College Tip 1: Roommates

College Tip 1: Roommates

So it’s your first year of college and you’re most likely-guaranteed going to have to live in a dorm with someone else. It’s always possible that you could end up in a single, but that’s typically a pretty rare case. So assuming you do the standard housing situation, there are two paths that you can choose.

First, you can always choose to room with your best bud from high school and play it somewhat safe…or so you think. Or, you can choose to go random and hope that the odds are in your favor to get a roommate that has similar interests to yourself. Now obviously, there are pros and cons to both situations.

In the case of a high school friend you may think that because you were friends and hung out in high school that living together makes you practically brothers or sisters. Wrong. Living with someone is completely different and you can end up ruining friendships when you find out that your friend likes to leave dirty clothes everywhere or eat your food or watch overrated sitcoms until the break of dawn. Don’t get me wrong living with a friend isn’t always bad but you should definitely talk it over and honestly figure out the worst things that both of you do on a regular basis and make sure the other can handle them.

Now, in the case of a random roommate you’re really looking at a one in four chance of getting a pretty good roommate. Those may seem like bad odds but I’ve found there are different types of roommates and some people prefer others than what I like. There’s the perfect roommate that is super chill and is down to hang out but not glued to you; then, there’s the one that doesn’t really do anything – super quiet and typically a bookworm; then, there’s the roommate that is extremely outgoing and usually never around; and finally, there’s the roommate that wants to be your best friend.

If you’re going random, you don’t want to be the person who wants to be your roommate’s best friend. For obvious reasons, option one is ideal, but options two and three are bearable if you’re somewhat outgoing and make friends through other aspects of college life. The last one is tricky though because you may kick off the year really well and love your roommate, but by the end of first semester, you will realize you’re kind of weighed down from extending your social network because Bobby is always acting like you’re connected at the head.

Now, there’s also the flipside to rooming with someone. You want to make sure you’re not making your roommates life absolute hell. Just make sure you understand the common courtesies of being a good roommate and you will be likeable in just about any situation. Here are some guidelines:

Don’t steal food or bum money; Keep your side of the room relatively clean or at least keep the floor visible; do your laundry; keep headphones in when you’re listening to music unless it’s okayed by your roommate; don’t throw parties in your room unless your roommate is ok with it and/or invited; don’t rely on your roommate to be your key to the room because you forgot yours; make sure you lock your door; be willing to chill but make sure you don’t over-friend your roommate.

 
Hopefully you have some expectations for your first roommate experience! Good luck!