First-Year Housing 101

How to Pick a Roommate

For a roommate, you can pick them in one of two ways. You can pick someone that you already know, someone you may have gone to high school with or met on Facebook. When you are accepted to UVA, you will be invited into a Facebook group just for your class, where you can post about yourself, your interests and living habits and find someone that you might like to live with! 

You can also choose to have a randomly assigned roommate. Everyone who goes random will fill out a survey by UVA Housing and Residential Life which asks things like whether you are a messy or clean type of person, if you are a morning or night type of person, etc. Then, they will try to match your result with someone who shares your living preferences. 

I met my roommate on Facebook; here we are at convocation, a tradition where all first-years come together as a class and are welcomed into the UVA community. I was so grateful to have her as my roommate and friend first-year!

What Type of Dorm You Will Be In

As a first year, you are required to live in a dorm unless you are a transfer student. The dorms are assigned to you randomly. Lucky for you all, all dorms have been renovated to have air conditioning, elevators, laundry machines, and study rooms. Located on McCormick and Alderman roads, dorms range from being 5-15 minute walk to central grounds.

One main difference between dorms are the residential styles.  The first type is a hall style dorm. This is the typical dorm setup with one hall with about 20 to 25 people. You share bathroom stalls and a common lounge space and study space. The second type of dorm is a suite style which is more of an apartment setup. You live with about 10 to 12 people that live in different rooms around a centralized living room space. Both living styles are great opportunities to get to know new people and find your community at UVA!

The quad area near the McCormick Road hall-style dorms!

Residential Colleges

If you are interested, we have three different residential colleges that you can apply into. 10% of first years tend to live in one of them. They are themed around different, specific kinds of interests that people in them share. For instance, Hereford Residential College which focuses environmental sustainability, Brown residential college which is described for “the interested and the interesting,” and lastly the International Residential College that prides itself on providing a diverse, cultural experience for both international and domestic students. You can live in a residential college your 1st through 4th year if you choose, so living in one is a great way to meet students that are in a different class than yourself.

One of the Brown Residential College dorm buildings.

RAs

For both types of dorms, you will have a residential adviser (RA), who will help you transition into the dorm and University community. Their main objective is to ensure student safety and to really help you build a community within your dorm. They are also a great resource when it comes to academics, personal life, extracurriculars, and are really there to be anything you need them to be. Mine was kind of like my big sister, mom, therapist, and friend all at the same time!