Typical college student life varies wildly between students. Some experience increased freedom while others find complicated class schedules to be more constricting. Some find themselves studying on a nightly basis, while others find socializing more time consuming.
While these students might have very different college experiences, there is one thing that unites most college freshmen: the dorm roommate.
Almost 90% of college freshmen live with a roommate, which, for the 95% of those students who have never shared a room before, can be cause for stress— particularly because the majority of students don’t know their roommate very well before moving in.
Senior Celia Brown finds it stressful particularly because of the unknown habits a future roommate could possess. “It’s stressful because I don’t know how she lives at home and if she’s messy or clean, etc.,” she explained.
While colleges traditionally took on the process of pairing students,modern college students have a very different experience.
The rise of social media has made it easier to connect with future peers remotely. Student-run college committed pages allow incoming students to build relationships and connect with potential roommates before setting a foot on campus.
These unofficial college profiles, along with, in some cases, school sanctioned roommate finder websites such as roomsync, have decreased the number of college freshmen applying for random roommates.
But even after having conversations with a roommate, the stress of living with a complete stranger is still present.
Even after talking with her roommate extensively, Brown found it is difficult to make deeper connections over long distances.“I think it’s very stressful because I’ve only talked to her through text or through my phone. And we’ve FaceTimed before, but that’s still not enough to truly get to know a person,” she said.
While pre-selecting roommates has become the norm for a majority of college students, some colleges, such as Duke University, are beginning to intentionally avoid this trend by not allowing freshmen to request specific roommates at all.
Some argue that getting students with a variety of backgrounds living together in close proximity is part of the college education process, forcing young people to learn about other demographics and become familiar with them. Many students, when searching for a roommate themselves, connect with people very similar to themselves, which deprives them of this social development.
University of Iowa freshman Quinn Russell believes that choosing a roommate similar to her was detrimental to her experience. “It made it kinda complicated that I chose someone who is similar to me. We both were only children and that was really a downfall of our friendship,” she said.
Reflecting on the experience of having a roommate, Russell stated, “I enjoyed the experience of having a roommate. It let me learn a lot about myself and my behaviors, but I would never pick again.”
