<p>So, I'm aware that there's a survey questionnaire thing that an accepted student should fill out, which helps Rice match you with another student with similar tastes. But I've heard a lot of rumors about how people won't necessarily be honest on these surveys and things like that, and how there is still the chance that you might not be happy with your roommate.</p>
<p>So I was wondering if there's any place that people go to to find potential roommates, since there is the option for two people to request to room together. I just looked through some of the forums and I haven't been able to find one. Does anyone know of any place I can go to? Is searching for a roommate really uncommon at Rice to even begin with?</p>
<p>Thanks for all the help in advance!</p>
<p>I had friends who asked to be roommates after meeting at Owl Days. They enjoy living with each other, but they have their ups and downs just like everyone else. I only filled out the questionnaire, but I made sure to define my personality and preferences as best I could. For example, if you are really anti-partying/drinking, be sure to mention it clearly and maybe even more than once and vice-versa if you are the partying type. At my residential college, the O-week advisers and coordinators work all summer to match people together and for the most part I believe they did a great job.</p>
<p>That being said, I’m very happy with my roommates! I would recommend taking the roommate questionnaire seriously because, as you said, some people are dishonest on the survey(sometimes their parents fill out these surveys with them). Some people don’t end up too lucky with the questionnaire, but you can always change roommates after each year.</p>
<p>^ A year, especially your first, with a roommate that you don’t get along with could be a very miserable year. I hope that there is the ability to change roommates or even colleges if it just is not a good match… and quickly and EASILY.</p>
<p>It is possible to change roommates (or colleges, if necessary) in cases where two people really can’t get along, but the O-Week coordinators work very hard to put together compatible roommate pairings, and in my experience at Rice serious issues were rare.</p>
<p>As an O-Week coordinator myself, I can say that we will spend an agonizingly long time pairing you with someone you will fit with for next year. The more time and detail you put into your forms, the better job we can do. </p>
<p>That said, if your pairing doesn’t work out, it’s very easy to switch roommates for your sophomore year. I switched after my freshman year (not because of a conflict), and it was very simple. </p>
<p>Searching for a roommate prior to matriculating is not particularly widespread, but is definitely possible. You just have to do it yourself. </p>
<p>I’ll warn you though…Sometimes pairing yourself with someone that you met on owl days, on the internet, or knew from high school does not work out that well!</p>
<p>Just a note: a bad roommate situation shouldn’t need to result in a change of college. Usually, bad roommates still make good friends/acquaintances, and even if that isn’t the case a person shouldn’t transfer out of their residential college purely because they don’t get along with one person–there’ll be someone like that at every college.</p>
<p>That said, it’s perfectly reasonable to request a new roommate if things don’t work out (there were a couple of those cases at Hanszen this year) but because coordinators put so much time into matching, the chances that your roommate won’t be compatible, assuming you were honest on your forms, is very low.</p>
<p>Okay, so the surveys work out really well. Assuming that people are being honest. Do any of you guys know how often that happens? Where someone gets put into a rooming assignment with someone who wasn’t being particularly honest on their surveys and are like, not the kind of person they claim to be?</p>
<p>I’d say it’s pretty rare, kevlee. I never once heard about that type of situation arising, and I was involved with O-Week every year I was at Rice, including one year as a coordinator.</p>
<p>There will almost certainly be incoming new students at your assigned college who fill out their forms with little detail, or do not fill out the forms at all. Those students are much harder to place, and consequently there would be more variability in how well their roommate pairing works out. Additionally, some new students’ parents will fill out their forms, or new students will fill them out having had them vetted by their parents, or under the impression that being honest would negatively impact them in some way at Rice (despite all of the literature to the contrary). All of these scenarios lead to people being slightly to not so slightly misrepresented. So to say that you absolutely won’t get a roommate who is different than your form, or not a great fit is not true, but I would say it’s significantly less likely if you put enough detail on your own form.
Additionally, most incoming students are pretty awesome, and most roommate pairings tend to work out (at least at my college).</p>
<p>Keep in mind that lots of people don’t end up spending much time in their room anyway–there’s so many other places on campus where you’ll be doing things, going to events, studying, etc., and those kinds of things will take up much of your time.</p>
<p>Also, you don’t need to be friends with your roommate or hang out with your roommate. If you don’t click all that well, it’s really just a matter of working out living arrangements together. There’s no obligation to hang out with your roommate, and you shouldn’t expect your roommate to be your best friend. Some people become great friends with their freshman-year roommate; others just live together.</p>