Brochure - Strategy for Applying to Unit One

We recommend this strategy for attaining freshman year residency in Unit One/Allen Hall:

First, you must accept your admission to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  In response, the University will send you what you need to apply for University Housing.

Immediately upon receiving your password, ID, and web-link, go on-line and submit your application for residency in the University Residence Halls.

If you cannot access the on-line application, contact the Housing Information Office, and request paper copy.

Select Unit One/Allen Hall as your first residence hall choice, complete the optional essay, and submit your application, along with your $100 deposit.

The date of receipt of contract gives you a time-stamped date that determines your place in line for consideration of your choice of residence hall.

When we assign applicants into residence halls (around mid-May), we assign applications in time/date order of receipt of contract. BUT, we first consider the category “essay-writers by date of receipt of contract” before we consider “non-essay writers by date of receipt of contract.”

We frequently fill our freshman class in Unit One/Allen Hall with applicants who submit essays, so not writing an essay puts your application into a low priority selection pool.

Don’t delay completing your application, even if you are not sure whether Unit One/Allen Hall is your first residence hall choice. You can change your first choice of residence hall without losing your original date stamp, and you can cancel your contract until May 1 with full refund.

Some people wait to submit their contract because they are not sure what their first choice of residence halls should be.

DO NOT let this consideration hamper you. Your date-stamp is critical. But you can change your first choice of residence halls until May 1st and still keep your original date-stamp, and you can request full refund of your deposit if you decide to live in other approved housing.

If you are requesting a specific roommate, be sure that this person has the same residence hall choices as you and that this person also submits an essay.

Historically, our applicants who write essays and who apply promptly tend to be assigned to Unit One/Allen Hall.  If you sit on this, after the March 1 notification date, your odds of Unit One/Allen Hall admission will decline.

Keep in mind that this strategy is only a good one if you are committed to living in University Residence Halls after you have accepted U of I admission. You are submitting a contract to live in University Residence Halls regardless of your ultimate residence hall assignment.

If you are also considering living in private certified housing, this strategy may conflict with the University and private housing contract provisions.