by Aaron Morgan

Created on: June 29, 2008

This past April and May, many of the seniors in the high school where I work as a guidance counselor were talking about their future rommates as they received notices from their various schools of who they would be; some were pleased and some were as far as outraged and clearly determined to not room with the person they were assigned. The most intriguing however was the bewildered girl who entered my office with a paper stating a name that she or I could not even read. I determined the name was Korean, but what was strange is the girl had no address or contact information listed whatsoever. My student had no idea what to expect...

Having a roommate in college can be a great experience or a terrible one, depending on who you are matched with and how well the two of you can look past your differences and find a way to live in peace together, for some students that is harder than others.

Roommate selection is a college dorm director's nightmare, whether we realize it or not. I never understood just how complicated the process is until I made the acquaintance of someone who is in charge of this process semester after semester, year after year at an area college.

All students who plan to live on campus fill out questionnaires, but when you have thousands of students, how do you determine the best way to match students as roommates? My friend has a computer program that helps her match students who appear to have the most common habits and interests, although that is not 100% fool-proof as students with a great deal of similarities are not always the best roommates and some students really don't read or intentionally lie when filling out their roommate questionnaires. Students are sometimes matched according to areas of study or activities they are involved in to give students a better chance of a quality roommate experience. However, the dorm director rarely if ever knows any of the students he or she is matching, so for the most part the entire process is a shot in the dark.

If a student wants the best chance at being matched with a roommate they can tolerate and even become friends with, their best bet is to be honest when filling out roommate questionnaires even if they are embarrassed about some of their habits (for example being messy or on the other side of the spectrum a neat freak), connecting with the admissions office to find out how the process works, and contacting their future roommate to get to know them before they move in with a total strange after they receive their roommate's information from their perspective school.

Also remember that no one is perfect. Having a roommate is a lot like a relationship, compromise and honesty are essential. It is important for two people living as roommmates to be willing to talk out differences and misunderstandings and move on from them. Making the best of a roommate experience can really help you to develop skills that will put you ahead later in life both career-wise and socially.

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