<p>You apply for housing every academic year (the process starts around late January), not every semester. Most students change houses and some move off campus, but a large number stay in their current houses, and those students get priority for larger, nicer rooms. For example, students in the really nice 4-bedroom quads in the high rises (with kitchen, full-wall windows, enormous common room) are most likely residents who have lived in the same house for at least 3 years.</p>
<p>For residents in apartments with an unequal arrangement of rooms (such as the 3-bedroom quads for freshmen in the high-rises), you can elect to switch bedrooms with your roommates between semesters, although I wouldn’t suggest that because it’s a huge hassle to move everything the night before 2nd semester classes begin.</p>