<p>Is this a bad idea? I was asked to room by my friend whom I already know. My idea was that I should room with someone I do not know my first year so I can expand my social circle. I would be friends with them even if I wasn't rooming, and I don't want to see them every minute of the day because they could be the only person with whom I hangout. Also, there's a chance I might get paired with a bad roommate - should I take this risk of hoping that I get paired with someone I will like, or should I go the "safe" route of rooming with my friend?</p>
<p>Have you ever lived with your friend, even for a day? If not, then don’t even think about it. People can be very different when you live with them for an hour, let alone an entire year.</p>
<p>I would think rooming with someone you don’t know is less safe.</p>
<p>^ It’s not like a randomly assigned roommate is gonna stand by your head with a Camillus on your first night :p</p>
<p>I didn’t mean physically safe…wow. </p>
<p>I meant that rooming with someone you don’t know is probably a better option than someone you are already friends with. The best way to destroy a friendship is to share a room and I have heard many people say this.</p>
<p>It depends on you. I was an RA in college, and people often claim that you fight more with people you know than people you don’t. I don’t think that’s necessarily true. Upperclassmen almost universally live with people they know and they don’t fight nearly as much as freshman, who are mostly paired with people they don’t know. I think it’s just the fact that freshman don’t really yet know how to deal with sharing a room with someone else - all their lives, or most of it, they’ve had their own space - and they don’t know how to work those conflicts out yet. Honestly the people who roomed with their sisters were the ones who fought the least (or at least the ones who brought it to me the least).</p>
<p>If you want to expand your social circle, you will. I roomed with someone I didn’t know freshman year and it did not expand my social circle. I liked her and she liked me, but we were different people and had different crowds. If you have the type of personality to go out and join things, go to events, talk to people in the caf, then you will meet people regardless of whether you room with someone you know or not. If your known friend would be the only person you’d hang out with if you roomed together, then your unknown roommate would probably also be that person, because that means you have a more homebody personality.</p>
<p>There’s always a chance that you can get paired with someone you like, but it also may be the case that your friend is a horrible roommate. I’ve been blessed with mostly good roommates (I’ve had 6 - 1 year of college, 2 internships, 3 apartment-mates) but I did have one roommate who was a much better friend than a roommate. When we lived together I didn’t like her much, but after she moved out we became good friends. It may be the opposite case that you like your friend, but unless your living styles are relatively compatible he may tee you off a lot.</p>
<p>There’s a risk either way.</p>
<p>I guess the trust is in the roommate searcher picking a person that has the same similar interests. Or my stalking skills on facebook, which would set me up with someone that SEEMS easy to get along with as a roommate.</p>
<p>^Honestly there’s really no way to know. Similar interests won’t get you very far. Even filling out a survey is random as you don’t know if the person is being honest or whatever. It’s all pretty much just totally random, could be great, could be terrible. But the good news is it matters less than you think.</p>