What qualities make a good roommate?

Hi Amanda! Congrats on getting in to college!

One of the keys to finding your best roommate is your lifestyle compatibility. Ie. If you like to be in bed before 11 on a school night, and your roommate prefers to stay out until 3 am, there's obviously going to be some discord. Typically schools will have Freshmen take a questionnaire about their lifestyle choices and try to match up roommates based off that (it doesn't always work, but it's a good system). But if your school is just matching students up randomly, you can at least make sure you're a good roommate by being Courteous, Open To Compromise, and Communicating.

For instance: if you're gonna have a date over, give your roommate several hours notice (and don't be kicking your roommate out every other day, either). If you have an early class and your roommate gets to sleep in till 11, try to get ready as quietly as you can, using as little light as possible, or just do your whole GRWM routine in the bathroom. (On the slip side, if you get in ridiculously late, don't turn your room light on and wake up your roommate). Don't let your side of the room devolve into a pig sty, and NEVER let your stuff spill onto your roommate's side of the room (if you're gonna be messy, at least don't let that mess cross over the sacred Roommate 38th Parallel). Don't make your suite the party room, but also understand that if you choose to do homework in your room after 5pm on a Thursday, you're just setting yourself up for failure (you can always find refuge in the library, on campus cafe, etc.).

Communication is honestly the most important aspect of roommate-ing, because a lot of roomies fall into the passive aggressive sinkhole where they avoid addressing the issue they have with their roommate, and instead try to subtly hint at the problem. If you have a problem, calmly and directly talk about it with your roommate. And if things ever get unbearable, you can always apply to switch roommates.

At the end of the day, you can certainly try to be best friends with your roommate, and sometimes you'll end up making a life-long friend! But if you get a roommate with a completely different personality, set of values, interests etc., the best you might achieve is simply co-existing. If this happens, don't worry. If you don't find your squad in your roommates, there's MANY other places on campus that you can meet people you connect with.

Good luck, Amanda. And have fun!