General Housing Selection

To enter the selection process, click the "Open" button on the home screen or on the Room Selection tab.

Near the top left is the selection process timeline. The first line is the assigned time slot followed by the time the selection process was displayed and the time the process will end.

Each student is given a 5-minute time slot. You can still choose a room after your 5-minute time slot (until the end of the selection process), however at the end of your time slot, the next student’s time slot begins and they can select a room. Please note that selection times are in the Eastern Standard Time Zone.

Your name and your roommate code are in the top right corner. You will need this code to form a group.

Residence contains a countdown clock that displays the time until a student's time slot begins. It then adjusts to display the time remaining until the selection process closes.

Students should familiarize themselves with Residence before their time slot — the "Update Roommates," "Select a Room" and "Find Someone You Know" buttons are particularly useful for forming groups, viewing/selecting rooms and entering a friend's roommate code to add them to a group.

In a box near the bottom right, there is a list of group members if relevant.

Please note that the message tab is deactivated at this time — use Kenyon email to communicate within a group.

Group leaders can add or remove members, and select a room for the group. Individual members can remove themselves but cannot add members.

The group leader does not need to be the student with the earliest time slot — it is the student who initiates forming a group. Group leaders select a new leader by hovering over another member’s name in the My Group box and clicking on the up arrow. The group leader should be someone who is available during the group's time slot.

To form a group, group leaders will need the roommate codes of all members. Leaders should click on the "Find Someone you Know" tab and enter in a code to identify each group member.

Members will receive an email with a link once they have been identified in Residence. By following the link, they can accept or decline the group invitation. Students must check their email, click on that link, and accept in order to be part of a group, and all members must do this prior to the group leader selecting a room. All spaces must be completely filled with a fully formed group to be selected in Residence.

Students should communicate with each other and check the status of their group members in the My Group box prior to their time slot.

Please note: A student can only receive one invite from a person. If a student declines a group’s invitation and then changes their mind, the group should designate another member as the group leader and have them submit an invite (they can then re-designate the initial group leader if necessary), or, for a group of two, the person who declined the invite can send an invite to the second person.

Only a group leader can add members. Any student can remove themselves by clicking "Leave Group" at the bottom of the My Group box, or a group leader can remove any member by clicking the "x" by the member's name in the My Group box. If a group leader leaves the group, another student is automatically assigned the role.

It may become necessary to add or remove members during the selection time if a first choice is not available and the group needs to be adjusted for a secondary housing choice. Group leaders can add members or remove members who can then re-group together.

Reminder: To add members or re-group, new members must be available to check their email and accept their invitation. Students should plan ahead so that everyone is available.

Once their time slot has opened, the group leader, or a student without a group looking for a single, can select a space for housing. The "Finalize Selection" button will only be visible once the time slot has opened.

For any spaces with more than one room, each room will be displayed in a box with a drop-down list of group members. The group leader will assign each member to a room then click the "Finalize Selection" button.

Reminder: Once finalized, selections cannot be changed.

The Favorite button can be accessed on the Open Room page or the star button next to the list of rooms on the Select a Room page. Once a space is favorited, it will be shown in the Favorites section on the Select a Room page.

If a room has been favorited and another student then selects that room, it will automatically be removed from other favorite lists.

Students are encouraged to use this function to make a list of options prior to their time slot. This makes selecting a space quick and easy, and students will be able to tell immediately if their preferred rooms are still available.

For students in groups, any group member can favorite a space, however, the space will only display in a group leader's list.

Favorites should be added in reverse order of preference — the least favorite entered first — so that the most preferred space appears at the top of the list.

Students unable to be present during their selection time slot have several options: they can select a room any time after their time slot begins and before the entire selection process ends, or members of a group can ask another member to be the group leader and do the selecting.

Students can also ask the Office of Residential Life to act as their proxy by filling out the Housing Selection Proxy Form. When filling out the form students can let the office know if they just have a general preference — any double in Old Kenyon, any double on north campus, etc. or specific rooms (Old Kenyon 101, 201, etc). When the selection time slot opens, office staff will log in and assign individual students or a group to a room based on their stated preferences.