<p>I'm a male btw.</p>
<p>I'd like some guidelines on how to be a good roommate, or at least how not to be a bad one.</p>
<p>Pick up your ****
Be nice, and willing to do stuff
Compromise, but dont roll over to unresonable demands
Be yourself
Don’t wake me up in the middle of the night unless your puking sick and about to die</p>
<p>Don’t expect your roomate to include you in everything he does. Or anything, for that matter. Colleges aren’t in the business of assigning friends, they’re assigning housing. Sure, it often turns out that 2 roomates become buddies but it doesn’t have to happen, and there’s nothing wrong if it doesn’t. The important thing is to treat each other with respect. Ask before borrowing, be willing to go to the study room or library to do homework rather than trying to insist on silence in your room, etc.</p>
<p>Do not set the alarm for 5 am every morning insisting that you are going to get up…only to roll over and fall back asleep with the alarm still ringing.</p>
<p>: )</p>
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<p>wow that would suck if my roomie did that.</p>
<p>My roommate during the Disney College Program did that, only she set her’s for 4am, insisting that she was going to go running and then let it ring, non-stop, until about 7am. I remember I turned it off once, after it had been ringing four 2 1/2 hours straight, (I would think it would have shut itself off) and she freaked out.</p>
<p>Do not eat your roomates food. My roomate 20+ years ago wolfed down all my food in our fridge, (a campus apt) while I was gone for a weekend. I was p’o’d when Monday morning came and I had no food. She also wouldn’t pay her share of the phone bill (the phone was in my name). We lasted one semester together.</p>
<p>Be conscientious at night.</p>
<p>Just be yourself. Don’t force a “best friend” relationship. If it works out, it works out. Don’t use all his **** without his permission, and don’t be afraid to let him use your ****. Try to find a middle ground on all issues.</p>
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<p>I once went on vacation, forgot to shut off my alarm, and it went off for literally 2 weeks. (Until I shut it off when we got home)</p>
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<p>Wait a minute. She woke up when you turned the alarm clock off but not when it was blaring for 2+ hours?</p>
<p>My roommate used to set his alarm for like 7 AM, and never got up to it. I would turn that thing off about a minute after it went off, if he didn’t get to it…and then he’d miss his morning classes…haha. </p>
<p>Apparently some people need to have an alarm going off for two hours before they wake up.</p>
<p>And if you have bad dreams or talk in your sleep, get HELP immediately. </p>
<p>The guy in my room for orientation talked in his sleep and was yelling at 3 AM…Just randomly spazzing out.</p>
<p>That is a big NO NO.</p>
<p>Stay on your own side of the room. Don’t hook up all your stuff, like speakers, stereos, saying you’ll “share” it, and therefore, your roommate has no desk, fridge space, et cetera. I’m hoping this won’t be a problem now that you guys have ipods, but I can totally see this happening with video game systems. </p>
<p>As a parent, I would appreciate my son’s roommate NOT bringing a video game system to the dorm room. He will succumb to the temptation.</p>
<p>Anything specific for girls?</p>
<p>Also, what’s the etiquette for asking your roommate to stop (or start) doing something without sounding like a prick? I don’t want them to form any annoying habits that I’ll have to deal with for the rest of the year if I can prevent it.</p>
<p>OP, the fact that you’re concerned enough to ask this question in the first place indicates that you probably won’t turn into the nightmare roommate.</p>
<p>Sunshowers23, I think it’s definitely important to lay out ground rules when you guys first move in. However, to avoid sounding like a complete nutcase, these “ground rules” shouldn’t be too elaborate because that could give your roommate the wrong impression. One of the “ground rules” could be something like, “If either of us has any problems, we’ll be open about it and talk.” Then, when a problem does arise, neither of you will feel too blindsided when the other mentions it.</p>
<p>It’s also important to prioritize your needs. What can you absolutely not handle? What can you get used to? For example, there was another thread on here asking about loud typing. If you’re an extremely light sleeper to the point where falling asleep is a real problem (I’ve known people like this), then this might be something to discuss. But otherwise, the typing’s probably something you can get used to.</p>