<p>I will be a Freshman at Penn next year (through Early Decision in Dec 2012) and am now worried as to when (if it hasn't already) Penn housing will open for incoming freshmen. My friend who got into UChicago asked me when I was filling out my housing forms, after I saw him fill in the information on the UChicago portal. I had looked through the Penn website as well as the Penn Decision Portal before then, looking for the specific date when housing would open and the only date I found was March 28, 2013 once all the regular decision applicants have been accepted. I know that policies differ between schools, but I want to just be completely sure.</p>
<p>Is March 28th the day that housing will open?</p>
<p>^ Yep, the housing application opens for all incoming freshmen shortly after the RD acceptance date. But it isn’t due until around the RD reply date (May 1st), and the selection process is by lottery once the deadline has passed (i.e., there’s no advantage to getting your application in earlier rather than later, as long as it’s in before the deadline). Once the deadline has passed, the residential programs–for which a brief application and essay is generally required–will make their selections first, and then the remaining rooms will be assigned by lottery (you will get to list several choices of college houses in order of preference).</p>
<p>Here are more details on the housing assignment process for incoming freshmen:</p>
<p>[Penn</a> Residential Services - Freshmen](<a href=“Home | Penn Residential Services”>Home | Penn Residential Services)</p>
<p>Thanks, you’re active and resourceful as usual. Do you happen to know when those interested in residential programs have to apply to those programs?</p>
<p>It’s all done at the same time with one omnibus application (submitted on-line). If you look through the page to which I linked, and the pages linked therein, it all may be explained somewhere in there.</p>
<p>The essays for the residential programs are pretty short, by the way–around 500 words max, if I recall correctly (my kid did all that–when I went to Penn, Ben Franklin was still making all the room assignments :p).</p>
<p>Haha, yeah I read through it. It made things a lot clearer. Thank-you once again.</p>
<p>If I apply to a residential program as my first or second choice and don’t get into it, is the house it’s located in still considered my choice? Like, if I put a residential program in Riepe as #1 and don’t get into it, does my 1st choice remain Riepe, or do I list that as a separate choice? Thanks!</p>
<p>@ eniloracw, I’m pretty sure it’s a separate choice.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure I am going to put the three quad options as my top three (in some order). Any recommendations for #4?</p>
<p>@10nisman94, thanks! Is there any point in putting popular choices (like quad) after #3, or will they be filled by the time the lottery gets to that point? Also any insight on whether doubles or triples are the more popular option? I don’t really have a preference between the two and I’m trying to maximize my ability to get my favorite locations.</p>