New people provide new experiences

BY NATALIE BROWN
Staff Writer

One of the best aspects of college is meeting new people and experiencing new things. Often, students choose to search for a roommate who is like them, hoping to find a best friend before college even ensues. But if freshman year is all about adjusting to the new and unknown, students should choose a random roommate also.

A lot of people choose to room with a friend from high school who is going to the same college. One of the best ways to ruin a friendship, however, is to live with that friend. The beauty of friendship is being able to spend all day together, not get tired of each other, but then go home to each other’s respective spaces. Living with a friend could bring out the worst in both, ending the friendship.

Also, learning community floors in dorms are becoming more and more popular in schools. This means that depending on a student’s college program, he or she can choose to stay on a floor with students in that desired field. That means choosing a roommate is not as important, because most likely, the person chosen will have the same hobbies and interests.

Often, even with the many personality tests and surveys, the matches set up for students don’t work. Schools sometimes forget to account for whether a roommate smokes or plans to bring others back to the room at all hours of the night. With these insufficient tests, choosing a roommate before school may not make any difference.

New roommates make life a nightmare

BY CASEY MONTANA
Photo Editor

As seniors begin to check out of the high school state of mind, they face a new issue as they enter their freshman year of college: roommates.

After four long years of tests and homework, seniors have to get ready to deal with professors, campus lifestyle, and perpetual debt. Living with a randomly selected roommate would only add to the overall shock of leaving home.

While a randomly selected roommate could motivate a student to branch out and become more social, there is a great possibility that the new roommate would be a nightmare.

Many college graduates tell stories that their freshman year of college was awful because their roommate partied too much, was a slob, rude, or just a nightmare to live with.

If students select their own roommate, they can have open conversations and can create boundaries or even a friendship right away.

Although some colleges offer a personality assessment and try to pair up roommates appropriately, most times they fail miserably. They match together very unlikely pairs, which ultimately causes feuds or awkward situations.

Typically a university uses preliminary questions regarding academics and extra-curricular activities to decide if the students would make a good pair.

Even though this seems efficient, someone’s academic history does not decipher whether or not he or she is a good person to live with.

Thanks to social media and other ways of communication, students are able to meet others who are accepted into the same college, and with this advantage they can choose their own roommate.

College is the first time that teenagers have some freedom, and they should choose their own roommates to alleviate the stress that college automatically brings.