Frequently Asked Questions – Room Draw

Room Draw is the process that returning Carleton students use to choose the room they will live in for the upcoming academic year.

Room Draw traditionally occurs during the month of May, exact dates depend on your class year and Housing Lottery number. More information is sent to students early Spring Term.

• what your Housing Lottery number is
• who your roommate(s) will be and which of you has the best Housing Lottery number
• which rooms are available for draw
• what time you are able to select your room
• which specific rooms (five or six possibilities) you are interested in selecting
• an alternate housing plan if the room you wanted is not available when it is your time to draw

Housing Lottery numbers are assigned through a random computer generated program to ensure unbiased assignment of numbers. The Housing Lottery number is a four digit number with the first digit being the class year of the student (Senior=1, Junior=2 and Sophomore=3). Each student within a class year is then assigned a random three digit number (from 001 to 550). Students choose rooms in numerical order within their class and draw in roommates to fill the space. For more info, see the Room Draw Policy. 

Your Housing Lottery number is for the entire academic year. It is used if you participate in room draw in May or if you return from being away from campus during the year.

You will be able to log into the online Room Draw website (Residence) and see which rooms are available. You can also review the Draw History to see past draw availability.

We encourage you to speak with your friends and people you know. You are also able to view profiles and request roommates on the Residence website.

Yes, you can live with people of different class years. The best lottery number within the roommate group is used to draw the room.

The majority of spaces on campus are designated as “all-gender.” Any combination of roommates are able to draw these rooms regardless of sex or gender.

Floor plans are posted on the Campus Maps Website.

The available townhouses are drawn during the normal room draw process with each townhouse apartment being drawn as 1 group. If drawing into a townhouse, you must be prepared to tell us who will be assigned to each of the rooms to assure that students are listed correctly. Please check the floor plans to determine exact room assignments prior to drawing rooms.

Interest Houses require applications. All other campus student houses can be drawn into at Room Draw.

All rooms selections are final since the room is no longer available for other students to draw. Room changes can be considered for Winter Term if desired. Any unauthorized room changes/moves may result in the students being required to move back to their assigned room and/or automatic placement at the end of their class for room draw.

Each year, some students are approved to live off campus in non-college owned housing. This housing selection process, called Northfield Option. It is open only to rising seniors for the following academic year. If granted Northfield Option, students assume full responsibility for their housing arrangements.