Today, over 12,000 students call University of Maryland home. Of that number, about 57% are returning undergraduates. Furthermore, demographics indicate that almost all new freshman students live in university-owned housing. Whether you’re a new or returning student, finding accommodating on-campus housing can be quite the challenge. With over 50 buildings to choose from and a variety of room types, locations, and amenities, it’s not hard to see why.

From choosing a major to social pressures, college life is full of new challenges, and choosing a residence hall shouldn’t be one of them. Our target system is designed to optimize students’ on-campus housing searches. We intend to implement the best practices to ensure that the search features make it simple to conduct a search and get accurate results. We won’t force users into a tunnel of limited search results. Our system will return search results based on the user’s selection. The system will let users specify their results for a more perfect search that will render information regarding style, amenities, and other popular categories. Allowing users to specify their results lets them pick and choose which communities and residence halls they want and don’t want.

By allowing users to narrow their selection we are improving the quality of their searches. Making searches more user-centered, customizable, and interactive, saves users time and effort; in turn, rendering their decision-making process a whole lot easier. Thus, improving overall University of Maryland residential experience.