<p>I recently submitted the housing contract to the office. Based on the brochure about housing, they mentioned that the match of the roommates would only be based on gender, choice of smoking, bringing in recreational substances or not. The method of picking of roommates seems pretty random. I just heard that there is a more specific roommate survey on facebook. I don't use FB usually and I didn't join the U of R page. I already passed the deadline for the survey, according to another incoming freshman like me. Was it required or it's optional? Do all the incoming freshman do the survey on facebook? For people who would get a random roommate like me, will we get along with our roommates well? What I mean is in previous cases, did random picked-up roommates get along well and become good friends? I heard that many people's best friends in colleges are their roommates, so I am worried about the outcome of my future roommate and our relation:( People who know cases about random roommates or those who had such experiences can u share your opinions? Thank you very much!</p>
<p>Not all freshmen fill out the facebook survey. UR has always been pretty minimalist in its roommate matching surveys. </p>
<p>Research actually shows very little, if any difference, in how well roommates get along based on the depth of the matching. (How extensive the matching questionnaire is.) </p>
<p>D2 was assigned 2 random roommates in an overflow/forced triple her freshman year. She did Ok with both of them. Did they become besties forever and ever? No. Did they manage to live in peaceful co-existence for the full year? Pretty much. All three elected to live with different roommates the next year. </p>
<p>IME, a roommate only turns into your bestie in a few, fairly rare cases. Among all my friends, I can’t think of single one who even still in contact (even minimally like thru holiday cards) with their freshman roommates.</p>
<p>UR generally believes in random. It works fine.</p>
<p>Last year my son had a random room mate. They got along as room mates but did not bond as friends. What happens is you will meet other kids on your floor and building that you will bond with even if you don’t get super close to your room mate so don’t worry. You will find kids to connect to. The RAs arrange various get togethers especially in the beginning to get people to socialize.</p>
<p>My d got a random roommate. She was one of the rare ones - they became and remain friends.</p>
<p>My daughter’s freshman year roommates were all random and the only thing that they had in common were that they were all female. They had a few issues to deal with but no major drama. She did however make very good friends with others on her floor and in her department and activities. The one sad thing about making friends with people from far away is that following graduation you will likely not all be in the same area and although it is easy to be in touch today through Facebook and Skype, it is an adjustment to not be able to see your friends all the time. People can and do travel and people go on to grad school all over the U.S… it is hard to maintain that level of closeness with people you only may see once a year.</p>
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Of course, that’s true no matter how they select the roommates.</p>