Office of Residential Life
Housing Lottery Information
The following information is very important. Please read this entire page, and then print or bookmark to keep it as a reference. It covers the following topics:
Housing Lottery number distribution (top)
The Housing Lottery is IWU’s Residence Hall Selection Process. It receives this name due to the process we undergo to provide students with their room selection order.Once the fall registration process is complete, ORL staff place all registered students into tiers based on credit hours. Once students have been placed in their tiers, a number is randomly assigned to each student. So, if there are 100 seniors in Tier 1, each student has an equal chance of receiving #1 to #100. See “Assigning students a specified time to chose a room” below for details on each tier.
Housing Lottery Numbers are not provided to students.
Assigning students a specified time to choose a room (top)
Students at Illinois Wesleyan University choose rooms in an order determined by the number of class units earned, assuring that senior students have the opportunity for the best campus placements. This is because some of our facilities are more highly desirable than others. Using an ordered process gives all students at a similar class and credit-hour level the same chance at each type of housing available on campus. Students within each credit-hour range are assigned a time to choose space randomly so that every person has the same chance of choosing first or choosing last within the credit-hour range. The following chart shows the class tier, and the corresponding credit-hour levels; specified times will be noted after they are assigned following the online housing registration process:
| Class tier | Credit-hour range | Estimated times range (update on 3/31/13) |
| Senior Tier I | 22.25 or more | TBD |
| Senior Tier II | 19.00 - 22.24 | TBD |
| Senior Overflow | 19.00 or more | TBD |
| Junior Tier I | 13.25 - 18.99 | TBD |
| Junior Tier II | 10.00 - 13.24 | TBD |
| Junior Overflow | 10.00 - 18.99 | TBD |
| Sophomore Tier I | 4.25 - 9.99 | TBD |
| Sophomore Tier II | 2.00 - 4.24 | TBD |
| Sophomore Overflow | 2.00 - 9.99 | TBD |
| Advanced Freshman | 0.00 - 1.99 | TBD |
| Late Registration | TBD |
AP Credits are not recorded by December, and therefore are not included in unit counts for first-year students. Specified time blocks and a selection order within each block are assigned randomly by computer under the supervision of the Office of Residential Life after all registrations have been collected at the start of Spring Break. You will receive notification of your specified housing selection time by email before you arrive back from Spring Break. Your specified housing selection time is recorded with your name; times cannot be traded or given away.You will use the earliest specified time possible to select your room.
If you are selecting with a roommate or group of roommates, the earliest time in the group is used for the entire group. So, if Chris (3/30 at 7:25 PM) and Pat (3/28 at 4:10 PM) are trying for a room together, Pat's time would be the one they would use because it is the earliest and would give them the best possible chance of getting the room they want.
The timing of the Housing Lottery Nights (top)
Students sign up for rooms at specified times over the span of up to four evenings. The first day is Tuesday, April 2nd and selection will continue until all registered students have had an opportunity to participate. In 10 minute time intervals, from 3pm - 8pm daily, students will be allotted time to select from available, gender appropriate spaces.
Utilizing the MyHousing portal, students do not report to any specific place to register for housing. Any computer with an internet connect will all students access to register for housing. Students will want to make sure they know their best available time and plan to be together in the same room as roommate pairs, just in case your first choice is unavailable.
Advice for rising sophomores - thinking realistically (top)
A simple application of mathematics will show us it's not possible for everyone who wants a single room to have a single room. Students with the highest number of credit-hours have the earliest (best) specified times. This means that seniors and juniors will have first shot at the most desirable rooms on campus. Everyone can't live in a single or a suite. Be realistic when you are planning for where you want to live. You may not get the type of room you desire most, although you will be housed. Most sophomores will live with a roommate in a double room. Most sophomores will not be housed in preferential halls (Harriett or Magill for instance).
On the last night of the selection process, there may be a handful of rising sophomores (those with the latest specified times) that will be unable to be placed into a room. This is expected--we know that a number of students will sign up for a room and then later decide that they will not be using the room which they have been placed in (because they are transferring, withdrawing, moving off-campus, etc.). Because you have not been assigned a room during the initial placement process does not mean that residence hall spaces will be unavailable to you. Students who cannot be housed on the final night will be able to sign up for a waiting list. At the time that a room opens up, they will be placed in a residence hall space with the roommate of their choice.
Finding a Roommate (top)
There are lots of good reasons why people don't have roommates. Students who do not have a roommate, or enough roommates to fill a multiple-occupancy room (suites, for instance) can log into MyHousing and review potential roommate preferences. This will allow you to email and interact with potential roommates, avoiding being randomly assigned to a roommate. If you do not want to participate in this online matching, be sure to log into MyHousing and set your personal profile to private. With the advances in online selection, we are no longer hosting "Find a Roommate Night."
Outside of a Martin super-single, you cannot sign up for a multiple-occupancy room during the Housing Lottery without a roommate. If you do not have a roommate at your specified time block, you will be consolidated (put in a double room) on the spot with the next person who selects a space without a roommate.
Medical and Mental Health Accommodations (top)
Before single rooms placements are made from early applications, students who have a medical or mental health need are considered. Housing accommodations are granted to students who provide appropriate medical documentation supporting the need for said accommodation. Decisions are made through the Office of Residential Life in consultation, as necessary, with the Arnold Health Service or Counseling and Consultation Services. The documentation criteria can be found on the Housing Accommodations page. Once the March 1st deadline passes, requests for housing accommodations will be granted when space is available.
Before you "come to" log-in for the Housing Lottery Nights... (top)
- For students who attended the Housing Lottery in the Hansen Center, remember, there will no longer be a physical location for the lottery!
- Make sure you know the best time of your roommate pairing and get to a computer at that time.
- Make sure all roommate handshakes have been completed before your time, or you will not be able to select a room together.
- Have an idea of what room you want and have a back-up plan (or two) if you don't get that room.
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