Choosing a roommate:
Your Help Guide

By carefully choosing a roommate, you are more likely to have less 'drama' during your college life. You may not be able to control this issue during your freshman or sophomore year since most schools will assign your roommates to you. However, your school may ask about your roommate preferences (in most cases) so be as detailed as possible when they do.

If you do have the chance to choose your college roommate, then you're one of the lucky ones because having them around can be a great thing if you choose them well. They can keep you company when you're home sick, you can form study groups with them, you can share household chores with them etc. These are only some of the good things you can have with your roommates. The possibilities can be endless as long as you have a satisfactory relationship with them.

My experience with college roommates have both been good and bad. I was lucky to have my own room in a cheap student cooperative during my junior year and a great room mate during my senior year. From this experience, I found that if you're a neat freak (like I am) having your own room would probably be better situation for you. In this way, you can still share a house or the whole college dorm with other people and enjoy their company whenever you want to. This is good because having your own room because gives you privacy when you need to study, need to catch up on sleep or just need some time to yourself. Your privacy is one of the many College living essentials which you will need from time to time.

For students who absolutely have no choice but to share a room or a house with a lot of people, here are some pointers in choosing your house mates wisely:

• Get to know your future roommates - This is one important step which you should not skip when choosing a roommate. You can tell if people will be good room mates if they are trustworthy, reliable, and respectful. of course, you would have to return these qualities back to them if you want the situation to work. You can meet possible room mates either through friends or classmates. As with any relationship, give yourself time to get to know them. Remember that just because they are nice to you during the first few weeks that you meet them, they will be nice to you all the time.
• Discuss important things - Once you have chosen your roommates, discuss your pet peeves, dos and don’ts etc. before you even start living together. Also, consider establishing some house rules (e.g. how you will pay rent, quiet times, cleaning/cooking days, grocery sharing etc.) once you've decided to live together. Talking about these things before they even happen would prevent or smooth out any issues you may have in the future.

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