Minerva Housing Selection

How to apply

To apply for Minerva Housing for the 2025-2026 academic year students first need to complete the General Housing registration form in their student housing portal. In the registration, there will be an option for all students to opt into the Minerva House Application process. Once a student selects "yes" indicating that they would like to participate in Minerva Selection, they will be prompted to complete the following application questions. Please note that responses will be limited to 300 characters per question.

• Why do you want to live in a Minerva House next academic year?
• Which of the Minerva goals is the most important to you and why?
  • The Minerva Goals are
    • 1. Enrich intellectual and cultural life outside the classroom
    • 2. Contribute to diverse social opportunities
    • 3. Promote interaction between faculty, staff, and students
    • 4. Promote community on campus by bringing together members of the campus community who don't regularly interact
• If you get the opportunity to live in your Minerva next year, in what ways would you contribute to the vibrancy of your Minerva House? For example: What meaningful experiences will you bring into the space?
• How have you been involved in your Minerva community in the past and currently?

Scoring & Selection Times

After the Housing Registration closes on January 31st, 2025, all Minerva Housing applications will be redacted and sent to the Faculty Representative and Student Representative for each respective house for scoring. Additional points to each application will be given based on class year and active Minerva service. The highest score an applicant can receive is 21 points.

• Application Questions
  • Each question is worth a total of 4 points
  • The maximum score an applicant can earn from the application questions is 16 points
  • Each question will be scored based on the following rubric:
    • 1= Minimal answer. The student responded to the question but did not show any real effort to answer with depth or detail.
    • 2 = Shows effort to answer the question but does not include depth, detail, or reflection
    • 3 = Answer demonstrates reflection and detail.
    • 4 = Answer reflects the creativity, commitment, and potential of the applicant to be truly engaged in the life of the house next year
• Class Year
  • Each student will receive points based on their class year status
    • Rising Sophomore - 1 point
    • Rising Junior - 2 points
    • Rising Senior - 3 points
• Members of the House in Active Minerva Service
  • Each student will receive points based on their active service in the house
    • Students holding current council positions - 1 point
    • Current Minerva House Co-Chairs - 2 points

In the event that students receive the same overall score as another within their house, priority for selection will be randomized between these students.

Selection Dates & Times

The Minerva Housing room selection process will occur through each student's housing portal on February 19th, 2025 at 6:00 pm for all houses. The end of the housing process will be determined by the number of students who are participating in each process. Tentatively, each Minerva Housing process is expected to end no later 9:00 pm.

General Minerva Selection Information

If you are a student who is considering applying to live in a Minerva House we recommend you take some time to review the following notes on Minerva Selection:

• Room selection times for both Minerva Housing selection and general room selection will be released by 5:00 pm on February 17th, 2025
• If a student chooses a Minerva room during the room selection process, they are locked into that choice and will be unable to change or give up their room to participate in the general room selection process
• Students will only be able to select rooms in their assigned Minerva House during the Minerva Room Selection Process
• Failure to apply to Minerva Housing and complete the Housing Registration form by January 31st will result in a student not being able to participate in room selection
• Students will not be permitted to select rooms that do not match their roommate's group size
  • Ex: Students who do not have matched roommates will not be able to half-fill double rooms, and will only be able to select single rooms
• All roommates must be fully matched in a student's housing portal to select a room as a pair
• Students who wish to live in a Minerva but who did not apply will be able to select from any leftover Minerva rooms during the general room selection process later in the term
• Students who wish to change their Minerva assignment must do so no later than January 31st, 2025. To change their Minerva House students should email us at housing@union.edu with their reason as to why they would like to switch Minerva Houses.