UCLA - How popular are random roommate selection?

<p>I have a daughter attending UCLA in the fall. I'm curious if most freshman go random when it comes to roommates or if most freshman find a roommate or 2 beforehand.</p>

<p>I like to think that there’s a healthy mix of people who go all random, pick one roommate, or pick two roommates.</p>

<p>I have a bunch of friends went with all random freshman year (boys and girls alike); I picked 1 roommate my first year and got a random second roommate. My second year I continued to live with my chosen roommate in addition to picking someone I knew (worst choice ever). My third year I will be going all random, but I’ve long since began communicating with both my future roommates through non-in-person means (although we go to the same school and live on the Hill <em>shrug</em>).</p>

<p>I understand that I’m not a freshman so I answered with information that you didn’t ask, but it does illustrate a point: other upperclassmen go random sometimes, too. If there’s an open spot in the room, then a freshman might get placed there. It’s happened before that freshmen get non-freshmen roommates. Anything can happen :P</p>

<p>I’m an incoming freshman for this fall and I applied for random roommates. I’ll be in a triple De Neve Plaza room with a private bathroom. I can’t wait to meet my future roommates!</p>

<p>edit: Some of my friends found random people on their school’s FB page and decided to room with them. Others are also going random. I didn’t want to request any of my friends from high school as a roommate because I want to meet new people.</p>

<p>My daughter is a senior at UCLA and will be graduating soon. Yeah! She only lived on campus her first year but I will share her experience. She joined a Facebook group for her class as soon as she knew she was going t UCLA. I think someone even started a roommate finding group. She chatted with many people and then she and another girl decided to be roommates. They had to request the same type of room and had to put each others ID number on the housing form. They knew they would probably end up in a triple and just figured they would deal with the third random roommate. They ended up in a triple in Sunset Village and got along great together and with the third roommate. My daughter and her original roommate moved into an off campus apt their sophomore year. They are no longer roommates but are still close friends. The third roommate is still an acquaintance but not a good friend. I think finding at least one roommate you know you have things in common with is a good idea. Then if one is random at least you have one person you connect with.</p>

<p>I believe a majority of students do random roommates their first year. I know I did, and so did 99% of everyone else I knew. Of course there is always the occasional person here and there that decides to live with their high school friend, or other friend, or someone they met online.</p>

<p>Random roommates can be a hit or miss, but that’s what makes the dorm experience. For me, it sucked. I had two fraternity guys as roommates and they were messy, rude, and disrespectful - think finals week and one of them bursts in at 4 AM drunk with 5 buddies and pukes on the floor. Yeah. For others, they met their best friends, and for most, it was “alright.”</p>

<p>During my 2nd year, I had already made my close friends and chose to dorm with them. One of the best years of my life.</p>