Graduate Housing Guide

Part One: Getting In

The housing market in Cambridge is pretty tough. There's a limited and expensive supply off-campus, and this means that there is high demand for Graduate Housing on-campus.

To distribute these limited spaces as fairly and efficiently as possible, we have an Allocation Process to assign vacancies.

There is a separate Allocation process for both New and Continuing Students — to find out which one you should apply to, please read the information below.

Please note: The New and Continuing Allocations are for people who will be registered full-time for the fall semester. People who will be entering in February, or who will be away on an internship during the fall, will need to apply to the November Allocation for housing for the spring semester.

Eligibility

Before you begin the process, you need to know your status. Your status will determine what kind of assignment you will receive, and what buildings you are eligible to live in.

First, you need to know if you are New or Continuing.

New: Your status is new if you have never attended MIT before, at any point in your life.

Continuing: Your status is continuing if you have ever previously been registered at MIT. This includes undergraduate, cross-registered, visitors, etc.

Then, you need to know if you are Single or Family.

Single: You need housing for you. You are the only person who will be living in your room. (Married students are eligible for single housing as long as their spouses are not living there as well.)

Family: You are attending MIT with your family. Your family will be living with you on a full-time, permanent basis during the academic year. ("Family" is an umbrella term — we have many types of families in our buildings. Married and unmarried couples, same sex couples, single parents, couples with children, married undergraduates and students with a parent who is their legal dependent.)

If you are assigned to a family building, documentation is required to prove your family status before you can move in. You do not need to send documentation to apply.

Please Note: Our buildings are zoned by the city of Cambridge as single or family, and are built to accommodate either family or single needs. Students cannot live alone in family housing, or with their families in single housing. Anyone in violation of this policy will be required to vacate.

What does my status mean?

What building can I live in?

There is a wide variety of housing on campus for graduates. General building information, location and rents are located at http://web.mit.edu/housing/grad/residences.html. Each residence has its own webpage with information about its own unique community.

Please be sure to read and think carefully about each building before indicating your preferences.

Single Student Housing:

New students are eligible for all single buildings. The Warehouse (NW30) is for New students only. New students can also apply to Tang, Edgerton, Sidney-Pacific, and Ashdown.

Continuing students are eligible for Tang, Edgerton, Sidney-Pacific, and Ashdown.

Floor plans are available at http://web.mit.edu/housing/grad/assignments/rents.html or on the homepage of each building (links are available through the above URL).

Family Housing:

There are two family housing buildings: Eastgate and Westgate. Eastgate is made up of one and two bedroom apartments, while Westgate contains efficiency, one, and two bedroom apartments.

Because of city of Cambridge zoning laws, there are strict policies about who can live in what type of apartment. Please see below to determine your eligibility:

Efficiencies: Couples without children, same sex siblings who are both MIT students, a single parent with one child, a single student with a parent who is the legal dependent.

One Bedroom: Couples without children, couples with one child, single parents with one or two children, a single student with a parent who is the legal dependent.

Two Bedroom: Couples with one or more children, single parents with two or more children.

Floor plans are available at http://web.mit.edu/housing/grad/assignments/rents.html

Please note: In order to remain eligible for Family housing, your partner and/or child must be living with you on a full-time, permanent basis. If there is a change in family status, you need to alert the Housing Office right away.

Can I get a tour of the building?

Possibly. You should call the manager of the residence to make an appointment for a tour.

The allocation process makes assignments by running the applications and vacancies through a series of algorithms.

This system takes into account the type and number of vacancies as well as what people have indicated as their choices. Then, it tries to fill as many spaces as possible while also trying to get people into their highest possible choices.

We still can't house everyone, but the new system is fast and efficient.

For a more detailed explanation of how exactly it works go to http://web.mit.edu/housing/grad/assignments/changes.html.

You can withdraw without penalty until the final application deadline. After that, you are fined $250 if you withdraw or fail to accept your offer by the acceptance/confirmation deadline.

You don not need to be accepted at MIT to apply. We know that sometimes departments may make late decisions. If you decide not to attend MIT, you must notify us directly. Your department will not do this for you.

How do I apply?

Applications are available online at http://web.mit.edu/housing/grad when the process is open

NOTE: The allocation for fall housing is open to fully registered MIT graduate students only! Postdocs, visiting students, cross-registered students, and other visitors are only eligible for the waiting list, which will open in late June/early July.

