Living in a RAP

All new students are expected to submit a Housing Preference Application. 

• If you register for a RAP before submitting the Housing Preference Application, you simply need to confirm your participation and list any preferred roommates that you may have on the Housing Preference Application.
• If you register for a RAP after submitting the Housing Preference Application, you must resubmit your Housing Preference Application. Since you will not be able to confirm your space in the RAP, please update your Housing Preference Application so that the residential area where your RAP is located is listed as your first preference.
• If you register for a RAP but do not submit the Housing Preference Application by June 30, there is no guarantee you will be assigned to a room with the RAP you registered for.
• If you cancel your RAP registration after submitting the Preference Application, you must resubmit your Preference Application with your rank ordered residential area preferences before the deadline. If you do not resubmit your Preference Application, you run the risk of being placed in any open room without your preferences being considered. 

Students who register for a RAP will be assigned to live in the residence hall where the RAP is located for the entire academic year. 

Once you have registered for a RAP, you are able to view the contact information of other students in your RAP if you choose to share your information and if they choose to share their information. 

Follow these steps to find the contact information of other students in your RAP:

1. Log into the RAP Placement System
2. Select "Update my sharing preferences"
3. Select "I agree to share my information with others in my RAP"
4. Select "View my RAP Classmates"
5. Select “see others in my RAP”

If you wish to live with one of these students as your roommate, you must mutually request each other on the Preference Application. To complete a mutual roommate request, you and your preferred roommate must:

1. Sign the Residence Hall Occupancy License and submit the Housing Profile on SPIRE
2. Request your preferred roommate on the Preference Application. You must list identical housing preferences and add your preferred roommate to the roommate preference section

The Undergraduate Student Success Center’s Academic Programs team is committed to the accessibility of our programs for first-year and transfer students who want to participate in RAP. We work closely with Residential Life Assignments to ensure students who have registered accommodations with Disability Services live in a residence hall and learn in a classroom that meets their needs. This means we will relocate program or classroom locations as needed.

We offer a limited selection of RAPs in residence halls with Gender-Inclusive Housing.  

• Webster Hall in Orchard Hill offers gender-inclusive housing for first-year students.
• McNamara Hall in Sylvan offers gender-inclusive housing for transfer students and upper-class students. 

We offer a larger selection of RAPs in residence halls with Gender-Inclusive Restrooms. These first-year residence halls with RAPs all have Gender-Inclusive Restrooms: 

• Cance (Southwest)
• Moore (Southwest)
• Knowlton (Northeast)
• Van Meter (Central)
• Sycamore (CHCRC) 

Our RAPs are organized by residential area, residence hall, then RAP title for easy browsing. We want students to feel empowered as they think about where they prefer to live on campus. If you are undecided between participating in a RAP or applying for Gender Inclusive Housing, please reach out to our team for help. 

Learn more about Gender-Inclusive Housing and Restrooms at UMass. 

For Fall 2026, two first-year residence halls will have break housing options for first-year students: Gorman Hall in Central Residential Area and James Hall in Southwest Residential Area.

If you need break housing and want to join a RAP, you should aim to join a RAP you are eligible for and that has space in either Gorman Hall or James Hall. Review the full list of RAPs on the RAP page.

If you join a RAP in Gorman Hall or James Hall and need break housing, email [email protected] and let Residential Life Assignments know that you are a RAP student in one of these residence halls who needs break housing. RAP students cannot request break housing on the Preference Application.

If you cannot join any of the RAPs located in either Gorman or James Hall, Residential Life Assignments strongly recommends not joining a RAP and instead applying for break housing on the Preference Application (available June 2 - June 30) in Southwest or Central Residential Areas.

All spaces held for RAP students are in shared rooms.

If there are single rooms in the residence hall where your RAP is located, then you will have the option to request a single room when you complete your Preference Application. If the option to request a single on the Preference Application is grayed out, then there are no single rooms available in or near your residence hall.

Please note that single rooms are limited, and we are unable to guarantee all students who request a single room will be assigned to a single room. If Residential Life Assignments is unable to assign you to a single room, you will be assigned to a shared room in your RAP. 

You are able to request a room assignment change mid-semester and remain in your RAP course. You can find more information about change processes on the Residential Life website. If your course takes place in a residence hall where you no longer live, you will have UCard access for that residence hall about 15 minutes before the RAP class begins until the end of class time.