Living with a Roommate

Keep an open mind beyond what you see on someone’s social media. Social media is only a snapshot of someone’s life. If you think that someone might be a good match based on their social media, think next about whether or not they will be a good person to share a room with.
It can be hard to live with a friend if your room preferences don’t also match up. Prioritize finding someone who matches up with you on key aspects of your living preferences.
Your schedule as a high school senior (or perhaps your summer schedule) is not going to be the same as your college schedule. The way that you manage your time may change. If “having the same schedule as my roommate” is a metric you use, make sure that you’re taking into account other aspects of your living preferences.

How clean will you keep your room (and be honest with yourself... without having a parent or guardian to remind you about cleaning your room, how clean will your room be)?
To what extent are you comfortable having people over in your room? If your roommate’s friend from home comes to visit, are you okay with that person staying in your room?
Where do you fall on the introvert/extrovert spectrum? How much alone time do you like to have each day?
If you have a concern with your roommate, what is your ideal way to approach the situation? How do you typically resolve conflict with a peer?
What are your biggest pet peeves that would be a potential issue when living with a roommate?
What are your interests/hobbies?
What are some things you and your roommate have in common that can help you build a relationship with each other?

Being good friends does not always equal being good roommates with each other... and vice-versa too: being good roommates does not always equal being best friends. A good roommate is someone who you can share the room with effectively.
Communication is the key. Good communication means that you can set clear expectations and work through potential disagreements. Poor communication is typically why roommate relationships fail.
You don’t have to be best friends with your roommate. If you want to be close friends, you have to invest in your friendship and communicate early and effectively if there’s any roommate issues that could potentially harm your friendship with your roommate.
If an issue comes up, address it right away. We see that roommate relationships can fail in situations where one or both roommates decide not to say anything and let the resentment build.

To actually locate potential roommates, on the ZeeMee app, use the “find a roommate” channel and introduce yourself. There is also a roommate info quiz that you can fill out if you wish.
Attend admitted student events to interact with other admitted students.
Attend the GETTing College Ready series, especially the session about the Residential Experience, to get more advice on how to navigate living with a roommate.
Use this guide to set your priorities. Be honest with yourself and your potential roommate when you share your preferences. Talk about these questions with them.
Once you’re here, your RA will facilitate a roommate agreement with you and your roommate to go over a whole list of questions about how you want to share the room. We do this a few weeks into school so that you can start adjusting to how you and your roommate share the room. You may find out that now that you don’t have to start school at 7:15am, you end up becoming a night owl. You may find out that you thought that you were originally “fine” with your roommate’s friends hanging out in the room, but you’re now struggling to get your homework done, and you may need to set some boundaries for when friends can come over.
If a student ever has a concern with their roommate relationship/roommate agreement, they should talk to their RA right away, so that the situation can be resolved before frustration builds.