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Does the Perfect Roommate Exist?

Does the Perfect Roommate Exist?
3/21/2013
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Katlyn Clark

College can sound very exciting with moving away from home and being on your own but who you live with can make or break your college experience.

Most colleges require freshmen to live in campus housing with roommates. Roommates can be chosen at random, via special requests or at college orientation. (Some schools, like Campbell, even have "Class of" or "Admitted Students" pages on Facebook and students can find their future roommates there.) I had a roommate selected at random and she moved out halfway through the semester but I knew this was a common situation: Sometimes students move out to room with a better friend or they change dorms because the new residence hall is closer to their classes and extracurricular activities.

How do you know if you have found the right roommate? Talk to them! Discuss what you both expect to do at college, your respective bedtimes and what you’ll bring into the dorm. If you think the match is a good one, sign a roommate contract but if you don't think your living situation is going to work, try to make a room change sooner than later. Maybe you met someone in class or on your floor who is also having roommate issues, which makes a potential swap even easier.

If I could choose the best way to find a roommate, I would go the random route again and connect with them prior to move-in day. Most people I know on campus were paired with their roommates randomly and now consider each other good friends...but that may not be the case for everyone: It all depends on what type of person you are and if you can handle living with someone else. There is a perfect roommate for everyone!

So how did you find your roommate? Did it work out, were there issues or would you have change the way you were paired?

Katlyn Clark is a freshman at Campbell University majoring in journalism and minoring in marketing. She hopes to become a broadcast journalist for entertainment or write for a magazine such as People or Seventeen. In her spare time, Katlyn loves to hang out with friends and family and watch sports; she is a Christian who is so thankful for God’s many blessings in her life. Katlyn is from Elizabeth City, North Carolina and loves Tim Tebow, Pinterest, the WWE and cats.

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