Who is Your Roommate?

Roommates are a fantastic college experience, whether your friendship with them ends up working out or not. If I recall, it's about time to be getting your rooming information in the mail. This is an exciting time! With the popularity of social media, as soon as you get your rooming information in the mail, you can go on Facebook to learn more about your roommate(s). I would highly recommend getting to know your roommate(s) before you arrive at school in the fall. It's good to learn a little bit about each other so that you can be friendly before you have to live together. Good questions to ask are if the other person is a morning or night person, what time they go to bed, if they're a light sleeper or not, and what their study habits are. If you're planning on rooming with a good friend of yours, always be advised that ALL of the college advice books tell you not to do this. Living with someone gives a different perspective on your relationship with them.

Let's say you are planning on rooming with a good friend or two. It's a natural decision because you know them and are comfortable hanging out with them. You then don't have to worry about not knowing your roommate(s) prior to living together. However, things you may not have known about your best friend:

-Maybe they're a loud snorer and it makes it impossible for you to sleep at night.
-Maybe they refuse to clean or take out the trash.
-Maybe they spend 3 hours in the bathroom each day.
-Maybe they borrow your clothes or shoes without asking.
-Maybe they want their boyfriend or girlfriend to stay over all the time.

The point is, a lot of things can go wrong with roommates whether or not you are best friends and it's always best to keep things civil. Go into each rooming year with some idea of who the person is. Take a genuine interest in them and that will lead to civility if not a new friendship. It's always good to compare what you're planning on bringing to your room in the fall so that roommates don't end up with duplicates. It's also good to come up with a sort of Roommate Agreement or Roommate Contract. This is  something you and your roommate(s) can do between yourselves to determine what kinds of things will and won't be tolerated as you live together. Things to include may be a trash schedule or a bathroom cleaning schedule, noise conditions, and even bedtime routines. As long as everyone can agree on what goes into this contract, everyone should be able to follow it and maintain a happy rooming situation. If anything goes awry from this contract, your Resident Assistant can help you sort things out. Most times rooming disputes are fairly easy to handle. If your RA intervenes but it does not help, you can go to Resident Life and they will help you. Sometimes, if a more serious issue is the heart of the roommate problem, the college counselors will be brought in to help you sort through things. If the issue is completely unable to be resolved, you may receive a new roommate or be moved to a new room. La Roche is really good about roommate situations and trying to resolve them to the benefit of everyone involved. The majority of the time, you really do become good friends with your roommates. So good luck with your new roomies this fall!