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Life > Experiences

45 Unhinged Questions To Ask Your New Roommate To Break The Ice

With back-to-college season nearly upon us (seriously, where did the summer go?), move-in day can bring a mix of excitement, nerves, and plenty of awkward small talk. Sure, picking out bags for class or browsing a course catalog can make you feel prepared, but getting to know your new roommate? That’s the ultimate wildcard. 

A new roommate comes with a lot of mysteries: Are they a morning person? Do they clean immediately or let dishes “soak” in the sink? How many alarms do they think are too many alarms? Some of these answers will present themselves right away. (I mean, one minute you’ve never met, and the next they know whether you’re a morning or night shower-er and what time you raid the fridge for a late-night snack.) But others, the ones that really help you get to know one another, might take some time, and some actual conversation. And that’s where the fun really begins.

Whether you clicked instantly through Instagram DMs or you’re meeting for the very first time while hauling boxes into your room, getting past the “What’s your major?” stage levels up your relationship in a big way. So, if you find yourself sitting in silence with a new dorm or apartment mate, pull out some of these unhinged questions to get the conversation flowing.

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  1. Which reality TV show would you dominate? 
  2. If you were to get banned from one chain restaurant, which one would it be? 
  3. Which fictional villain do you think actually had a point?
  4. What’s your most irrational fear? 
  5. If your Pinterest boards became reality, what would your life look like? 
  6. What’s the weirdest hill you’re willing to die on? 
  7. If you had to spend 24 hours locked in a room with one celebrity, who would you choose? 
  8. What’s the strangest thing you’ve cried over?
  9. Which smell instantly makes you nostalgic?
  10. What’s the strangest compliment you’ve ever received? 
  11. What’s your solution to the trolley problem?
  12. Which celebrity would be the best possible roommate? 
  13. Which celebrity would be the worst possible roommate? 
  14. If you were arrested tomorrow, what would your friends assume happened? 
  15. What conspiracy theory do you wish were true? 
  16. If you could rewrite one TV show finale from history, which would it be? 
  17. If your pet could expose one embarrassing secret about you, what would it be? 
  18. What’s your biggest “hear me out”?
  19. If Pedro Pascal, Timothée Chalamet, and Glen Powell all wanted to room with us, who gets the spot? 
  20. Which emoji do you think is the biggest red flag? 
  21. What’s one thing that instantly makes you trust someone?
  22. What’s your Roman Empire?
  23. What’s the most niche thing you could give a 30-minute presentation about? 
  24. What’s something people always assume about you that’s completely wrong? 
  25. If your life had an IMDb parents guide, what would it warn people about? 
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  1. Which fictional character’s death are you still not over? 
  2. What’s one movie everyone loves that you secretly don’t? 
  3. If you had to get a tattoo right now, what would it be? 
  4. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve eaten because there was nothing else available? 
  5. What’s one thing you’re convinced everyone else is lying about liking? 
  6. If someone narrated your life, whose voice would you want? 
  7. What’s your favorite inside joke you’ve ever been part of? 
  8. If you had to become famous on one corner of the internet, which one would it be?
  9. What’s something you’ll always splurge on? 
  10. What’s your gas station snack of choice?
  11. If your search history became a bestselling memoir, what would the title be? 
  12. What’s your biggest beige flag? 
  13. What’s your favorite niche internet phrase? 
  14. Which fictional character could you absolutely fix? 
  15. If you had to swap lives with one person for a week, who would it be?
  16. Would you rather never listen to music again or never watch TV again? 
  17. What’s the pettiest reason you’ve ever disliked someone? 
  18. What’s the best Disney Channel Original Movie?
  19. If your water bottle could talk, what would it complain about? 
  20. If tomorrow you woke up as a billionaire, what’s the first completely unnecessary thing you’re buying?
Vivian Stein

UCLA '27

Vivian is a third-year anthropology and communication student at UCLA from Thousand Oaks, California. When she's not writing for Her Campus or UCLA's student newspaper, she can be found reading, taking long walks, or hanging out with friends — usually with an iced coffee in hand.