Room Draw Policies

Reclassification 

Students are assigned by default to the room draw associated with their academic year. If their academic year does not align with their original matriculation class, students may request reclassification to their matriculation class. Note that students may only participate in their college’s senior draw once; in any subsequent housing cycles, students who have already drawn as a senior will participate in the junior draw. 
 
To request reclassification, a student must email undergraduatehousing@yale.edu during Intent Declaration (January 16th-February 12th). After Intent Declaration has ended, requests for reclassification will not be considered. 
 

Change of Intent after Deadline 

Students must adhere to all deadlines associated with the Housing Selection Process. Any student who has not registered intent to live on campus by the time Intent Declaration closes, and who is not required to live on campus, will be assumed to be living off-campus as outlined in the Undergraduate Housing policies. Please note that any student who fails to submit intent by the deadline and is required to live on campus, will be moved to the bottom of their respective draw. 
 
Students who miss the Intent Declaration deadline, and wish to live on campus can join the Housing Waitlist. After the housing selection process has ended for participating students, any remaining beds may be offered to waitlist students on a first-come, first-served basis. 
 

Oversubscription 

During group formation, students should be aware of the number of suites configured to hold their group size. In the case of oversubscription of a certain suite configuration (i.e., more groups of a certain size than there are suites of that size) a pre-lottery will be held to determine which groups will be able to select those suites. 
 
If there are also some undersubscribed suite configurations (more suites of a certain size than groups of that size), the groups with lower lottery numbers will be broken up and asked to reorganize into the undersubscribed configurations. This is most likely to occur in the sophomore draw. 
 
If there are no or insufficient undersubscribed suite configurations, students with low lottery numbers may not be able to secure on-campus housing during the Room Draw. In these instances, a student may join the Waitlist to be placed in housing when if becomes available, or they may choose to move off-campus.  
 

Wait List 

Any student who has not secured housing at the end of room draw, still desires to live on campus may join the Housing Waitlist. As space becomes available, beds will be made available first to students in that residential college. If no students in that residential college remain on the waitlist, the space will be offered to the next student on the waitlist regardless of college affiliation. 
 
Please note the following important information: 
 
  • Students on the waitlist are not eligible to participate in the room draw process and will not have access to form or join groups.  
  • Students will be assigned to partially filled suites and will have suitemates and/or a roommate. Being on the waitlist does not guarantee students will be assigned to a single room. 
  • Students may be placed in Annex housing if there are no available spaces in a residential college.  
  • When submitting a request to join the waitlist, students will have the opportunity to provide additional relevant information to aid in your placement. Please note that while requests related to waitlist placements will be considered, they are unlikely to be met.  

Changing Rooms within Suite after Room Draw 

In-suite room changes can be made through the Undergraduate Housing Portal. Changes can be made starting the day after Room Draw has completed and continuing until the final day of spring term classes.  
 

Filling Empty Rooms 

Any and all available beds within the college can be filled at any time. In the event that, after all room draws have been conducted, there remain one or more empty rooms or suites, this space will be made available for assignment to students without other housing. Should a bed become available due to a student taking a leave of absence or study abroad, that empty bed may be assigned according to the needs of the college. 
 

Housing Contracts 

Once a student has participated in the room draw and selected a room, they are under contract with Yale for undergraduate housing. As such, they are subject to housing fees as outlined in the Undergraduate Regulations. A student who participates in room draw in the spring but who later relinquishes the room they have accepted should be aware of the associated relinquishment fees listed in these regulations.