Selection Handbook

The Office of Global Education (OGE) will notify The Office of Residential Living when students are selected to study abroad for fall or full-year programs. Students who have been accepted to study abroad for fall or full-year programs will not be able to participate in the Spring Housing Selection Process.  Students with a pending study abroad approval will not be prevented from going through selection and will only be dropped from housing when a final approval is sent from OGE.

Students who will be studying abroad for fall semester can apply for a study abroad hold to a campus apartment space only.  The application for this hold option will be available on Hoya Housing during the dates posted below.

On the application a student will request one of the options below:

NOT AVAILABLE FOR FALL 2024 | Study Abroad HOLD only
Due to anticipated Fall 2024 housing demand, we are unable to leave a bed vacant during the fall semester. We are only offer the fall-only study abroad hold this year.

This allows the student approved to go through the Spring Housing Selection process, select a space with friends, and then have that space left open for fall and guaranteed for them when they return to campus housing in the spring semester.

Note: should we receive an unanticipated demand for fall semester housing, Residential Living reserves the right to use this hold for a fall-only resident, but guarantees this space be available to the approved student for the spring semester.

AVAILABLE HOLD OPTION FOR FALL 2024 | Fall-only Student HOLD only
This allows the student approved to go through the Spring Housing Selection process and select a space with their friends. After selection, The Office of Residential Living will drop the study abroad student, then during the summer assignment process, assign a fall-only student to this bed. The study abroad student will be reassigned to this space for Spring semester.

Note: if you select this option, please be sure the fall residents of the space are comfortable with Residential Living matching a fall-only student to this space. 

Study Abroad Hold Application:

• March 13-14; Results posted March 18

The Office of Residential Living will determine, based on fall housing demands, the number of Study Abroad holds we can allow. The number is subject to change from year to year. All applications received during the dates posted above and will be considered for one of the study abroad hold options.

Applications are randomly sorted, selection points and class year are not considered for this process. Residential Living will grant as many holds  as we are able, based on the type requested in the application. The remaining applications will be waitlisted; the waitlist will remain open until Phase 1 Group Formation begins.

Holds may be used during Phase 1 selection only. A maximum of two holds are allowed for apartments and suites. Holds cannot be placed on single or double occupancy residence hall rooms. If a student does not use their hold during Phase 1, the hold expires.

Residential students are automatically assigned a selection point value based on class year to determine their “place in line” when it comes to selecting space on campus:

• Rising seniors – 4 points
• Rising juniors – 3 points
• Rising sophomores – 2 points

Selection points are used during the Group Formation stage of selection (see below). During Group Formation, students may sign up in groups of 1, 2, 3, or 4. A group’s selection point AVERAGE will be calculated and used to determine a groups place in line.

Example: if you form a group of 4 and all four members of the group have three points, then the average for the group is 3. If one member has two points and the other three members have three points, then the average is 2.75. Groups with 3 points will be sorted first, followed by other groups, according to the group averages.

Notes:

• Rising sophomores who attend the What’s a Hoya programs and submit the required surveys, may earn .01 points for every session and increase their points to a maximum of 2.3
  • What’s A Hoya Points are not determined or controlled by the Office of Residential Living, all questions and concerns about these accrued points need to be directed to whatsahoya@georgetown.edu
• Please note that a student’s ranking is determined by how they are classified by the Dean’s office, which is reflected in the Registrar’s Student Information System. Please check your Hoya Housing page to see what class year Residential Living has for you. Please check with your Dean’s office if you believe the class year is not reflected correctly.

Group Formation is the process of future roommates coming together to declare that they would like to live together. 

Phase 1 – You must be a group of 4 people, no more, no less. If you are hoping for a unit with more than 4 beds, you will still form a group of 4 and add additional residents later (pending availability). The individuals that opt NOT to be a part of the original 4 person group may form into another group of four and be pulled into an open bed in a unit through the Pull-in Process, as long as the bed is indeed available.

Phase 2 – You may form into a group size of either:

• 3 people – you will be considered for triple rooms in residence halls only. 
• 2 people – you will be considered for residence halls doubles or apartment vacancies with 2 open spaces. Note: a group of 2 cannot split up during selection to go into two separate apartment or residence hall spaces.
• 1 person – forming as a group of 1 means that you are hoping for a single room (only available to juniors and seniors), or you will be selecting into a residence hall double room where another student may be assigned with you later on, or you may add yourself to a single open bed in an apartment. Rising Sophomores are not eligible for townhouses or singles.

