Engineering Connect RAPs

Engineering Connect RAPs

Residential Academic Programs, or RAPs, are small communities of new first-year students who live in the same residence hall and enroll in the same small course together. Our goal with the Engineering RAPs is to build an even more supportive engineering community. Engineering supports RAPs across five different residential communities at UMass, including Northeast, Orchard Hill, Central, Southwest, and the Commonwealth Honors College. One of our RAPs will offer break housing (important consideration for international students especially) and two include additional options for LGBTQIA+ students and allies.  

The Engineering Connect RAPs are associated with the required first-year seminar course, with several topical areas planned for the FYS, including:

  • Engineering Logic
  • Engineering for Equitable Sustainability
  • Engineering for Health & Mobility
  • Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, & Machine Learning

Engineering Connect RAPS will be located in Dwight, Hamlin, Gorman (break housing offered, close to Spectrum community), Webster (offers a gender-inclusive housing option), and Sycamore (Commonwealth Honors College students only).

The Engineering Design and Derivatives RAPs are associated with a common discussion section for Math 131, the required first-year calculus class.  The Design and Derivatives RAPs will be in Leach Hall and Moore Hall.

Interested students must complete an application; see details below. The application will provide an opportunity for students to rank their interest in the associated class and available RAP locations. COE staff will review the information on your application to determine the best fit for you. Accepted students will be notified of their placement by mid-May, and you will have a chance to accept or decline the offer. In June, unfilled beds in the Engineering RAPs will open (without an application) as part of the general RAP Registration for first year students. 

Students that have been invited to be part of the RISE Scholars Program are strongly encouraged to apply to be in one of the Engineering RAPs, but there is no requirement on a specific location.

Apply now to join an Engineering Connect RAP 

Please note that you may apply even if you have not yet decided whether to attend UMass. Your application indicates only that you would like to participate in an Engineering RAP if you enroll in the University. 

For further information, please see the UMass Residential Academic Programs website.