<p>My daughter was a freshman at Syracuse two years ago. At the beginning of the first semester, they had floor meetings in which roommates were asked to draw up a "contract" of what they would allow and not allow in their particular dorm room. This included bigger decisions like allowing the roommate's boyfriend to sleep in the dorm room, as well as other things like borrowing from each other with/without permission. Each roommate agreed to the decisions and signed the form, which was posted in the dorm room. Often people are more tolerant of strangers than they are of friends. So strangers can make better roommates, especially since there seems to be less interference in each others' lives.</p>
<p>Haha........ little Talia^^
I don't understand though how you can possibly be more tolerant with a stranger than a best friend, With yuor best friend you can say anything or set any rule to him/her without hesitating or being shy about it but witha roommate its like you'll kind of struggle to find the right thing to say and the right way to see it.</p>
<p>I think it depends. You do not stick to your roommate 24/7 and you can definitely make friends in classes, clubs, etc. Perhaps there will be surprising discoveries, but most of the people I know handle these quite smoothly.
Seems like at the beginning, many colleges give room assignment questionnaires to their students, asking about their habits and preferences. The matching process, however, barely lives up to many's expectations :(</p>
<p>OKgirl, I didn't exactly mean a written contract, just more of an agreement or arrangement made between two friends, nothing written or signed.</p>
<p>How has these matching processes worked out for some people? I'm not sure how well these will work since it is really hard to judge a person just from a little survey thing, and then you could be stuck with a person that you hate for months. My friend and I are pretty easy going people and never argue, I still think being with him and to know what I'm getting into would be better than just rolling the dice and hoping for the best.</p>
<p>When I went to college I roomed with another girl from my HS who was going to the same college. We weren't really good friends, but we were friendly. We thought it would be nice to be with someone we knew. It worked out really well. We got along great, had each other at the start when it is a little scary to be out on your own alone, but then went our own ways and had our own friends as time went on.</p>
<p>My S went random roommate rather than go with a friend. He actually turned down a friend's request to room together because he wanted to meet new people. This ended up working out well for him. He became good friends with his roommate and they chose to room together again the following year.</p>
<p>So, two very different scenerios, both working out well. There is no one answer...</p>
<p>Oh my gosh! Yes, don't room with your best friends at least the first year. </p>
<p>I moved in to the dorm blind, I didn't know anyone who was going to being my suite dorm (5 rooms with a common room and two baths with 3 suites on a floor). My roommates were all friends with each other. I was left out of everything, (which you would think would be an argument for moving in with people you know). But I ended up being more independent meeting people I liked, but it took me a few months.</p>
<p>All of these girls transfered back home. They were all way too worried about their other high school friends. They went home every single weekend, they didn't meet anyone on campus, they didn't go to any parties because they didn't know anybody but each other, they didn't like the school because they were too infatuated with high school. </p>
<p>Also, if you want to "change" yourself at college, get rid of who you were, maybe improve yourself, become interested in new things/people/experiences it can be hard with someone who thinks they know you extremely well. </p>
<p>Although, it can be intimidating going somewhere alone. I ended up in a hard situation being the odd (wo)man out but, I got over it, and I am more involved with other things because of it</p>
<p>I’ve known my best friend since kindergarten. We spend ridiculous amounts of time together. We know each other’s biggest problems. I know what she eats, when she sleeps, how she studies, her hygiene and cleanliness habits… I love her boyfriend, and while she knows that, she knows to respect my space by not bringing him into it too much. We have the ability to talk things over and lay down rules and respect each other enough to follow them. I want to room with her, because I am really (and I mean really) protective of my space when with someone I don’t really know. But most people (especially my parents) are warning me against it. I just want to know if its been done before.</p>
<p>My suitemates and I chose to let the school randomly choose for us, and we got along really quickly. I took a lot longer to adjust than my former roommate and my suitemates did, but after a while, I got more comfortable with them. They’re the greatest, and my suitemates and I refer to each other as roommates now since we feel that “roommate” makes us feel closer than “suitemate.” My former roommate was also great–her personality differed from mine, but she respected my space. She had to leave, though, due to her personal health issue, and my new roommate (who moved in after having issues with her old roommate) drives me and my other two roommates up the wall with her know-it-all attitude, her refusal to acknowledge that she leaves hair in the shower even though I hinted at it when we had to do a 2nd roommate agreement due to my having a new roommate without directly saying that it was her, and how she comes across as rude sometimes. My suitemates and I are planning on living with each again next year when we move into an apartment. Even though UC Davis doesn’t do roommate matching questionnaires like other schools do (I don’t know about freshmen, but as a transfer student, all we’re asked by student housing is whether we want a single or double, what housing area we want to live in (transfers can only live in Cuarto), and whether we’d like a traditional or suite (transfers can only live in a suite)), we apparently have similar interests, have similar personalities (the 3 of us are introverts), and we come from similar backgrounds. </p>
<p>One of my roommates’ boyfriend is rooming with his friend from high school, and I heard that he and his friend still get along and that they’re living together again next year in an apartment.</p>
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<p>I once roomed with my best friend and well, now we’re not best friends. It was a terrible decision, and I now I have a no rooming with friends policy. It’s different to know your friend’s habits and to actually have to live with them.</p>
<p>People change. We all like to think that we know our best friends better than anyone else, and we like to think that this won’ t change. College changes people. If you guys will be living on your own for the first time that experience changes people, and sometimes these changes are for the worst. You never know if this will happen to you, but just consider that once you get to college you guys probably aren’t going to be the exact same people you were in high school. </p>
<p>When you room with friends every single issue gets personal. The smallest issues might become a nightmare to deal with because you don’t want to hurt your friend’s feelings.</p>
<p>Sometimes this does work out for people, but it’s a risk to take and I would rather keep my friends as friends and not roommates.</p>