Colleges with great or terrible first year orientation & roommate matching?

[Anonymous]

My child will be attending a Top 20 LAC that matches roommates both by surveys and by Myers Briggs results.

[Anonymous]

DS is going to Virginia Tech. In their virtual open house, the residential life people said about half of students pick roommates in advance via social media or just friends from home. But the other half pick during room selection. That could be completely out of your hands, by selecting an empty room and seeing you chooses to take the other spot in that room, checking the profile of other students in a room/suite and deciding if you want to room with them, or searching the roommate database to find a potential roommate who you then email to ask about matching up.

From comments on the parent Facebook group, going random/using the school roommate info is much more common with the boys.DS had zero interest in using social media to find a roommate so selected a suite that already had two people in it who seemed a good match based on profiles. He's done summer programs in the past with completely random roommates and it was fine so he's not concerned about it.

[Anonymous]

DCs school has them fill out a fairly detailed survey to use in roommate matching. You can find your own roommate if you want, but are highly encouraged to let housing do it for you. From what I’ve heard, they do a pretty good job.

Orientation is the week before classes start and is required for all incoming freshmen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The vast majority of students pick their own roommates these days. Everyone my kids know who has gone random at a host of private and public universities in the past few years has ended up with an international student, which can be the best match ever or can be difficult.

I spoke to a housing director who said the roommates that are based upon the school's system (a survey of habits/preferences, around things like sleep and neatness) tend to work out better than when the students choose based upon social media posts (which show things like fashion, food and sports teams). Makes sense really. when you think about it.

I like orientations that are funded for all students (rather than only those who can afford it). They come before the older kids, break into groups based upon their tastes (like around an activity), and spend quality time together. The school also sneaks in some tips for succeeding in college. That way, there are a few familiar faces for the freshmen on the first day of classes.

Juniata College had something like that (pre-Covid), so the kids could choose between activities like camping, art museums, volunteer work, rock climbing, ....there were like 12 choices. Really fun, and led by older students.

Yes, they match students who go random based on their survey results…but you have to consider that the only students left in this pool are the other students that have chosen to go random. All other students that could have been a great match have already selected a roommate on their own, so typically the kids that go random are the kids who are too shy to reach out to someone in the Facebook or Instagram groups or the kids who just don’t care who they end up with. It’s a brutal process to find a roommate. It’s like trying to “date” people your own age via Snapchat and FaceTime until one sticks, but in the experience of my three kids and what they have heard from friends, it’s worth it.

That part sounds awful. So glad we didn't have to do that back in the day!

I’m 50/50 on it. My freshman year roommate was sleeping with half the basketball team.

Lucky guy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The vast majority of students pick their own roommates these days. Everyone my kids know who has gone random at a host of private and public universities in the past few years has ended up with an international student, which can be the best match ever or can be difficult.

I spoke to a housing director who said the roommates that are based upon the school's system (a survey of habits/preferences, around things like sleep and neatness) tend to work out better than when the students choose based upon social media posts (which show things like fashion, food and sports teams). Makes sense really. when you think about it.

I like orientations that are funded for all students (rather than only those who can afford it). They come before the older kids, break into groups based upon their tastes (like around an activity), and spend quality time together. The school also sneaks in some tips for succeeding in college. That way, there are a few familiar faces for the freshmen on the first day of classes.

Juniata College had something like that (pre-Covid), so the kids could choose between activities like camping, art museums, volunteer work, rock climbing, ....there were like 12 choices. Really fun, and led by older students.

Yes, they match students who go random based on their survey results…but you have to consider that the only students left in this pool are the other students that have chosen to go random. All other students that could have been a great match have already selected a roommate on their own, so typically the kids that go random are the kids who are too shy to reach out to someone in the Facebook or Instagram groups or the kids who just don’t care who they end up with. It’s a brutal process to find a roommate. It’s like trying to “date” people your own age via Snapchat and FaceTime until one sticks, but in the experience of my three kids and what they have heard from friends, it’s worth it.

