Finding a roommate

[Anonymous]

How did your DC find a roommate for freshman year and did it work out well?

[Anonymous]

My dorm, room, and roommate for freshman year were all assigned to me by the SLAC I attended in the 90s (after filling out some kind of questionnaire, I believe). The housing situation seems so much more complicated for incoming freshman now. So stressful—not looking forward to that in a couple years with my kid.

[Anonymous]

My DD found someone on the incoming class Instagram page. She "interviewed" several girls. I was against this as I think part of the college experience is being put together with people from different walks of life and my freshman roommate, who the college assigned, is still one of my closest friends and we would definitely not picked one another.
However, it turned out very well for DD. She is not an easy person to live with and luckily her roommate was very go with the flow. DD even said that she was proud of herself for getting through freshman year without alientating her roommate.

[Anonymous]

Certain schools they are just assigned. Kids don’t get to pick or find one.

[Anonymous]

Went rando. It worked fine.

[Anonymous]

Ours met someone at admitted students day and kept in touch after. Decided to room together later and it has worked out.

[Anonymous]

My kids both went with the random roommate assignments (there was likely some type of survey involved to match people). It worked really well in both cases.

They could have tried to arrange something through an admitted students group, but they just weren't that worried about it.

[Anonymous]

My DD and DS both picked someone via commited students social media. My DS's roommate is his best friend and they are finishing their third year living together and will live together next year too.

My DD regrets her choice a little. They were not friends, very different people. In the end, they left and have barely spoken to each other. She was choosing between this girl and someone else and I do think she wishes she went with the other girl.

I went random and my roommate and i co-existed but were not friends.

[Anonymous]

DS went random is still close friends with guy after college. He did live on a themed floor (campers) so that probably helped.

[Anonymous]

My kid used one of those roommate matching portals thru the school housing app and then talking to a few people to decide. Still good friends with freshman roommate.

I know kids can be aspirational vs realistic about answering those questionnaires but the basics around bedtime/wakeup time and noise level, being in the room to study/or not, guests or not (especially if friends or significant other are over all time time), substance free room or not, and cleanliness level IMO are bare minimum for roommate compatibility.

[Anonymous]

Both my kids went with random/college-assigned roommates.

DS's process was to just pick an empty room in the dorm during room selection and then somebody else looked at his profile info before picking the 2nd bed. Worked out fine. They weren't BFFs but were fine roommates.

DD (freshman now) was matched with a roommate by res life staff at a small school (so more of a hand curated process) and it's been great. The are great friends and will room together next year. DD's found the college transition really challenging and the saving grace of the whole year is that she's had an awesome roommate.

[Anonymous]

My freshman DS went random. They get on fine but are not friends. It's worked out well. No drama.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like it can be a hit or miss either way!

[Anonymous]

My kids are both at SLACs that assign students based on questionnaires. All fine.

[Anonymous]

Eagle Scout found another Eagle Scout. Worked out great for both of them and they roomed / apartment shared together for 3 years.