It’s that time of year again: time to figure out whom you’ll be living with next year.
In order to make this process as painless as possible, here are some do’s and don’ts
of roommate selection.
DO room with someone who has a similar style to your own. If they’re into rainbows, unicorns, or Hello Kitty, and you’re into Bob Marley and Sublime, you’re bound to run into some problems.
DO room with someone dependable. You don’t want to sign up to room withsomeone and have them flake out at the last minute.
DO room with someone who knows how to share. If you’re buying groceries once a
week and she’s eating them all and not paying you back or going to buy groceries,
then that isn’t going to work out. The same goes for alcohol. Sharing is part of
rooming together, but you need to set up a system of “this is mine and this is yours”
not “what mine is yours” because that won’t work out in the long run.
DO room with someone that you enjoy being around. This may seem obvious, but
you want to like you roommate.
If you think that you may get annoyed with them down the road, they’re probably not the right roommate for you.
DO room with someone with similar habits. Sometimes girls think that if they room
with friends, they’ll get over their annoyances with messy places or lights on, etc.
You won’t. So try to room with someone who likes to go to bed around the sametime or get up around the same time. If you like to have clean living spaces, don’t live with someone that is known to have a messy room. If you like mess, don’t room with a neatfreak.
DON’T room with your best friend. Rooming with your best friend is a mistake
because you’re with them ALL the time. For those of you who think that would be
amazing, let me be clear: you will resent each other and one of you will become
clingy. It won’t work out.
Don’t believe me? My roommate and I this past yearstarted out as best friends. Then she annoyed me. Then I annoyed her. Then weannoyed each other. And then we had that awkward talk where I had to say, “Sorry,but it’s not working out.
In order to save the little bit of friendship we have left, we
can definitely not room together next year.” There is a honeymoon stage after
you move in together where you’ll see the tiny faults in each other but look past it,
but as the months go by, your “BFF” will start to frustrate you more and more, and
eventually, even the mere sight of her makes you want to sleep somewhere else.
Save your friendship, don’t live together.
DON’T room with someone you are going to be taking a lot of classes with.
Same rules as the best friend: too much time spent together. If your roommate is the same major as you, you’ll be seeing them in classes all day and then going home with them, too. Again, too much time.
DON’T room with someone who has a boyfriend. If you’re the type of person who
likes their space every now and then, don’t room with someone who’s trying to
share your space with three people instead of just two. Sometimes rooming with a
girl who has a boyfriend works out, but that’s rare.
Remember these guidelines when picking your roommate for next year. You need
to remember that this decision should not be taken lightly, you’ll be living with this
person for the next year so make sure you get along!
photos by Jenna Quirk