A Guide: Preparing For College

Roommate Survival

Learning to live with a roommate can be a real challenge. More often than not, they're a person that you have never met before. Everyone fears getting stuck with a terrible roommate. One that they won’t be able to get along with. Here are some helpful tips for avoiding roommate troubles.

Tips:

• Try to contact your roommate before school starts, if you don't already know him or her, and try to get to know them a bit. This will help ease the tension. It’s also a great time to decide who should bring what. Make an effort to compromise.
  
  
• Remember that old adage, “Never judge a book by its cover.” Try not to make snap decisions based on the first time you see your roommate. Give yourself a chance to get to know them.
  
  
• Determine how you each want the room to look and come to agreements that meet both your needs.
  
  
• Discuss housecleaning and bill-paying before they become problematic issues.
  
  
• Come up with a reasonable agreement about visitors, including boyfriends and girlfriends. How early can they show up? How late can they stay?
  
  
• It often helps to set up schedules for kitchen use, study times, bathroom times and party nights.
  
  
• Determine what belongs to you and what belongs to your roommate. Check before helping yourself to his or her groceries, clothing, CDs or toiletries. This is the number one topic of arguments in college.
  
  
• Keep things that happen in the room confidential.
  
  
• Be patient with your roommate's choice of music, clothes, food and friends.
  
  
• Respect your roommate's family.
  
  
• Friendships rarely happen instantly. Give them, and you, time to grow.