When most incoming freshmen hear the word “roommate” they panic. In college, a good percentage of us wind up with at least one roommate and potentially a few “suite-mates.” 

 

Being a freshman, living with somebody you “met” over facebook can feel unsettling yet sometimes it doesn’t turn out that way. Maybe you went random. A few weeks into the process you see it clearly isn’t working out or maybe it is. It’s really the luck of the draw and depends on how both of your personalities mesh. 

 

Some freshmen pair up with a friend, or even better, a best friend from high school. It all depends on what you want and who you want to spend your first year of college with. 

 

Now, let’s start with some cons of having a roommate. Go to bed early? Well, your roommate just decided to shower and do homework, it’s 2 a.m. and you’re ready for bed. Trying to sleep with the lights on and listening to the sound of the keyboard slamming down rings your ears. On the other hand, you are a morning person. Showering and brewing coffee from the Keurig is a must, but your roommate wakes up five minutes before class. Trying to be quiet only makes whatever you do louder. The shower caddy falls to the floor, you slam the door shut when trying to make it go unnoticed. Nothing you do seems to be quiet and your roommate pretends to be asleep. Total opposites. 

 

However, the pros really do balance the cons. It’s like you have your own built-in best friend in your dorm 24/7. You meet their friends, they meet yours, and now there’s a whole group of “your people” and it wasn’t even forced. It’s somebody to get lunch with, a study partner and an emotional support system.

 

If I had any tips, they would definitely be to discuss alarm clocks beforehand, address bad smells and cleanliness, talk about when it’s appropriate to have friends over and most importantly, communicate. Talk it out, dance it out, whatever you have to do to make your college dorm life livable, do it. 

 

Emotions can fly, so try and keep those under control and try not to take the bad ones out on your roomie, trust me. The biggest piece of advice for a first-year roommate decision would be to meet them ahead of time, make sure you have commonalities, differences and get along. What’s better than meeting your new best friend freshman year and also having them as your roomie?