<p>Do most people who enter as first years choose to go "random" as part of the roommate search? I'm thinking about rooming with a friend from my current school right now. However, I'm worried that I might not meet enough people if I do this. I would appreciate any input/advice. Also which dorm is the best to live in for freshman? How are the residential colleges?</p>
<p>In my opinion, college should be in great part a broadening of horizons and diversification of experiences. Rooming with your high school friend encourages continuation of habit. On the other hand, you may end up having to room with some bum. In any case, even a negative roommate experience will be a learning experience, and I encourage taking the risk and taking a random roommate. Comfort is an illusory and limiting emotion.</p>
<p>(I am an entering freshman and would conduct myself thus in your situation.)</p>
<p>Room with a friend. You will already feel comfortable as you settle in, that is key. Just because you know someone coming in does not mean you will make no effort to meet new people. People give that argument all the time but it does not hold much weight in my opinion. I meet new people all the time here even though I already have a close group of friends. I regret not rooming with a friend 4 years ago, I got stuck with a really introverted person who did not like socializing with people and it made things really uncomfortable.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t room with a friend from high school. All my friends who did that ended up running in the same social circle that we did in high school and fighting. I’m not rooming with someone I know, we barely even talk, but it doesn’t matter because I was free to make new friends and be whoever I wanted. That’s such a luxury and you would be removing that if you didn’t take that opportunity. There will always be time to live with friends later in college. For First-Year I would definitely suggest branching out.</p>
<p>Single in Gooch/Dillard is he way to go. I have a really close bond with my suitemates and you get your own personal space. Have bonds with other suites that are next to us. Best dining hall, although they all kind of suck, least sucky I guess?. There are like 5 bus stops that take you anywhere so getting places is easy. We also have AC, which the old dorms lack. My suitemate brought in a big TV that we can all use whenever we want downstairs, along with speakers. Can have “gatherings” in our suite and people you don’t want in, stay out. It’s basically an apartment and a relatively clean bathroom compared to shared ones.</p>
<p>After that, IMO, the next best are probably Kellogg/Watson-Webb/Balz-Dobie. They are the newest and have AC. The first couple of months are rough without it, and also in the spring. I have a couple of friends from high school room randomly/with each other and they mostly hate it. It can go either way, really.</p>
<p>There are some great articles on why you shouldn’t room with a friend from high school. If you value your friendship, don’t room with them.</p>
<p>My first year room-mate was a friend from HS. We got along well, made tons of new friends together in the dorm and separately in classes and activities, and in the end both probably had larger circles of friends because of it. I think either way is fine. I can say for certain that I didn’t spend much time with other HS friends there- just didn’t see them that much, and was ready for new experiences. Room-mate and I lived together for two years and naturally separated in our third year. Not a bad thing from my perspective. If there is a friend you’re leaning toward living with, don’t decide against it because you have a notion you won’t meet people because you know your room-mate. That’s nuts. It was nice for us because we really knew each other’s lifestyles- sleeping, partying perspective, studying etc. it worked for us.</p>
<p>An intermediate approach is to look on the Facebook page, ask around, etc., for someone from your area that you don’t know (or know well), or a friend of a friend, or someone with some other tangential connection. That way, you are not going into the relationship completely blind, but you are branching out from your circle of HS friends.</p>
<p>I have heard as many horror stories regarding both choices as I’ve heard success stories so to me it is a total roll of the dice. Facebook is nice to use but as you well know the entries are written by the person posting so how accurate is that? Some nut job is not going to describe himself/herself as such now are they?</p>
<p>Gary – The FB page is a little different from a Craigslist or dating service ad, I believe. Plus, one doesn’t have to rely on the posting by itself before deciding to room with a poster. I would hope one with the intellectual capacity to gain admission to UVa would know how to perform a little due diligence. </p>
<p>In any event, I can’t see how trying that approach is any more fraught with peril than taking pot-luck. It worked well for my child, who found a long lost friend to room with through the FB listing. It certainly doesn’t hurt to look through the listings as one option for finding a roommate.</p>