After choosing your favorite college and getting an acceptance letter, the next step is to look for accommodation. Good thing, you can choose housing options easily.
You can decide to stay in the college hostels or find a rental house outside the school. Regardless of the option you choose, you also need to decide whether to find a roommate or not.
Due to the limited spaces in college hostels or dorms, it might be mandatory to get a roommate. In this case, you’ll require finding someone who you can easily stay with without any conflicts. A friend is the best option to live within with you in the same place.
Why? Because you’ll be comfortable living with a friend than a stranger. You’re also likely to share necessities without any issues and thus here are some of the best tips from Just For College related to pairing with perfect roommates in college.
Top Tips for Finding the Perfect College Roommate:
1. Decide What you Want from your Shared Living Arrangement
The first step for finding a college roommate is determining what you want from your shared living arrangement. Then, find someone who matches your standards. Compatibility is a key aspect that you shouldn’t ignore.
Being compatible with someone means that you’ll always be free with them every time, and you can communicate with them easily. You’ll also learn new ideas as part of your social life.
2. Make Sure they are Capable of Paying their share of the Rent
The last thing you’ll want to do is get involved in conflicts with your landlord due to unpaid rentals. Therefore, before you get a college roommate, ensure that they can pay their share of the rent. Most people make one mistake when finding a roommate is getting someone they’re so much closer to.
While getting your closest friend to be your roommate can make you feel comfortable, sometimes they may turn out to be problematic, especially when it comes to paying rent.
These kinds of roommates might take advantage of your friendship to delay paying their share, thinking that you’ll pay the entire rent using your own money.
Ideally, it would be best to pick a roommate with a steady job than someone who relies entirely on parental resources for anything that’s financially related.
3. Be Mindful of their Cleanliness Habits
Nobody wants to stay in a filthy environment. However, cleanliness habit is an essential factor to consider before deciding on who to be your roommate.
First, if you live in a dirty and dusty environment, you will likely develop health problems. Typically, some allergens may develop in your living space due to accumulating dirt and dust over time. These allergens can cause respiratory problems such as difficulty in breathing.
Secondly, if your kitchen remains untidy, you will likely attract home pests such as flies, ants, and cockroaches. These pests can also spread diseases.
Thirdly, a dirty living space portrays a bad image to your visitors. Therefore, you need to find someone with similar cleanliness habits to ensure your living space remains clean and tidy always.
4. Shared Interests and Hobbies.
Getting a roommate just for college with similar interests is the best thing that you can do. Having shared interests means that you’ll get closer to each other in most situations.
For instance, if you’re a gaming enthusiast and get a roommate who likes gaming, there’s no point in time when you’ll get bored. Since you share similar interests (gaming), every time you’re both free, you’ll find yourselves playing.
You can also do some ice breaker games with your college roommate, such as:
- Jenga questions
- Time heist
- Dessert island intelligence
These not only eliminate boredom but also gives you the urge to get exposed to new things and ideas from your roommate. Getting to know your roommate is essential in living together.
If you get a college roommate with diverse interests, you’re likely to get bored from time to time. You’ll find yourselves fighting for petty issues such as what you should both watch on TV or the kind of music to listen to.
5. Set Similar Goals.
Even though everyone has his own life goals, it’s still possible to get a college roommate with similar goals to yours.
For example, if your main goal is to study hard to pass your examinations well, you should find a roommate who’s also focused on their studies.
Having similar goals brings motivation which further makes it easier to attain the targeted set goals.
For instance, if you like going to the library regularly to study, it’ll be more encouraging and motivating if your get someone else who does the same. You will treat them as accountability buddies, not just college roommates.
6. Check if they have any Harmful Addictions.
It would be very embarrassing to stay with someone who is a drug addict. Drug addiction can result in laziness, violence, and mismanagement of funds.
A drug addict won’t easily contribute his share for rent or other items. Due to addiction, most of his money will get in the purchase of drugs.
Additionally, an addict can turn out to be violent from time to time. Therefore, before you decide on your next college roommate, take time to study someone to understand if there are any chances that they’re an addict.
7. Temperament Match
Look for a college roommate who matches your temperament level. For example, if you’re short-tempered, you should find someone who won’t easily provoke you and make you angry easily.
Ideally, it’s essential to find a roommate whose temperament is exactly opposite to yours. Getting someone with a similar temperament can result in regular fights.
In conclusion, these are some of the top tips on how to find the perfect college roommate. The whole process can be challenging. However, it becomes even easier if you focus on what you want and get the right channel to get the best roommate.
Also, ensure proper communication between you and your roommate to ensure that solving problems and raising issues of concern is easy. Since you’ll be living together, most issues shouldn’t be private matters. College is hard. So, treat each other as a team.
