First-year Building Preference

Welcome to MIT! We’re so glad you’re joining us. Your first major housing decision is where to live. Learn more about our eleven unique residences and submit your first-year building preference form before the deadline. Not sure you made the right choice? You can always participate in the First Year Residence Exchange when you arrive on campus.

Important Dates

Forms are available in the housing portal.
Housing Portal

First-year building preference form opens at 12:00 pm (noon) ET

Wednesday, May 14

First-year building preference form closes at 12:00 pm (noon) ET

Wednesday, June 4

First-Year building assignments released 

Wednesday, June 25

First-Year room assignments released 

Wednesday, July 30

Filling Out the Form

All submissions are given equal weight according to a lottery process; it does not matter when you submit your form as long as it’s received by the deadline. When evaluating the housing options, take your time and be honest when sharing your living preferences. 

You can amend your submitted preferences at any time before the deadline — click through the entire webform and hit “submit” at the end to ensure your changes are saved. 

Will I Be Placed in my Preferred Building?

We make every effort to place you in your preferred building, but it's impossible to know your individual odds because the building preferences of each incoming class change from year to year. Most years, students are placed in one of their top four choices. There are many opportunities to explore residential communities through Residential Explorations (REX) and to move through the First-year Residence Exchange (FYRE) or the building switch lottery. 

Learn about FYRE

What happens next?

After you submit your housing preference form, you will receive your building placement from Housing & Residential Services and a roster will be sent to your residence’s student room assignment chair (RAC) for individual room placements. You will receive your room assignments (and know your roommate) about a month after you learn your building placement.  

First-year Housing Process
Building preference is only step one! See what happens next.
Learn More
Assignment Process
Assignments are divided into two parts - building and room.
Learn More
Start planning for your move
We have a list of what and what not to bring to campus.
Learn more