<p>I’m an only child, so I’m not used to sharing my space with anyone. Naturally, one of my main concerns is having some crazy room-mate who:
-smells
-is messy
-walks around nude often
-has sex on my side of the room
-compulsively masturbates all the time in my presence
-has an unbearable amount of gas
-is genuinely nuts, crazy or insane</p>
<p>I don’t have super-high expectations (I’m not one of THOSE roommates) and I can be very easygoing, but I just want to be able to live comfortably in my dorm with a certain degree of privacy and peace. </p>
<p>Has anyone had a bad roomate experience to comment on?</p>
<p>I'm an only child too, so I can understand your fears. Howeverrrrr...what's the point of asking your question? Of course people have had horrible roommates. But hearing stories about it is just going to freak out you. It's quite possible that you'll get a bad roommate, but you'll learn to live with it and maybe even learn from it.</p>
<p>I'm the kind of person who likes to know what I'm getting into beforehand so that I can brace myself. I know that the students at U Chicago have the reputation of being a bit strange and that Dartmouth students tend to be wild party animals. I just want to hear the worst of the worst so I can either be prepared or appreciate the roommate more.</p>
<p>how will hearing the worst of the worst help you?</p>
<p>hope for the best, but learn from whatever you face... i mean that's the whole purpose of living with a roommate, learning from each other...</p>
<p>also note that if you have issues with your roommate, your ra or ga can help, and if not, you can seek a room transfer if it's really that bad... but such things are rare, and usually roommates bond pretty well...</p>
<p>I've heard a lot of good, positive things already. I just want to hear from the other end of the spectrum. Surely there has to be something negative, because if there's not, it'll lead me to believe that Penn is too good to be true.</p>
<p>Your question really isn't specific to Penn. You could get a horrible roommate anywhere. Even if you get 2 people to respond with horror stories, how is that going to help you understand the school better? It seems like maybe you're asking about negative stereotypes about Penn students after what you said about UChicago and Dartmouth.</p>
<p>exactly. nothing that we could possibly tell you on this matter, good or bad, should be a factor of importance.</p>
<p>bad stuff does happen here. but you may be fortunate enough to escape it and laugh at / sympathize with those who suffer, or you may be the one who has to live with it. </p>
<p>a guy in my frat said his freshman year roommate was so hideously stank that he would come in each night and just spray febreeze on the guy while the guy slept, and the guy wouldnt even notice</p>
<p>up until recently i thought that my friend was just exaggerating</p>
<p>then this semester i go to ****** class and theres this guy who really really stinks alot. lo and behold, last week i found out that the stinky roommate was one and the same person as the person in my class.</p>
<p>I know of few people with downright awful room mates. Some people simply don't get along with their room mates, but even when that happens, usually you can come up with a sort of equilibria where it's not intolerable for either party, you just aren't best buds.</p>
<p>My freshman roomie was an alright kid, but we simply...do not mesh, in general, or as roomies. By second semester, we simply didn't interact. At all. No talking ever. It's kind of funny how we managed in a tiny little Hill room, but that was that.</p>
<p>i found out that one of my roommates for next year is a really messy person (you should see his room this year! you can't even walk in it! it's like swimming through clothes!) and im not sure i can handle that - how should i go about cleaning him up?</p>
<p>I don't know, I'm gonna have to charge him pretty heftily for that. Besides, if he has the single it will be that much more awkward when he catches me having sex on his bed.</p>
<p>To the OP: maybe look for a residential program to apply to? Then you'll at least have something in common with your roommate, or at least people in rooms around yours.</p>