That part sounds awful. So glad we didn't have to do that back in the day!

I’m 50/50 on it. My freshman year roommate was sleeping with half the basketball team.

Lucky guy

Not a guy. She was sleeping with the men’s basketball team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child will be attending a Top 20 LAC that matches roommates both by surveys and by Myers Briggs results.

This is actually embarrassing. The Myers Briggs is not respected in any academic circles and is widely acknowledged as pseudoscience...and here we have a top university using it to match students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The college experience truly is stacked from the start against introverts -- or I guess it just favors extroverts.

Having to put yourself out there on social media in an appealing way so someone will want to live with you seems like a lot if you're not outgoing.

The entire world is geared toward extroverts, from the cradle to the grave, but quiet kids post on Facebook groups looking for roommates too, and the other kids who are looking for a roommate like them snatch them right up.

+1 my daughter sent in a submission to her university's "Class of 2020" Instagram page where kids could send in pictures of themselves and a little blurb about who they are, what dorm they wanted to live in, if they were looking for roommates, etc. She was honest in that blurb--said she's a quieter person, loves nights in (altho did want to go out sometimes), takes school seriously, blah blah blah. Got TONS of people "sliding into her DMs" and wound up with a great roomie who she will live with again this coming year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The vast majority of students pick their own roommates these days. Everyone my kids know who has gone random at a host of private and public universities in the past few years has ended up with an international student, which can be the best match ever or can be difficult.

I spoke to a housing director who said the roommates that are based upon the school's system (a survey of habits/preferences, around things like sleep and neatness) tend to work out better than when the students choose based upon social media posts (which show things like fashion, food and sports teams). Makes sense really. when you think about it.

I like orientations that are funded for all students (rather than only those who can afford it). They come before the older kids, break into groups based upon their tastes (like around an activity), and spend quality time together. The school also sneaks in some tips for succeeding in college. That way, there are a few familiar faces for the freshmen on the first day of classes.

Juniata College had something like that (pre-Covid), so the kids could choose between activities like camping, art museums, volunteer work, rock climbing, ....there were like 12 choices. Really fun, and led by older students.

eh. my daughter found her roommate from social media, and yeah the initial inclination to reach out was probably based on fashion/food/sports/etc. but they started talking and made sure they were on the same page in terms of habits, preferences, etc. before they officially "signed the dotted line" to become roommates. this is pretty typical- i don't know anyone who's like "yeah, you dress really cute and you play lacrosse like me! let's room!" -- most of the stuff that's on those roommate surveys is discussed when chatting up potential roommates on social media. Common sense.

[Anonymous]

I am a fan of being matched personally, and thats what I had when I went to school back in the dark ages. That said my kids are going to UVA and it is completely and totally random, a spin of the wheel... no opportunity to put in interests, likes or dislikes, morning and night owl etc. So my kids found people on Insta that they connected with and we'll hope for the best!

[Anonymous]

Odd that they don't do any kind of survey whatsoever!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The college experience truly is stacked from the start against introverts -- or I guess it just favors extroverts.

Having to put yourself out there on social media in an appealing way so someone will want to live with you seems like a lot if you're not outgoing.

The entire world is geared toward extroverts, from the cradle to the grave, but quiet kids post on Facebook groups looking for roommates too, and the other kids who are looking for a roommate like them snatch them right up.

+1 my daughter sent in a submission to her university's "Class of 2020" Instagram page where kids could send in pictures of themselves and a little blurb about who they are, what dorm they wanted to live in, if they were looking for roommates, etc. She was honest in that blurb--said she's a quieter person, loves nights in (altho did want to go out sometimes), takes school seriously, blah blah blah. Got TONS of people "sliding into her DMs" and wound up with a great roomie who she will live with again this coming year.

I love that. The quieter kids are lurking in the background, searching for who they think they could room with, but are often too shy to submit a post. But the ones that can take the leap and put themselves out there for a minute will find that their people are out there.