Finding the right college roommate can be a nerve-wracking task! As you can imagine having a good roommate is going to influence a lot of your college experience as your dorm room needs to be a place where you can study if you need to but also a place where you can just hang out, chill and recharge after a busy day studying. With that in mind, we’re going to look at seven key areas that you need to take into account when you are looking for the right roommate.
1. Personality Fit
One of the most crucial things to consider is to find out how you guys get along in terms of your personalities.
Can you guys talk to each other with ease or do you really need to push yourself to have a conversation with his person?
What about the way they go about their day? Are they an early riser and early to bed or the other way around? Do they play music out loud while in the room?
How about the way this person deals with stress? Do they need to verbally process it with others and they become overbearing?
When it comes to their social circle do they have close friends? If so what are they like?
As you can see there are a lot of questions that you can ask about the person you’re considering rooming with. What it comes down to is clarifying your priorities in this area. For some, this means that they don’t need to have a whole lot of chats and conversations with their roommate because that’s cool with them. For others, they really want to make sure that their roommate doesn’t stay up late all the time making noise as they move around the room or when they watch late-night TV. In light of that, it would be helpful to figure out what are your priorities in this area of personality fit and then ask the potential roommate questions that would help you to see if it can work out.
2. Cleanliness
Since you will be sharing a lot of space with your roommate it is crucial that they have good cleaning skills and habits. We especially mention habits because it is one thing to be able to clean something once in a while but to actually have healthy cleaning habits- that’s a completely different ball game. If your potential roommate has a track record of being proactive in the way they approach cleaning, then you might have a winner. Of course, you’re not looking for someone who is going to clean things multiple times a day but you’re looking for somebody who takes ownership of this area.
3. Shared Interests
In order for your roommate and you to get along long-term, it will be super helpful if you have just a few shared interests that you could either discuss or just do. It can be as simple as watching your guys’ favorite TV show or playing a board game that you guys like. Your roommate doesn’t need to be your best friend (and as we will elaborate on later on, sometimes it’s the best if they’re not!) but having a friendly dynamic between you two is definitely going to bless both of you guys!
4. Personal Boundaries
This is something that is not often considered when choosing a roommate. When it comes down to personal boundaries, it would be helpful to know that the person you will room with firstly understands what they are! So if you guys from the start determine that you will be friendly to each other but will not share and vent everything that is happening in your guys’ lives, can they actually follow through on that? Or if you make it clear to her that you’re happy to chat a couple of times a week and she texts you all the time, that is not entirely healthy.
As you can see, finding somebody who has their own personal boundaries and respects your boundaries can enable both of you guys to focus on your goals while at college as you will not be overwhelmed with the roommate situation.
5. Your Roommate Doesn’t Need to be Your Best Friend
Ok, so here’s the thing. Your roommate doesn’t need to be your best friend! Yes, you’ve heard us right. It might be a little counterintuitive but when you look at the bigger picture you and your best friend love hanging out with each other and talking to each other you guys support each other in good and bad and you have been through so much together! In our experience, if your best friend is your roommate that can for sure work but the chances are that you can spend a lot of time doing fun things with them while in the dorm room but also not doing important things relating to college like assignments! If you are considering rooming with your best friend, it is important to have an honest conversation about expectations for each other and, yes, you’ve guessed it- personal boundaries! If this kind of conversation makes you already feel uncomfortable, maybe it will be better to room with somebody else.
6. Your Roommate Can be a Friend of Your Friend
Networking in college is not helpful for you to land a great part-time job or to meet somebody who can connect you with a company where you can get a summer internship. It’s also great in that you can easily find an amazing roommate through the network of your friends. Just share with them what you are looking for in your roommate and the chances are that they already know somebody who’s like that! Also, even though you might be initially hesitant to do this, it’s helpful to ask your parents if they can ask their friends if they know of somebody who needs a roommate. Don’t underestimate your parents’ network especially if they are well connected with other parents who are sending their kids to college or who are already going to college!
7. Look For a Roommate Who Can Challenge You
Finally, we love this point, especially from a bigger-picture long-term perspective of looking at life. College is such a unique season of life where you can meet a lot of exciting people and you get to learn a lot about life and the area of your study. As you are thinking about what to look for in your roommate, we wholeheartedly believe it is amazing to look for someone who can challenge you (in a good way). For example, if your grades are not completely top-notch and you know of somebody who is a great student and is looking for a roommate, that could be fun! Or if you are rather shy and not that outgoing and you know of someone who is the life of the party and is looking for a roommate, try to see if you guys could room with each other. In this way, you get to be challenged in a good way to grow in some of those areas where others are gifted more and vice versa. This can have a great impact on the rest of your life!
And there you have it! These seven things will help you to find the best roommate while in college. We hope you’re able to find somebody amazing and that you guys will be able to live well alongside one another! Feel free to check out our guides to dorm room, desk organization hacks, and cleaning supplies for the dorm room!