Searching for a college roommate can be a very stressful, abnormal experience. To aid the search, universities have made websites and Instagram accounts to help new students match with a roommate. Students post short bios paired with a few images that represent their personality, and then they wait to find their compatible matches.
Some universities have created “online dating” accounts similar to Tinder or Hinge used to meet roommates. Users upload their interests, personality traits and living preferences to find the perfect roommate. This platform allows students to avoid being paired with a random roommate and meet people from all over the world.
Students have begun exploring the different resources available. “I’ve started to use different college roommate apps to help me find someone who is similar to me and would be a compatible roommate. So far they have been pretty easy to navigate and only ask you to put in a short bio about yourself and your preferable living situation. I have found them to be really helpful and they definitely make the process easier,” said senior Molly Butcher.
Another way to meet potential roommates is posting on Instagram class accounts. These accounts are run by students who charge a small fee to upload posts for anyone interested. This method has become increasingly popular due to the traction of the platform. The majority of students ages 18 to 20 are frequent users of Instagram and have easy access to these accounts.
Users have reported that the Instagram accounts have been extremely helpful for the difficult roommate search. “Using the college class of 29 pages has been super helpful when finding a roommate. Everyone posts a couple photos of themselves with a description overview of them and what they like to do. This is super helpful because you can just scroll through and find someone you feel like you would connect with, and talk to them to get to know them in a quick and relaxed fashion,” said senior Lindsay Durick.
Although both platforms are very popular and useful to meet other students or roommates before arriving at college, the process can feel quite uncomfortable. Starting small talk, asking personal questions and seeking validation can seem awkward and similar to speed-dating. Additionally, talking to multiple people at the same time about rooming together might feel wrong or misleading.
Some students are dreading the long process due to what their peers have told them. “I haven’t started the roommate search yet, but listening to my friends talk about their future roommates and how long it took to find someone who they connected with seems very stressful. Even though Instagram makes it a lot easier, I still feel like it is a very tedious process,” said senior Hargun Kaur.
These new methods to finding a roommate offer significant advantages in terms of convenience and compatibility, but they come with their own challenges as well. The repetitive small talk and pressure to make a good impression can be stressful. Despite these challenges, many students find these platforms invaluable for connecting with future classmates and essential for making the transition to college more manageable.