Regardless of group size, every group is formed by following these steps:

1. One member of the group elects to be the Group Sponsor and begins the process by creating the group — deciding the group name and password — within the Group Formation page of the Housing Application, available in Hoya Housing.
2. For groups of 2 or more, the Group Sponsor will give the group name and password to each member they wish to join their group (future roommates).
3. These group members will log on to Hoya Housing, also begin the housing application, and with the Group Formation page of the Housing Application, select “join a group” by using the group name and password given to them by the Group Sponsor. 
4. Each member must add themselves to the group, the Group Sponsor cannot pull them into a group!
5. Once all members have been added, the Group Sponsor will log back into Hoya Housing and VERIFY the group. This must be completed in order to be given a Lottery Time Ticket (see below)

Notes:

• Groups must be formed according to the specific requirements that come with a Selection Phase (see below)
• Groups may dismantle at any point during the Group Formation window or until a group is verified. If someone chooses to leave the group, be sure to communicate with your future roommates so they can fill your spot before Group Formation closes.

If the Group Sponsor is unable to log into Hoya Housing on Selection day, the Group Sponsor can re-assign responsibilities to another member of the group via the Group Formation page of their housing application.

If you are looking for future roommates, you may use the Roommate Finder page on the Housing Application to search for other upperclass students who have started a Housing Application, but have not yet added themselves to a group. The Roommate Finder feature allows you to search for potential roommates based on the answers submitted on the Living Preference Questionnaire page of the housing application. If you find someone you’d like to live with, you will proceed with the steps outlined in the Group Formation and Room Selection sections of this document.

Once the Group Formation page has closed and your group has been verified, Residential Living will process selection times for groups with high enough point averages to participate. A computer will order group averages from highest to lowest, randomly order groups with the same point average, and assign a Lottery Time Ticket based on the order the group falls. Lottery Time Tickets will highlight an exact date and time that the Group Sponsor (and Group Sponsor ONLY) will be able to log into Hoya Housing and select a room for them and their future roommates. This Lottery Time Ticket will be emailed to the Group Sponsor.

If there is more demand for a phase than space available, the group may not qualify for a Lottery Time Ticket during that phase. In this case, the Group Sponsor will receive an email indicating that the group will need to reform and participate in the next phase.

Housing Selection is divided into two phases (Phase 1 and Phase 2). Each phase has its own Group Formation and Room Selection Processes. Dates for each phase can be found on our Selection Calendar.

Phase 1 is for 4-or-more occupancy units: apartments, townhouses & Arrupe Suites [Note: Arrupe doubles are selected in Phase 2]

• Pull-in Option: If a Group Sponsor selects into a 5+ capacity unit, they will have an opportunity at the very end of the room selection process to identify the roommates they wish to add to those additional beds. Any beds that are not filled during the Pull-in Process, will show up during the Phase 2 Selection Process.

Phase 2: is for residence hall singles, doubles and triples, and unfilled vacancies in the units listed above.

At the time of their Lottery Time Ticket, the Group Sponsor will choose a building, unit and assign their future roommates to specific bed spaces using the following steps:

1. Group Sponsor logs into Hoya Housing and open their already started Housing Application
2. Group Sponsor will see a “Rooms” tab which is where the selection process begins
3. Group Sponsors will see building names and can use the expand feature to see available units in that building. This information is live-time, so units that are not available (or available to you based on gender) will not be shown.
4. The Group Sponsor will select a room or apartment and assign every member of the group into a bed space.
5. If selecting an apartment, the Group Sponsor should be aware of which members want to share a bedroom and which member will be assigned the single room (if applicable). NOTE: single rooms in apartments are charged at a higher room rate. Rates can be found for the upcoming academic year on the Room Rates page of the Residential Living website.
6. If the Group Sponsor selects a 5-or-more-capacity unit, they will be prompted to name the additional residents after they have assigned the first 4 members to a bed space. This page is called the Pull-in Process:
   1. ​​Pull-in Process: The Group Sponsor will see an additional page on the application where they will be prompted to identify the roommates they wish to add to the additional beds. Any beds that are not filled at the Group Sponsor’s request, by the time Phase 2 Group Formation ends, will show up during the Phase 2 Selection Process.
   2. NOTE: If a senior, who is parted of a formed group for Phase 1 or 2, cancels their on-campus assignment to go off-campus.
7. The space they vacate can only be filled by a person with equal or greater selection point. Once the Group Sponsor gets to the Application Status of the Housing Application they have successfully completed the selection request. 
8. Each group member will receive a confirmation email containing a link at which they can verify the residence selected.