When you apply, you will receive an automatic response from this office verifying that we have received your application. The email will also contain your preferences and your confirmation code. Make sure you save this email! You will need the confirmation code if you wish to return to the application to update preferences or withdraw from the allocation.

If you cannot access the online form, please contact us at graduatehousing@mit.edu for assistance.

My partner and I will both be attending MIT and we want to apply for family housing. Can we both apply?

Yes, you can both apply. In the unlikely event that you are each offered an assignment, one of you will have to turn down his/her assignment and pay $250. It is a pretty small price to pay for doubling your chances, though.

When will I know if I have been assigned?

Allocation results will be available to view online approximately one week after the application deadline. Please refer to the Graduate Housing homepage (http://web.mit.edu/housing/grad/) for dates and announcements related to the allocation process.

We will also email the results to everyone, but due to past difficulties with non-MIT emails, we DO NOT recommend relying on your email to find out if you have been assigned. If you don't respond by the deadline because you do not receive an email, we will still fine you $250 and your space will be reassigned to another student. We do not take responsibility for unchecked or invalid email.

You will need to accept/confirm your assignment by the confirmation deadline or else we will assume you do not want your assignment. We'll charge you $250 and assign the space to someone else.

If you will be unable to check your email during this time, make sure you have someone you trust do it for you. You may also contact the Office before the deadline to make other arrangements if special circumstances will prevent you from having access to your email or the internet during this timeframe.

If you don't hear from us, or can't access the web confirmation, please contact us before the confirmation deadline posted on the allocation webpages.

How do I accept?

I didn't get assigned but I still need housing.

Applications may be adjusted (e.g. to change your preferences) during a one-week period that begins on the date the first round results are announced.

Assignments from the second round will be available two weeks after the first round results are announced and assignees will be given one week to confirm (just like the first round).

If you are still not assigned through the second allocation process, you can place your name on a waiting list. This list is active through the summer and we refer to it to assign any remaining vacancies or cancellations. Around the last friday of June the waiting list will be open to those who did not participate in the first and second rounds of the allocation.

Why is there so little housing for Continuing Single Students?

The other buildings have a mix of New and Continuing, usually with a 40-60 ratio. To determine how many spaces go to New, and how many to Continuing, we look at the number of remaining Continuing students in the building.

Let's say we have a building with 100 spaces. Each year, 40 New students must leave when their contract expires, always giving us 40 spaces in this building. Of the 60 Continuing students, however, only 21 graduate and leave. The rest renew for another year.

This means we will be able to assign 40 New spaces, but only 21 Continuing.

We also take gender into account: if 6 of the 21 spots are in female apartments, then we have only 6 female Continuing spaces, and 15 Continuing male spaces.

Since Single Continuing students are only housed in Tang, Ashdown, Sidney-Pacifc, and Edgerton, the number of spaces will be limited by how many Continuing Students leave, and what gender the remaining roommates are.

Why is there even less housing for Continuing Family?

Each building has a mix of New and Continuing. However, since New students can renew for a second year, there are actually three groups of students: New, Second Year and Continuing. New and Continuing should always be about equal, with Second Years taking up somewhat less than a third.

So, in a building of 100 people, there should be 40 New, 40 Continuing and 20 Second Years.

To determine how many vacancies go to New, and how many to Continuing, we look at the ratio of remaining Continuing Students in the building.

In our building with 100 spaces, each year 20 Second Year students must leave when their contract expires, always giving us 20 spaces in this building. (20 total vacancies)

Of the 40 Continuing students, however, only 15 graduate and leave. The rest renew for another year. (35 total vacancies)

Of the 40 New students, however, only 19 graduate and leave. The remaining 21 renew for their Second Year. (54 total vacancies)

So, we now have 21 Second Years and 25 Continuing. We must now assign New and Continuing students to the 54 vacancies so that everything is even again.

If there are 25 Continuing already in the building, there must be at least 25 New assigned from the total of 54. This leaves us with 29 vacancies to assign. Each side gets 14, and we take a space for a medical assignment.

So, now we have 21 Second Years, 39 Continuing and 39 New, and 1 medical. The ratio is correct and even.

However to make it even, only 14 Continuing spaces were assigned but 39 New spaces were assigned.

There is another reason that there will always be fewer vacancies for Continuing. Family housing is divided into many types - so it could be that out of the 14 vacancies only 2 vacancies will be 2-bedrooms and the rest could be efficiencies, and one bedrooms.

