Living with roommates is one of the greatest changes any student experiences when going to college. Even if you shared a room with a sibling at home, it’s nothing like living in a dorm or an apartment with a roommate. Because everyone has heard a roommate horror story, it can be nerve-wracking thinking about living with a roommate. Despite all of the stories, the truth is that the vast majority of students get along with their roommates just fine and have very few issues.

It is very likely that you will be randomly assigned a roommate when you first move to campus. Although residence life organizations attempt to match students with similar interests, there is no guarantee that you and your new roommate will have anything in common. This may prove to be a blessing in disguise. Roommates can introduce you to many activities and people that you may never have considered or met if it hadn’t been for your roommate.

Having a roommate also helps you learn interpersonal skills that you’ll use for the rest of your life. If an issue arises, you’ll have to deal with it—you can’t put dealing with things off forever when you live with someone. Being able to respectfully and productively talk about and resolve these issues is an important skill that you’ll develop and use throughout the rest of your academic and professional career. It’s also likely that you and your roommate will prefer different types of communication—by learning to interact with them, you’ll develop the ability to effectively communicate with a great number of people.

Having a roommate can be a great experience if you’re willing to put some effort into it—don’t let the terrible stories scare you! Go and meet your roommate as soon as you can and start building a friendship. Who knows? You may get together so well that you’ll end up living together throughout the rest of your four years of college.

As always, if you have any questions, comments or funny stories you'd like me to share about college or the blog, email me at stu@stuvu.com