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How to Look for a Roommate When In College

By: Author Jeff Campbell

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5 Tips for Finding Roommates to Share a Flat in College

Going to college is already stressful enough. Firstly, you face admission challenges. Essays, documents, exams – it all makes your head go round. Then, when you finally get your letter, another challenge comes. You have to think of things you may need for education, buy books, pay your tuition fees, and so on.

However, it doesn’t end troubles for you. The next problem is finding out where you’ll live if you need to relocate to go to college.

You have two options, which basically are living on-campus or renting an apartment. The latter option will likely require you to share space with a friend to cut the expenses. But how to find these roommates if you don’t know many people yet?

Here are a few tips that can help you find a new college roommate as easily as possible.

Define Who You Expect to Find

Your experience must be enough to understand what kind of people you cannot tolerate at all. Every person is triggered negatively by certain traits in others. So, the first thing you should do is define what these taboos are for you.

At the same time, you can think about the personality you’d like to see as your future roommate. For example, it would be nice to rent an apartment with a great roommate who can write essays for money, and who is always ready to come and save you from your academic burden.

But be realistic. You need a person to seek help, confide secrets, and rely on because you’ll share at least four years together. Defining what personality traits are an absolute must for you is key to success.

By the way, you can always turn to an essay services review website EssayReviews.com to find help in essay writing. Finding a decent, honest, and fun roommate is much more difficult.

Create a No List

It’s important to understand what is okay and what is not for you in a living situation. For example, if your potential roommate came home with a pet one day, what would your reaction be? Are you allergic or do you simply want to steer clear of animals?

There must be other things that are absolutely non-negotiable for you. You should know what they are and inform others of such taboos. Otherwise, you risk finding a person with whom you’ll be in conflict most of the time.

You don’t need to make your school years even more dramatic by simply turning your home into a prison.

Search Online

Obviously, you will most likely search for a roommate online. The other ways such as asking around or posting print announcements on news boards are no longer popular.

There are websites such as RoomieMatch, Diggz, and Roommate where you can search for a perfect fit by filtering unsuccessful candidates. You can set up filters and look among people with whom you share something in common.

There are also lots of Facebook groups connecting potential roommates in your area. You may find someone who’ll become your roommate and a friend from school at the same time.

However, the people you find online are not necessarily the ones you’ll eventually choose as roommates. This process takes time. Still, it’s a good strategy to talk to several people before choosing someone.

Conduct an Interview

People you find online are likely to request a meeting to clarify some points and plan further steps. Consider yourself an interviewer and prepare some questions to ask during the meeting.

It’s not that easy to walk away from a rent and furnished apartment once everything is paid for and agreed upon. So, take this search for a roommate seriously and be prepared to discuss important details before you agree to live together.

Negotiate absolute dos and don’ts and check how your potential roommate reacts. If you don’t feel okay talking, what are the chances that you’ll happily live together?

Consider Signing an Agreement

Trust is good, but you’d better plan all possible scenarios in advance and make your roommate agree to them formally. For example, you must discuss move-out, bills, guest rules, private time, and cleanup. If you prefer to share groceries, you must plan the budget and decide who does the shopping.

Takeaway

Choosing a roommate is an important decision to make. If you are lucky, this person will turn into your big friend. If you are not, you may seriously regret your choice the moment you start living together.

Remember: people are different. They all have traits and flaws. You can’t expect someone to please you 100% of the time. However, taking a search for a roommate seriously will definitely make your life easier as a student. After all, in some cases, this might be the only person who’ll come for help when you need it. In most cases, this will be the person who’ll know you better than anyone else.

Jeff Campbell
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