Notes:

• There will NOT be a room search feature through Hoya Housing. All floor plans and room features can be found on the Room Features Spreadsheet.
• After a selection has been submitted, the Group Sponsor may not go back and change their selection. If all members of your group decide to switch out or drop the apartment, the empty bed spaces will be reverted to the Office of Residential Living and be offered to the next group or individuals in line.

Housing Selection While Studying Abroad or on a Leave of Absence
Students on a medical leave or who are studying abroad during the spring semester are still eligible to participate in the room selection process will need to obtain a name and password from their Group Sponsor if selecting as part of a group. Students selecting as an individual may sign up following the posted selection schedule. After groups have selected housing, the students abroad will be notified of their assignments via email. All students must sign the online Housing Occupancy Agreement to confirm that they accept the spaces selected for them. If the Agreement is not signed within two weeks after notification, the students will be dropped and the space will be offered to the Wait List.

Resident Assistant (RA) Candidates
Resident Assistants who are assigned to apartments have the opportunity to name their roommates. Roommates are eligible to be named if they are not already housed and rising seniors must have applied for Senior Eligibility. Roommates of an RA, whether selected by the RA or not, must sign a specific RA Roommate Contract, issued through Residential Education, in addition to the Housing Occupancy Agreement. Vacancies in RA apartments will be available during Phase 2, the Residence Hall Selection Phase or may be filled by the Residential Living office during the summer assignment process.

If you are an alternate for the RA position, you should make plans to participate in Housing Selection Process. If you are selected to be an RA, you will be offered an RA space. If you are a member of an apartment group, the remaining roommates will have 3 days to name an eligible replacement from the date you are dropped from the assignment. If no replacement has been named by this deadline, the space will be posted as a vacancy in the housing selection.

Interhall Representatives
Students who have applied for Interhall Representative position will be eligible to choose their building and pull in roommate(s) from a set of available spaces based on the area they will be serving.

InterHall Council Housing Raffle
The InterHall Council will sponsor a raffle for housing picks to raise revenue for the Council to use for the residence halls. Tickets will be priced at a reasonable cost so that everyone will have an opportunity to purchase a ticket and have an equal chance to win. For more information visit InterHall on Hoya Link.

• We have tested and verified that the selection process works correctly with the following browsers:
• Internet Explorer
• Firefox
• Chrome
• We recommend against using a Safari browser
• Frames must be enabled in browser.
• Browser window must be maximized so that the  Group Sponsor can see all operable sections of the page.
• Javascript must be enabled. The time controls that move groups from page to page are written in Javascript. If Javascript is not enabled in the browser, a message displays and the group cannot proceed with the selection process. You may test to verify that Javascript is enabled in your browser by doing a simple Google search.
• The selection system is not certified for use on a tablet or smart phone
• If you have any difficulty in finding a browser that meets these specifications, please contact the Office of Residential Living.

Along with the selection made by the Group Sponsor, Hoya Housing will record other information:

• Internet IP address from which selection was made;
• The length of time it took for the selection to be made
• A verification code to prevent a fraudulent selection
• Residential Living will use this information to analyze the Selection process.

• Do not reload pages unnecessarily. Doing so only taxes the web and database servers, affecting the Selection process for everyone.
• Do not try to jump ahead to a page in the Selection process. Each page is coded with a time-check to make sure the Group Sponsor is eligible to be on that page. If a Group Sponsor attempts to access a page too early, the group is transferred back to the page where they should be.
• Do not have an extra browser window open. Depending on the browser, doing so might slow the countdown timers a bit.

The Office of Residential Living has made every possible effort to ensure optimal performance of the on-line Selection system. We have consulted with students during the construction of the system. Although we have tested the system thoroughly, it is a brand new operating system that may see technical difficulties at times.

On Selection days, the Office of Residential Living will continuously monitor the web and database servers running Selection. Nevertheless, students should note the following:

The Office of Residential Living will not take any responsibility for inability to access the Selection system caused by malfunction of personal computer, network connection, etc.

In the case of a catastrophic technical problem (e.g. the university network goes down, the web or database server goes down), the Office of Residential Living will adjust the selection time of each group not having selected at that time, keeping the same selection order. As a last result, Selection will be rescheduled for a different day.