<p>Hi, I need help picking a roommate. I can't decide if I should pick them based on the same major or have common interests. What do you guys think and why?</p>
<p>Neither. Try for compatible lifestyles. </p>
<p>If you would like to study in the room, it’s nice if your roommate doesn’t regard it as Party Central. And if you are going to have to get up at 5 a.m. for swim practice, it would be nice if your roommate doesn’t stay up until 4 a.m.</p>
<p>However, you may not be able to get this sort of information. A lot of people lie on their roommate questionnaires (especially if Mom or Dad is standing behind them when they fill it out), and a lot of people’s lifestyles change when they get to college – often in ways they couldn’t have predicted.</p>
<p>I agree—lifestyle is much more important. Major doesn’t matter as long as you can deal with the same level of cleanliness, have similar sleep habits, have similar policies for guests, etc.</p>
<p>I agree - although if you are an athlete it may be difficult to avoid being placed with other athletes.</p>
<p>My kids didn’t want a roommate with the same major the first year. You don’t know if you’ll get along and if you’re in the same major, it might be hard to get away from them.</p>
<p>Neither of my kids had anyone with same major in their 1st year. S was randomly assigned a boy from Boston who was majoring in English Lit. They got along well except roomie had hockey practices at the crack of dawn & S tried to have no classes before noon. He ended up in an apartment for sophomore year that he doesn’t talk much about–I think there may have been a few lifestyle clashes. In JR & SR years, he roomed with a HS friend who was also working toward an engineering degree–roomie was VERY mellow and they got along great.
D had random different majors for her 1st year & then chose to live with HS friends with different majors but compatible personalities thereafter.
I have never roomed with anyone in my major, in college or grad/law school. I enjoyed the diverse topics and interests of those I lived with and found other law students too intense and stressed.</p>
<p>The most important thing to look for in a roommate:
- Do you go to bed and get up similar times
- Do you have similar levels of cleanliness/messiness
- Do you have the same level of wanting to have other people hanging out in your room.</p>
<p>It’s definitely more fun to have a roommate that is NOT your major or interests. This way you can learn about other interests and also meet more people because both roomates will have other friends outside of the room and you can cross meet each other.</p>
<p>if you’re in an off the wall major that requires crazy hours, yes, pick a roomie from that major. That way roomie won’t call University Police if you disappear for a few days because you live in the studio (architecture students :)).</p>
<p>Likewise, IMHO, for the same type of major, it is a great idea to get a single room or near-campus apartment with your own room, for the same reason.</p>
<p>There are pros/cons both way. </p>
<p>For engineering majors, I think it makes sense to live in an engineering dorm. That will allow for easy study groups. Also it is helpful to have others on the same exam study cycles. Often they are quieter too. But it means your roommate will for sure be same major.</p>
<p>Echoing Colorado_mom, I think engineering students can benefit from living with other engineering students, especially after freshman year. Two freshman roommates may start out as engineering students but chances are at least one will have changed their major by the end of the year.</p>
<p>S and his room mate for JR & SR years were both engineers but different majors–S was EE and room mate was video game design, I believe. S acquired about a dozen chairs so the study group could always meet at his place. S was mostly at his place or the engineering lab, where he did research and some studying.</p>
<p>I think it was good for S to know students in other fields as a freshman and sophomore. One of his best friends was in a frat and NOT in the engineering school. He was in ROTC and a business major, I believe.</p>
<p>My daughter attends a school where freshmen have no choice as to their roommate; roommates are randomly assigned, and there’s not even a personality or lifestyle questionnaire. Also, there’s no special housing for certain groups. All freshmen live in the dorms together, so you have athletes rooming with architects, theatre majors rooming with theology majors. </p>
<p>From what’ve heard and read, this works out perfectly well about 90-95% of the time. There’s always an occasional “nightmare roommate” story, but the vast majority of these randomly assigned roommates get along just fine. Some will amicably part ways the next year (when they’re allowed to choose their roommates), but many actually choose to continue rooming with the same person.</p>
<p>This leads me to believe that, no matter what or how much you have in common with someone, sharing common interests or majors doesn’t impact the experience as much as we think. I think you have just as much chance of getting along with someone who’s quite different from you, as you do with someone who’s very similar. So it probably won’t make a huge difference which one you choose. Having a good roommate experience is probably more a matter of luck than strategic planning. So here’s wishing you the best of luck!</p>
<p>My S and his h.s. best friend roomed together. Both were in NROTC. It was good not to have to worry about disturbing a roommate on those crack of dawn Physical Training days and ROTC weekend events.</p>
<p>What is the most important trait for you? For me, for example, I don’t want a roommate who goes through my things and “borrows” my stuff without asking for permission. Related to that, it’s important that she doesn’t invite friends to our room who does the same thing. Hence, as long as she is trustworthy I would not care if she is in the same major or has the same interests as I do.</p>
<p>My daughter’s school matched freshman roommates via a questionnaire. We thought the process was a total crock based on her experience with her roommate over the first couple of weeks of the semester. Polar opposites in terms of majors, interests and weekend activities. Then a funny thing happened - their commonalities emerged and they became good friends. I guess the process had some merit after all.</p>
<p>Next year, she will be rooming with a student in her major that has similar interests. They already spend most of their days together studying and working on assignments so it seems to be a good fit.</p>
<p>Lifestyle is important, but sometimes majors can affect lifestyles. My son roomed with an engineer his first year. His roommate because of labs and regular tests ended up being an early to bed early to rise kid. Meanwhile my son’s schedule was more erratic with frequent all nighters. Since my son is pretty considerate he ended up writing most of his papers in the lounge area. He said as far as he could tell his college asked lots of questions and then paid no attention to the answers. They didn’t like the same music, weren’t equally tidy etc. etc. But they did like each other which counts for a lot.</p>