Between the limited number of vacancies and the limited types of vacancies, it's not surprising it is so difficult to be assigned to Family housing.

Sadly, no pets are allowed in graduate housing, unless it is a service dog.

Smoking

All of MIT's residence halls are non-smoking, and this policy is very strictly enforced. Violating the policy (smoking in your room, on the roof deck, anywhere on the property etc) will result in the loss of your housing. In recent years, several students have had to move out of on-campus housing because they did not follow the policy.

Many of our students are surprised to find that in Boston and Cambridge, there is no smoking in the bars, clubs, restaurants...or residence halls.

You can still smoke in some areas outside your building, but keep in mind that in January, February and even March, most days are under 20F (-6C) with a windchill of that goes well below 0F (-17C) and there is usually plenty of snow.

If you are a heavy smoker, you may wish to think carefully about whether the on-campus environment will be the right one for you.

You should make a medical request if you have a long-term medical need for accommodation in on-campus housing.

All medical requests must be made prior to the allocation process. To ensure that your request is considered early enough for us to meet your needs for a fall assignment, it should be submitted to our office by May 1st, 2007.

Once the allocation process is run, we cannot guarantee housing, even for approved medical requests.

Your request and documentation are reviewed by a committee at MIT Medical. This committee will approve or deny the medical request. The building assignment will be made at the discretion of the committee and the Housing Office.

Please be sure to ask early if you think you may need special accommodations!

When you accept your assignment, you will be given an opportunity to outline any religious needs. This could include a request to live on a lower floor or to be placed with other students with the same dietary restrictions.

Again, please keep in mind that space is limited, and while we will do our best to accommodate these requests, it is not a guarantee.

If we cannot reasonably accommodate a documented religious need, you may cancel your housing without penalty until July 15th, 2007.

All single apartments are same-gender, so if a girl and guy request to be together, we can't assign you to the same apartment. (This policy was arrived at in consultation with the GSC and the various house governments.)

We will do our best to put roommate requests together, but please keep in mind that we are limited in matching requests. This is because not all the rooms in an apartment become vacant in buildings where Continuing students live.

All of the residence halls (except for the Warehouse which has only single apartments anyway) already have continuing students living in rooms, and we must fill the remaining rooms in the apartment. Placing people together is determined by availability.

However, if you will only live in a shared space (Sidney-Pacific Quad) if you are placed with your friend, you can indicate this as an option on your application. Of course, this does limit your options and affects how the program weighs your preferences.

It's important to be flexible about your assignment - you may end up living down the hall from your friend, but a new roommate can mean new friendships and new experiences, which we hope is one of the reasons you want to live on-campus with your fellow students!

Married or engaged undergraduates who currently live off-campus must apply to the Continuing Allocation Process.

Our first housing priority is, of course, for graduate students. But if we have spaces remaining in on-campus housing. we will assign 9th term undergrads, visiting students/professors, and postdocs. For more detailed information about housing for visitors, please go to http://web.mit.edu/housing/grad/visitors.html.

Visitors are only assigned to Single housing. Due to high demand and limited space, we cannot assign visitors to Family housing.

Visitor housing for spring 2007: We have some spaces remaining in Tang and Ashdown. To apply, go here.

Visitor housing for summer 2007: We do not make short term assignments for visitors who will be here for the summer. Instead, visitors who need housing during the summer are eligible to sublicense on-campus.

Visitor housing for Fall 2007: If we exhaust our list of graduate students, and there are vacancies remaining after the second allocation process, we will start to assign 9th term undergrads, visitors, and post-docs. Assignments made from this list are for a limited time. All assignments will end on August 15th of the following year to make room for regularly enrolled graduate students.

If you are a 9th term undergrad, visiting student/professor or post-doc, and you need housing for Fall 2007, you may join the waiting list beginning around the last friday of June. You should join the waiting list approximately one month before the date you would like your housing to start.

Visitor assignments for Fall 2007 will not be made typically before early August. If you are assigned to housing, your move in date will most likely be in late August or early September.

In order to be offered a space on-campus, you will need to provide documentation that you are affiliated with MIT. When you apply to the waiting list, you should also have your department email us directly at graduatehousing@mit.edu and this email should state your name, the person/department you are affiliated with and the length of your stay.

Good luck!