Transfer Students

Transfer Student Housing Process

The George Washington University (GW) considers anyone who has graduated from high school and who has completed at least one college course since high school graduation to be a transfer student.

Our team is extremely excited to welcome new transfer students to our community. Our core mission is to build positive communities that empower our students to grow and develop as they engage in unique challenges and possibilities throughout their undergraduate experience. Our residence halls are a focal point of our institution's mission to further human well-being by offering a space of cultural and intellectual diversity that is the foundation for the exploration of new ideas.

Housing for incoming transfer students is based on a student’s class year, or anticipated graduation year. For transfer students, this accounts for the academic credits that a student has. Most incoming transfer students are considered second- or- third year students. For the 2023-2024 Academic Year, class years are as follows:

Class of 2026 - second-year student
Class of 2025 - third-year student
Class of 2024 - fourth-year student

All housing processes happen via a student's Campus Living eServices Portal, which requires a student to claim a GW email address and UserID to log in.

1. Review Criteria to Receive an Exemption to the Residency Requirement

The George Washington University requires all first-, and second-year students to reside on campus unless they are approved for an exemption to our residency requirement. Second-year incoming transfer students who believe they meet one of the seven criteria and desire to live off-campus may apply for an exemption to the requirement. Applying for an exemption does not guarantee that the exemption will be approved. Exemptions approved will remain in effect for the remainder of a student's time as an undergraduate student at GW, unless relinquished to allow a student to live on-campus if desired.

The form to apply for a residency exemption is available via a student's Campus Living eServices Portal. Students who intend to request an exemption should begin to prepare the documentation required for exemption requests.

2. Review Upperclass Residence Halls, Costs, and Dining Plans

During the 2023-2024 academic year, GW has 12 upperclass residence halls on our Foggy Bottom Campus:

Foggy Bottom Campus

1959 E Street (third- and fourth-year students only)
2109 F Street
The Dakota
District House
FSK Hall
Fulbright Hall
International House
JBKO Hall
Mark Shenkman Hall
Munson Hall
Philip Amsterdam Hall
South Hall (third- and fourth-year students only)

Review 2023-2024 housing costs before beginning the housing registration process. All students who live in a GW residence hall are required to have a dining plan and students should review the dining plan that upperclass students are required to have. Dining plans will be selected during housing registration.

All housing and dining costs are placed on a student's eBill, similar to tuition and other fees.

3. If Desired, Register with Disability Support Services (DSS) to Request a Housing Accommodation

Residential living is central to the learning environment for many GW students. Students with specific disability-related needs may request housing accommodations. If approved for a housing accommodation that we can meet, a student will be placed into the type of room that meets the specific housing accommodation.

Students who feel that they need a housing accommodation must register with GW Disability Support Services (DSS). Housing accommodations are reviewed by Disability Support Services, and if approved, sent to Campus Living & Residential Education. The CLRE team then uses the housing accommodation to place a student in a room that meets the accommodation.

4. Prepare for Life with a Roommate

Almost all students who live in GW residence halls have roommates: someone who they share a bedroom or other living space with. Beginning to prepare for life with a roommate is an important step in the transition to becoming a GW student. Students and families should begin thinking about the following topics of shared living:

Number of desired roommates (sharing a bedroom) and suitemates (sharing bathrooms)
Bathroom types:
- private (bathroom inside a room used by only those who live in that room)
- adjoined (bathroom shared between two double rooms)
- community (bathroom used by the entire floor, with distinct men's and women's bathrooms per floor)
- common, private bathroom suites (shared gender-inclusive bathroom suites used by entire floor; multiple suites per floor with shared sink area and private, secure rooms with a toilet, sink, and shower; Thurston Hall only)
Sleep schedules
Desired use of the room (including studying, having friends over, noise, or other use)
Desired level of room cleanliness
Resolving differences in personal living preferences with roommates
Any other important considerations around shared living environments

Students are assigned roommates through a variety of methods:

Students find each other and mutually agree to live with one another. Students may identify any other transfer student to live with, regardless of sex or gender, or
Students are automatically assigned one or more roommates of a similar sex. This roommate assignment used personal living preferences, noted in a student's housing registration, to match them up with students who may have similar living styles or preferences, or
Students who desire to live with any other student, regardless of sex or gender, may participate in our in Gender Inclusive Housing group. A student who desires this will note that in their housing registration and will be placed into a pool of students who may be assigned to live with one another without regard to a roommate's sex or gender. Personal living preferences will be used to match up roommates with others. Students who participate in this Gender Inclusive Housing group should be welcoming and affirming of all student gender identities, sexual orientation, or other identities

5. Register for Transfer Student Housing

Housing registration will begin via a student's Campus Living eServices Portal. We encourage all students to take their time and be thoughtful in their housing registration, in which a student will:

If desired, indicate a desire to live with other specific people as roommates by creating a roommate group
- Each student receives a number, called their RMS ID, which can be shared with other students to formally create and join roommate groups. Each student's RMS ID can be found on their Campus Living eServices Portal
Indicate personal living preferences, through a series of Yes/No questions, regarding important topics such as sleep schedules, use of rooms, cleanliness, and more. These answers will be used to assign students with roommates, if they don't request specific other people
Rank a list of 12 different upperclass residence halls and room sizes, from 1 to 12. This ranked preference list is used to assign students to a hall and room size as high as possible on their list
- Students should keep in mind the size of their roommate group when ranking building and room size preferences. We prioritize keeping roommate groups together (not splitting them up) over rankings of building and room sizes, with our belief that who you live with is more important than where you live.
- All incoming transfer students are required to rank all 12 upperclass residence halls. While CLRE does everything possible to ensure students are assigned to rooms near the top of their preference list, each year demand for specific halls and room sizes can outnumber the number of spaces we have in those room sizes. All transfer students should prepare for the possibility that they and their roommates are assigned to halls and room sizes lower on their preference list
- Singles with private bathrooms are not eligible for ranking, as they are typically reserved for students with Disability Support Services housing accommodations for that specific type of room. If a student receives a housing accommodation for a single with a bathroom, CLRE will use hall preferences in a student's housing registration to assign them to a single with a private bathroom
Sign a 2023-2024 Housing License Agreement, the agreement that outlines what you agree to in order to live in a GW residence hall
Update contact information that Campus Living & Residential Education need to have on record for students and their emergency contacts

Upon successful registration, a transfer student will be able to edit their housing registration as many times as desired assigned to a room:

sending invitations to other students to join a roommate group
accepting invitations to join another student's roommate group
adjusting the ranking of hall and room types
adjusting answers to personal living preference questions

6. Receive Housing Assignment

Over the summer, all transfer students who register for housing will receive their specific housing assignment, including the residence hall, room number, and information about any specific roommates (if applicable). The CLRE team will release housing assignments on a rolling basis.

Students who wish to explore changing their room assignment will have the opportunity to do so through Room Swap, a system involving expressing a desire to move, finding another upperclass student interested in swapping rooms, and confirming the swap. Room Swap will be open from late June to late July. Housing will be at capacity, with no vacant spaces, when housing assignments are released.