I have two rooming options. One is in a dorm far away from my program (40 min) that costs $3,000 more and is considered “antisocial.” The plus side of this first dorm is its with the roommate I requested. The housing office recently told me a room opened up that is a 2 min walk from my classes, much less expensive, and a much more social area. Most likely, it would be too late to find another roommate, so I would have to go random.
Is going random that bad? Is it worth it for a better overall room?
If anyone has any advice about getting a random roommate, please let me know.
The closer, cheaper, and more social dorm seems like the obvious choice. Many freshman at most schools get paired with a random roommate and having a requested roommate probably won’t benefit you more than a cheaper and closer dorm. Not to mention you can make friends more easily.
40 minutes away is much too far for your Freshman year.
No question at all. Take the dorm that’s closer and cheaper.
If the dorm is 40 minutes away from Berkeley (MILLS campus?) I can only assume that quotation is without
traffic. In the afternoons it could be much, much more time with the Bay Area traffic.
Consider that you’re taking the shuttle to UCB and halfway there realized you’ve forgotten a book or something that is critical to your day. You would not be easily able to retrieve the item without significantly impacting your schedule.
Consider too that you want to create a study group, but your time is impacted by the evening shuttle schedule.
Go random! You can hang out with your requested roommate still if you’d like. But I wouldn’t pass on the chance to be in a more populated area, as you can meet more people and really get that full social experience college typically offers.
Go random. Even a terrible roommate would probably be worth being closer to classes and $3000 cheaper. And most likely, you won’t get a terrible roommate.
Keep in mind, you and your roommate are not required to be friends; in fact, I think most people just coexist with roommates. It seems like in your case going random is a much better option in many ways, and if you absolutely can’t stand the person after a little while, there’s probably a room switching procedure.
I spent freshmen year rooming with a HS friend, and sophomore year with a random. As long you and the random set boundaries and expectations, it can work out I didn’t became friends with my roommate sophomore year, but we were able to coexist peacefully.
I know many people who had random roommates and they became great friends and will be staying with the same roommates next year. What’s most important is that you both can be flexible and make compromises. It’s totally worth it to be close to classes! Good luck with everything!
thanks for the advice!