My daughter will be a Freshman at Columbia in September. How is the roommate selection process done and what is the timing of it?
My older D is a first year at Columbia. She applied ED. My younger D has applied RD for the class of 2019. Accepted students will get an email (beginning of April I think?) that has a link with housing info. There is a short compatibility questionnaire and a place to rank your housing choices. My D actually “met” another girl on the accepted students FB page and they applied to room together. There is a place to put someone’s name if you have a request. If you do that you both should be choosing the same dorm choices on your form. You can also get a roommate selected for you. My D found out her housing assignment at the end of June last year and she is rooming with the person she requested.
Also, sometimes students will meet someone at accepted students weekend that could be a potential roommate so if she is going to that, maybe wait until after to submit the housing form. I can’t remember when it was due last year.
I also wanted to mention that my D knows lots of people who got their roommates through the random process and it has worked out fine for them as well!