Housing Sign Up Information

Apartment Clusters

Students may apply in groups to have 2 - 4 apartments on the same floor in an apartment section.  Individual apartments must be single gender, but clusters can be co-ed.  Every student applying to be in an apartment must have 57+ credits.  Each group will be ranked by the average number of credits their group has and groups will be placed starting with the group with the highest average.  30-40% of the apartments will be used for cluster.  Be advised of the following limitations when making requests:  Fry A is all 2 person apartments and C & D are all 4 person apartments.  The B section in Smith, Kelly & Mellinger are all 4 person apartments.

Residence Hall Clusters

Students may apply for a block of rooms (called clusters) in all of the upper class halls (Grantham, Hess, Miller, Mountain View & Solly).  You may apply for a cluster of rooms that consists of 3, 4, 5 or 6 rooms.  Clusters are simply rooms that are on the same hall that allow students to maintain their community.  Historically, clusters have all been rooms next to each other, but some have described those clusters hurt overall community. Moving forward, clusters will refer to living in a similar area on a floor, but the rooms will rarely be next to each other. In Miller & Hess all of the rooms, except for the singles and RA rooms are eligible for clustering.  In Mountain View & Grantham none of the singles will be used for clusters,  50% of the double rooms will go to clustering and 75% of the triple rooms will go toward clustering. In Solly up to 60% of each floor is available for clustering (including triples & quads).  Singles are not available for clustering in any building.

To apply for a cluster:

1. One of your group members will need to log onto The Nest.   On the left side of the screen there is a "Cluster" link. Click on this link.  **Please note that the Cluster Request Link is only visible during the two days you can submit your requests.**

2. Enter each roommate's last name & PIN number, the building/section/floor preference of the cluster and the number of doubles, triples and quads needed to house the cluster.

3. If you request a triple or quad you will also be asked to list who will be rooming in these rooms.  There are only a few larger triple rooms and those will only go to rooms where one person has at least 70 credits.

4. After submitting all of the PINs each group member will see the group they have been entered with when they click on 'Clusters'.

5. Dates for cluster requests

   1. All apartment cluster requests must be filled out on Monday, March 18 - Tuesday, March 19 and apartment groups will be notified by Friday, March 22 about where their group has been assigned

   2. All residence hall cluster requests must be filled out on Wednesday, April 3 - Thursday, April 4. Groups will be notified by Tuesday, April 9 about if their group has been assigned to a cluster of rooms.

6. Apartment groups will need to respond by Friday, March 25 and residence hall groups will need to respond by Thursday, April 11 with

   1. Their acceptance (or decline) of the cluster assignment

   2. A list of who will be rooming with who.

An estimate on probability

In past years many cluster groups have hoped to get into Mt. View or Grantham and have been disappointed when those two buildings did not have spaces in them.  This chart should give you an idea of how many credits clusters had in 2015 to be assigned to each of the buildings.  The number listed is the average number of credits for each cluster (cluster member's credits are totaled and then divided by the number of members)

Average Number of Credits by Building

FAQs about clustering

Why do we offer clustering?

There are two main reasons, the first is that the Residence Life department believes that students have a better college experience, grow more as people and have better relationships when they live with the same people during their college career. The second reason is that students have expressed the desire to live with their friends. First year floors have repeatedly asked for a way to continue living as a floor. Clustering makes it possible for students to continue their floor community from one year to the next.

How will you determine which cluster to give priority to in making assignments?

The clusters credits will be added together and divided by the number of people in the cluster to give an average number.  The cluster with the highest average will be given first priority and the cluster with the lowest average will be given the lowest priority; the rest of the groups will be ranked based on their average.

What if the process is competitive and our group does not get assigned a cluster?

After cluster assignments are made there will be an opportunity for students to sign up for individual rooms.

How many spaces are available in clustering?

In Miller & Hess all of the double rooms will be available for clustering.

In Solly 60% of the spaces will be available for clustering.

In Grantham & Mountain View 50% of the double rooms and 75% of the triple rooms will be available for clustering.

Can a cluster sign up for a quad?

The only quads available to upper class students are in Solly.  Half of the quads will be available to clusters if they request that.  The other half will be available to sign up for individual groups.

What if we just want to live together even if we don’t get our first three building/floor choices?

An offer for a cluster will be given to you and you will need to respond within 24 hours with (1) if you will accept the cluster offer and (2) who will room with who.

I’m going to be a junior and it’s not fair that a sophomore cluster might get to live in Mountain View  or Grantham and I might not get to live there.

We've been housing clusters for 10+ years and have found that using 60% of double rooms & 75% of triple rooms in these two buildings has allowed clusters to happen and has given rising juniors or seniors the opportunity to get in to Mt. View, Grantham or Solly. 

Our hope is that as clustering becomes more popular that we will not need to monitor which group is placed in which building. In the former housing sign-up system it would be an injustice for a person with fewer credits to take the space of a person with more credits.   However, we are taking baby steps to move to a housing sign-up system that focuses on community and continuity of relationships, so it gives a higher priority to community in the upper class halls than individuals getting a more desirable room.

Can I cluster with my friends if I am accommodated with medical housing?

Not officially, no. Students who are given medical housing accommodations are assigned to a room based on their specific need. Our credit-based system is designed to prioritize seniority, represented by credits. Groups cannot cluster with someone assigned medical housing because this could place a large group of students into a building that they would typically not have enough credits to sign-up for. Students can informally request to live near a cluster by making a comment on their medical housing request, or the cluster can add it to the additional detail section on the Nest.

Can I cluster with an RA?

Not officially, no. RAs are placed to specific floors or apartment sections to perform their role within Residence Life. Our credit-based system is designed to prioritize seniority, represented by credits. Groups cannot cluster with someone assigned a specific housing location due to their RA role place a large group of students into a building that they would typically not have enough credits to sign-up for. Students can informally request to live near an RA by making a comment about it in their cluster request within the Nest. However, the cluster must have enought students to constitute a cluster before including the RA (and any possible roommates they may have). 

I have a roommate, but don’t know anyone to cluster with, what should I do?

You have two options.  The first is to wait until clustering assignments are made and then sign up for one of the rooms that have not been assigned for clustering.  Your other option is to find two other roommate pairs that are in the same situation as you and form a cluster.  We prefer that you live in a cluster with people you actually know and like to continue building a stronger history and community, but there is nothing unethical about forming a cluster with those you don't know well.