Wellesley’s Housing Selection Process Goes Online with New Portal

This spring, Wellesley students will choose their housing for next year using StarRez, a new student-centered online portal.

Helen Wang, director of residence life and housing, said the upgraded housing selection system will be available for limited use this week and will be fully operational April 8.

Students will create a personal profile for StarRez’s matching system by answering questions about their hobbies, campus interests, bedtime hours, study habits, roommate preferences, and more. The system will then generate a list of potential compatible roommates that students can search. They will also be able to request roommates by name.

With StarRez students can also renew their housing preferences online in the same residence hall. Wellesley never had a renewal process before, said Wang. “Students will have the opportunity to renew their space in their residential halls, but it doesn’t mean that their selection is guaranteed because seniority is a factor. This gives them a better chance at living in the same space they had the previous year.”

Another new feature, said Wang, is that students who are abroad this spring can select a room via StarRez rather than enlist another student to complete the housing selection process for them.

Wang said her office has also identified spaces where groups of five to seven students can room in close proximity to each other as well as clusters of rooms for first years who will have access to the system before coming to campus.

“We want to create spaces where groups of friends can live together,” she said. “It enhances a sense of belonging, like a neighborhood.”