The Epic Problem of Roommates

[Kaz Likes Cookies]

So I'm heading to college this fall. And I'm really set to take on the workload. I've registered into the honors program with a bunch of honors courses for the first semester. I'm not really worried about that too much. Recently I found out I got into the honors section of one of the dorms. My college is slightly known for parties. I mean, every college has 'em, but I've never really wanted to do the whole drinking/random hook ups/smoking/drugs scene in any way. I'm a bit of a goody two shoes and I know it.

I'm more worried about roommates. The survey thing doesn't seem to cover a lot of the issues that are important. With the honors section of the dorm, it was really hard to meet people through facebook and such. I don't want a roommate that's going to have random guys in the room or stumble in at 3 am totally wasted. I need some advice.

Things to Discuss:
College
college Parties
roommates
big changes from high school to college  

[Jafthasleftthebuilding]

Bring a taser... and duct tape. >_>  

[Saverio C.]

The main thing here is to not care. Roll with the punches and let things go and there will be no problems. You don't have to be in your room unless you are sleeping so even if you can't stand your roommate you should be fine for the year. If you want a system for the boy problem just have her text message you if she is going to "have a boy over". It work's great and I avoided ever catching my roommate with his girl.

You don't have to be their friend or even like them, you just have to live with them.  

[Taeryyn]

There's no point in getting yourself stressed before you're even there.

I never even knew my roommate's name before I showed up in residence. Orest and I had some issues, but whatever. You just have to learn to share space.

Any roommate is going to get on your nerves eventually; expecting otherwise is unrealistic. You can't have two people sharing a small space without ever stepping on anyone's toes. You just have to learn to be flexible, or you're going to drive yourself, and your roommate, crazy.

From my experience, even the worst roommates from uni have absolutely nothing on bad roommates outside of residence. It's not like you have to worry about them not paying their share of the utilities, or moving out and leaving you screwed for rent, or having their pets destroy your stuff...  

[Agent_of_Misfortune]

lay down some fundamental ground rules as long as you honor there wishes and they honor yours, you wont have a problem...

if they cross the line... its time to poop in something they don't use that often!  

[Lobo-chan]

Well, my situation is different because I'm at a residential high school... but my roommate and I get along well.
I'd say just see how it is the first couple of weeks or a month or two. That's when it's the whole awkward "Who the hell are you and why do I live with you?" thing. You'll probably get to know each other fairly quickly, and you'll either get along or you'll just have to learn to ignore each other as best you can ^.^;  

[Kaz Likes Cookies]

That does sound like a really good roomie, Kyla. I'm worried about getting the opposite kind of party person who won't respect the fact that I'm not into it.  

[Arcanas]

My roomates back in college were awesome...

We all played WoW all hours of the day/night xd

Course, now that we're all done with that phase of our life, we still get along...still a bunch of gamer nerds, but we're all still friends.  

[[ Terra ]]

I have never been in a live-on campus situation and I still live at home so I have not yet been in this kind of situation. Despite my lack of experience here, I would think that the best advice would not to get so worried that you are going to have a troublesome roommate that you go in all standoffish. Getting off on the right foot will probably go along way when it comes to finding a satisfying compromise on any issues that may arise.

Your roommate won't be perfect - no one is. Even if you had been able to find these people on facebook, friends don't always equal the ideal roomie. My cousin moved out with a friend once and let's just say that things didn't end too well.

In summary, just be friendly and flexible. You might not agree on everything but as long as you can both respect each other things should hopefully be okay.  

[Milk and Holy Water]

While I've never actually been to college, I've lived with roommates most of my independent adult life. Most of the roommates I've lived with have been really great, but I've also had some horrible experiences too. Know what I know now, I don't think I would ever live with someone I did now know extremely well before. A lot of people say that it's a bad idea to live with a friend, but it's a hell of a lot better than living with a sociopath (assuming your friends are not sociopaths).

I'm not sure if your situation is one where you'll have your choice of roommates, though I have the suspicion it's going to be a random thing, right? I mean, in that case, just hope you don't get stuck with a lunatic.

Most of the people I know that use drugs and have indiscriminate sex also happen to be sincere, intelligent, and friendly people, so I wouldn't worry to much about that. Then again, I don't see the point in spending any time with anyone who isn't those things. I'd be more worried about having to live with an control freak. Since you're going to be the honors section, if you do get stuck with a sexually promiscuous drug user, there's a much higher chance of them being smart enough to use enough discretion to keep you wholly unaware of their habits.

Also, I would definitely not take Agent of Misfortune's approach. The whole "laying down ground rules" thing may seem sensible, but let me tell you NO ONE wants to be condescended to like that. It's more likely to make them think that you're some kind of control fetishist, or just a douchebag.

And I mean, if it doesn't work out, just live somewhere else.