Daily Princetonian compiled answers to some questions about the process.
How do I apply for room draw?
Students must apply for room draw through the My Housing for Undergraduates portal by Friday, March 3 at noon. Students can choose to apply as a group of one through eight.
After inviting students to be part of their room draw groups, students may accept or reject the invitation.
How many room draws are there, and which can I enter?
There are room draws for each residential college, as well as a draw for all upperclass housing and special draws for students who elect to go independent for their meals and for those who wish to live in Spelman. Members of the Class of 2026 may only enter the draw of the residential college in which they live. For members of the Classes of 2025 and 2024, they must enter the Upperclass draw and they may enter their residential college’s draw or the Spelman draw. Any students who switched residential colleges in junior year cannot switch back.
This represents a change from previous years, when the University allowed students to enter all residential college draws, not just their home college. Groups seeking to enter the Independent and Spelman draws must have at least half of their members not on the University dining plan or in an eating club.
For all but the Yeh College and New College West (NCW) room draws, students who lived in the respective residential colleges for their first three years will have the highest priorities. For NCW, students who lived in First College as first-years and sophomores and then moved to NCW as juniors will have the highest priority, while for Yeh, students who lived there as juniors will have the highest priority.
You can read more about eligibility for room draw here.
Who can be in the same draw group?
Students of different gender identities can draw into the same room. Sophomores may only join draw groups with members of their class year within their residential college. Juniors and seniors can join mixed-class groups for the Upperclass, Independent, and Spelman draws. For the Upperclass and Independent draws, only one member of the oldest class must reside in each room the group draws.
How is my draw time determined?
Every Princeton student has a point value assigned to them based on their class year and residential college. All sophomores have one point, juniors have two points, and seniors have three points. For group applications, the point values of all group members are averaged. Draw groups with the same number of points are randomly assigned.
Exceptions to this rule exist. For example, rising independent juniors and seniors in the Independent and Spelman draws receive four and five points, respectively. Students who apply to their residential college draw as juniors and seniors receive an extra 0.1 points for each year they have resided in that college.
How does my group select rooms?
At your group’s draw time, enter the My Housing portal. All group members must log in to the portal to select rooms at this time unless a group member designates another member to be their proxy.
Groups may select any combination of rooms that places each member in a room. For example, a draw group of four may select one quad, two doubles, one double and two singles, one triple and one single, or four singles. A room must be filled to capacity.
If a group has a later draw time, certain room types, such as singles or doubles, may run out, preventing a group from assigning each member a room. For example, a group of three may enter the My Housing portal to find that only quads are available.
In this event, students have the option to “drop down” to a later draw time to form a larger, viable group that can fill a room. For instance, these three students could join a group of five to form a group of eight and draw two quads. The Student Housing Office advises students to form even-numbered draw groups to avoid being in a situation where students need to “drop down,” as single rooms tend to run out first. However, groups can only “drop down” to a later draw time, and cannot move their time up to a time earlier than their assigned time.
When is room draw?
Room draw applications are due on Friday, March 3 at noon. Room draw times will be posted two weeks later on March 17. Room draw lasts from March 20 to April 7, with each draw having different days. The schedule of room draw is as follows:
- Monday, March 20: Spelman and Independent Room Draws
- Tuesday, March 21: Residential College Draw for Rising Seniors
- Wednesday, March 22: Residential College Draw for Rising Juniors
- Thursday, March 23: New College West and Yeh College Rising Sophomores
- Friday, March 24: Forbes and Whitman College Rising Sophomores
- Monday, March 27: Mathey and Rockefeller College Rising Sophomores
- Wednesday, March 29 through Friday, April 7: Upperclass Draw
Ryan Konarska is a News Contributor and an Assistant Data Editor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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