You come home after studying for hours in the library only to find 20 people at your house in various states of drunkenness. You have a huge midterm the next day and there’s no way you’ll get any sleep at this rate. Yelling at your roommate isn’t going to do much good considering the state of mind he’s in so you end up sleeping on a friend’s couch. Sound familiar?
Finding a roommate you can live with is a key component to having a good time in college. A roommate can turn into your best friend or your worst nightmare so finding a compatible one (or multiple ones) is essential. If you can afford to live by yourself, that’s great, but many people want the college roommate experience or don’t like to live alone for security reasons.
Freshmen typically don’t have a lot of choice when it comes to a roommate. When students are paired with roommates in the dorms at Cal Poly, they are only asked whether or not they smoke, according to housing assignment supervisor Marilyn Allison. She noted they try to keep like-ages together, but don’t do a detailed survey of student interests to “keep it simple.”
It might seem like a good number of students would want to switch rooms since smoking is the only criteria on which assignments are based, but apparently that’s not the case.
Assistant director of housing Carole Schaffer says the university conducts a “Quality of Life” survey each year and one question specifically pertains to whether or not students are satisfied with their current room assignment.
“Over 90 percent of students are at least satisfied all the way up to very satisfied (with their roommate),” Schaffer says. “People always say we should do a lengthy questionnaire but our experience over the years is that the students that need to decide once they get here that they need to do a room trade, we’re able to accommodate that.”
For those who live off campus, roommates can be friends, strangers or people referred by friends and colleagues. There are a number of Web sites that offer ways to find roommates or rooms that are being offered for rent. Craigslist.com, roommates.com, the classifieds on sanluisobispo.com and calpoly.uloop.com/housing all offer listings of available rooms as well as people looking for roommates.
Move.com also offers surveys and articles to find out if you’re really ready to live with someone else and what type of person might be best for you. “Are You Ready for a Roommate” and “Renting a Place with Others” can be a starting point in your search for the perfect roommate.
Also consider more non-traditional methods of finding roommates. Animal science senior Jana Black found her first roommates through her father. He was a handy man and met a group of women who were living together while working on their house. Black’s father heard the women needed another roommate and told them his daughter was attending Cal Poly and needed people to live with.
Black says other roommates moved in through word of mouth or by responding to advertisements on Craigslist.com.
“It was kind of random and there was more drama and some personalities clashed that way,” Black said. “Some girls were (younger and) at different maturity levels.”
For the most part though, they got along well. When they did have issues, such as cleaning the kitchen, Black says people would leave notes. If that didn’t work, or the issue was more serious, everyone would sit down for a house meeting to solve the issue.
History junior Chris Andrews transferred to Cal Poly at the beginning of the school year and moved in with a good friend from high school. He also has two other roommates that he says he’s become friends with. Some people warn against living with friends, especially good ones, but Andrews says it’s not a problem at his house.
“I swear, it’s so mellow,” Andrews says. “It’s working out really well.”
Andrews admits to being slightly messy, but says he tries to clean up for his housemates. He and his roommates started a rotating chore list in order to fairly divide up work such as taking out the trash or washing dishes.
“I think it’s a good thing (to live with friends),” Andrews says. “You can communicate better with friends. I feel more comfortable talking to someone I know (about problems).”
No matter who you live with, communication is key, especially when it comes to talking about conflicts between you and your roommate.
Being able to sit down and work out problems that arise will help your living situation run more smoothly and help improve your relationship with your roommate(s).
Knowing yourself is another big factor in choosing a roommate. Are you an early riser or a night owl? Do you want your own room? Are you a neat freak or more casual about messiness? Is your house going to be the party house or the study area? Ask yourself all of these questions, and more, in order to find someone similar to you. Or go with someone whose schedule is the complete opposite.
Black says having an opposite schedule worked out well for her when she shared a room.
“I liked having my own room but I liked sharing too,” she says. “We had different schedules so it worked” because we weren’t always in the room together.
Also consider things like who will do what chores, what the rules are for guests staying over, the level of noise allowed, who gets which room and how much rent each roommate will pay. Talk about writing out an agreement to make sure everything is clear for all housemates, like what happens if someone needs to move out.
Make sure everyone agrees on whose name goes on the lease and utility bills and the conditions of your lease or rent. Sitting down with the landlord or rental agency to discuss details (such as if they will only accept one rent check each month) is not a bad idea either.
Above all, be honest. Let your roommate know if you have a problem with something and be open when he or she comes to you with an issue.
It might not work out the first time around, but always keep in mind what went wrong so you don’t repeat the same mistakes with your next roommate.
“Just be respectful of your roommate’s things,” Andrews says. “I feel like that’s the main characteristic of a good roommate is to you’re respectful.”