So there was a thread on this at the UC Irvine (but I’m going to cal poly SLO) forum, but I think the question is sort of universal.
I know a general tip is that rooming with friends from high school can be problematic.
What is your experience with picking roommates who advertised on the ____ university class of ____facebook page or similar methods vs letting the college choose for you?
I didn’t know anyone going to college where I was going (I’m out of state), so I just let the college assign roommates. (I’m in a 4 room suite though). I got along fine with them, and am really good friends with 2 of them. The other one was a partier and left after her first semester. One of the remaining ones plans to get an apartment next year, but the other one and I plan to room together in a new suite.
I let the school choose for me, which is something I recommend. If you and your roommate don’t work out, and you don’t know them, than you just had a bad roommate and eventually y’all go separate ways. If you and your friend as roommates don’t work out, it can cause your friendship to deteoriate. I’ve seen it happen to a few friends.
If you go with a random roommate, you’re not going in with as many expectations as you would if you chose your roommate. You really don’t have any idea how someone is to live with until you’ve actually lived with them, so going in with as few expectations as possible (beyond basic respect things like cleaning up after yourself) is generally more beneficial.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that you can’t generally trust freshmen to know exactly what their living habits are. The exception here is if they’ve already lived without their parents for long enough to develop their own personal habits. A lot of people’s habits differ when they’re living away from parents compared to living with parents, and unless someone has lived away from parents they don’t know for sure how much their habits will differ (if any). Once someone’s lived without parents for a year, they have a better idea of their actual living habits. And this could make all the difference if you’re choosing roommates.
I had no choice; the university assigns roommates. But they also match up roommates by hand rather than by computer. For me, it has worked out fine.
Best option is to pick a friend with similar lifestyle habits to yourself. It’s OK to room with someone from HS, but make sure you know them well enough a potential lifestyle conflict won’t destroy your friendship.
Another thing to keep in mind: if you are randomly assigned a bad roommate, you can blame the system, but if you choose a bad roommate, then you know it’s partially your own fault.
I was randomly assigned roommates and it worked out very well.