I’m more than likely attending bama in the fall of 2016. I will be in honors college so I’ll probably be staying in Ridgecrestr. Anyways, Does anyone have any experience with random roommates? Anybody looking for a roommate? I already will be rooming withy my best friend but I’m kinda nervous about rooming with someone random.
my kids have done both. With random, their roommates were fine, just not “great friends”. No trouble though…just pleasant people.
I got a random roommate who was perfect for me. Somebody very different from you might end up being perfect for you. There’s no way to know in a advance. Dealing with and experiencing the unknown is part of the reason you go away from home to college. Explore those differences and enjoy learning about them!
Especially for ones first year, I would recommend random roommates. The goal is not to become best friends with your roommates, but rather to live with people who will be good roommates by respecting each others personal space and keeping the common areas clean. You can always visit your friends at another dorm. In a 3 or 4 person room/suite, I would caution against living with people who are already good friends as there is a higher potential for arguments among friends who haven’t lived together before. That said, the latter suggestion doesn’t always apply if the roommates are siblings or close relatives whom have lived together previously.
I feel like it is whatever is best for you. I basically had random roommates my freshman year and it did not work well. I went in with the desire to be best friends. Half way through the first semester, I moved in with girls I thought I would be best friends with. I am so sad this year because I am no longer living with them. I encourage you to think about what you want. Do you want to be best friends? Then I would look on the roommate finder or facebook page to find people you seem to click with. Obviously it’s not going to always work. If you just want to coexist, then just sign up for a building and room you like and hope for the best. But either way, don’t do something everyone is doing just because they are doing it. I picked my roommates from the roommate finder but we never discussed if we wanted to be best friends or just roommates. After I finish my co-op semesters I plan to move off campus with my freshman roommate because I really enjoyed having a social life at home. I didn’t need time to myself really. I enjoyed living with my best friend.
DS met one guy from the housing website. Other than “accepting” him they never communicated until they moved inot the dorm. Room selection date, DS planned on Ridgecrest, and picked an area he liked. He was looking for a suite w/ at least 2 openings. First selection by room the guys planned on rushing, so I told him to look elsewhere. He picked another suite and the guys seemed compatible per the housing site, plus they were all OOS & I felt that would be good as they would also probably be on campus and not going home very often.
So his roommates were not people he communicated with in anyway before moving in, but weren’t totally random either. It has worked out very well. He has been very happy w/ his roommates and they have become good friends and go a lot of places together. He was very lucky as that doesn’t always happen. And being so very far from home, it has been a great relief to me as well.
My DS did the same. Very little to no communication before move in day. He is now bringing home two of the three roommates for the long weekend. Wish the third was more comfortable. All things in good time, I hope.
They too do random things together away from school as well as often eat together as a group.
They are not best of friends but definitely get along.