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📅 When Amherst's room draw happens

Amherst's room draw runs in stages by class year, typically across late March and early April. Senior draw goes first, then junior draw, then sophomore draw — usually one cohort per week. Theme-house and program-house applications are due earlier, in February. The 2026 cycle followed this pattern. Confirm exact dates with Amherst Residential Life each year.

Amherst College is fully four-year residential — all 1,800 students live on campus from freshman year through senior year. Because the system has to allocate scarce singles and prized buildings across the full student body, the room-draw process is structured by class year, with priority for upperclass students. This guide walks through what to expect at each stage.

First-year housing

Incoming freshmen are placed in one of the first-year halls on the central campus — you complete a housing preference form in summer; assignments are made by Residential Life. There’s no lottery for first-year placement. First-year halls include Stone, James, Appleton Cabinet, and several others.

Strategic notes

Sophomore through senior room draw

Starting sophomore year, Amherst uses a class-priority lottery: seniors pick first, then juniors, then sophomores. Each class has its own “round” in the spring. Within a round, students get a randomly-assigned lottery number; lower numbers pick first.

The Greenway complex

The four Greenway buildings (Ford, Lee, Nicklas, Nicholls Biondi) opened in 2016 and are the only Amherst buildings with central air conditioning. They go fastest in every round — if you want Greenway as a sophomore, you need a low lottery number.

King House

Built 2004, all singles, hosts La Maison Française (French language theme community). Apply through the language-house process — it’s a separate application from the main room draw, due earlier in spring.

Theme houses

Amherst has several themed residential communities (language houses, the Sylvia Rivera Community at Moore Hall for LGBTQ+ students, Charles Drew House, Moss-Quad music theme, etc.). Each has a separate application + selection process; if you’re placed in one, you’re removed from the main lottery.

Animal-free housing

A handful of halls are designated “animal-free” for students with severe allergies. If you need this, list it on the housing form — it’s assigned by accommodation, not lottery.

Block / suite picks

Sophomore + junior students can “pull” friends with worse lottery numbers into their picks via block picks (3–6 students together) and suite picks (4–8 students into a contiguous block). The catch: the worst lottery number in your block determines where you can pick — one student with a high number drags the whole group’s placement options down. Strategy is to pick block partners with similar lottery numbers, not absolute friends.

Key dates timeline (approximate)

The 4-year-residential consequence

Because every student must live on campus all four years, off-campus exceptions are rare and require an approved application (usually for medical, financial, or family reasons). Don’t plan around moving off-campus — plan around getting a low lottery number senior year.

Last verified: 2026-04. Amherst housing dates change every year — check amherst.edu/campuslife/housing-dining/residential-life/housing for current deadlines.

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Last updated for the 2026 housing cycle. We refresh this guide each fall as the next cycle's dates are published.