What To Look For In An Ideal Roommate
Finding the ideal roommate can be stressful, to say the least. I’m here to tell you about my personal experiences and how to avoid getting a disastrous roommate. I remember being an incoming freshman and not knowing if I should live with a best friend or a random stranger. My high school best friend was begging me to live with her at the time and something in my gut just told me that living with your best friends is never the best option in the world. I decided to go with a mutual friend and it was truly the best decision I’ve made. I went through the IU roommate Facebook page and saw which people were mutual friends. I finally found the perfect girl; we had all the same interests, so many mutual friends, and we were both from South Florida.
Although it sounds like a happy ever after, it definitely took a lot to get there! From the very beginning, it is important that you and your roommate talk about your priorities and rules. If you don’t want a party in your dorm room every night until 3 am, that’s okay! It’s just better to talk about it in the beginning so everyone is on the same page. I know my roommate and I would try to coordinate study nights and going out nights on the same days so we would never have to bother each other. I also made it very clear at the beginning that I wanted to be great friends but I didn’t want to do everything together. I really think this allowed us to each almost find ourselves and find different hobbies and friendships.
Some people don’t have the best experiences with a random roommate, I can be the one to vouch that I created some of the best memories with someone I barely knew. She is someone that I now consider a good friend. The second I got into IU, I was truly ecstatic. I went about this like any other naïve high school graduate. I joined the IU Official Class of 2020 page on Facebook and immediately attached the most flattering pictures I could find of myself and a short generic description of myself. The majority of students find their potential roommate and friends through the Facebook page. I then spent hours messaging people I had similarities with. This was honestly really beneficial because when I showed up to my dorm on the first day, I already knew so many familiar faces, which was comforting.
My parents always taught me to be a leader, instead of a follower. It is as if everyone follows a script when they write their post, “I like to go out, but school is also my number one priority.” My advice to you is to include what you are actually interested in and your priorities, that way you can find someone most suitable for you, not the façade you put on. You can tell a lot about a person with who they surround themselves with, so keep that in mind when you’re lurking their social media.
Another thing you should take into account is their priority number. This essentially determines where you will be living on campus. Lower numbers have the first choice to choose from the luxury residence halls! Union Street, Spruce, Forest, and Willkie are definitely every Freshman’s top dorm choices so keep your eye out! Regardless of how old the two are, I loved living in the dorms and didn’t have any problems. Read our Insider’s Guide to Living on Campus to learn more about each dorm.
I wish you the best of luck in this endeavor, Happy roommate hunting!
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