College Companions

A Senior’s Guide to Finding the Perfect College Roommate

Photo by Media from Wix

With roughly two months left of the 2024 school year, the senior students are finalizing their college decisions and are ready to start a new chapter of their lives. One of the first steps of embarking on this new journey is finding a potential college roommate(s) for the upcoming freshman year. Finding a college roommate can be a stressful task for students and may take anywhere from weeks to months to accomplish. There are several ways in which a senior can find their potential college roommate: through social media platforms or specialized apps, with friends from high school, by going random or by being paired up if you are an athlete.

Arguably, one of the most popular ways in which a high school senior can find their college roommate is through social media apps, such as Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and more. Using social media apps to find a roommate allows for seniors to branch out and start making new friends. However, this method might take longer as compared to rooming with a friend from your hometown, so make sure to keep that in mind when you start thinking about who you may want to room with.

“I definitely wanted to meet new people from out of town and branch out when I get to college,” senior Ava Duke said. “I figured by finding a roommate through Instagram or out of town would help me do that. I also didn’t want to go completely random because I kind of wanted to get to know the person before we decided our living habits.”

In many cases, most universities will have class pages on various social media platforms from which high school seniors can find potential roommates on, or to simply make friends. In addition to this, there are tons of roommate matching apps, such as RoomSync, ZeeMee and more that specialize in helping students find the perfect college roommate. These apps can match students who have similar interests to one another and provide a level of communication through the app so students can get to know each other.

In addition to social media apps, another common way that students can find their future college roommate is simply by considering their high school friends. In some cases, other students from your own high school, or from surrounding ones will have committed to the same university. This could be a great option in the sense that you may already have some type of relationship built from previous years. However, it is crucial that you have an open and honest conversation with your friends about the expectations that come with living together. In some cases, friends find out the hard way that living together isn’t always the right choice, so it’s smart to get a good idea of their cleanliness, study habits, and other personal characteristics beforehand.

“I wanted to room with someone that I knew because you're going to be living with them for a year [and it’s important that you both get along,” senior Abbi Sherman said. “With Brianna [Sherman’s roommate] I already knew her, I’ve stayed with her multiple times and we are both very similar, [so I knew we would] be a good match.”

It is also pretty common for seniors to room with a friend who they already know, and also room with one or two random individuals. This way they still have that comfort level, but at the same time can also reach out to meet new people.

“I thought it would be nice [to room with someone from Maclay,] since I'm going to have three other roommates,” senior Olivia Bishop said. “[It will be good] to know one of them [beforehand] and to just have that comfort.”

Although not as common anymore, students can also get randomly paired up with another roommate based on questionnaires that most colleges incorporate into their housing applications. Another way in which a student can go random is that the day that housing applications open, students can log on and select a room and wait until another random student selects the same room as them. Going random is an easy way to be with a roommate if an individual doesn’t want to go through the trouble of finding a roommate on their own.

As nerve-racking as rooming with someone who you don’t know can be, it can also be quite exhilarating. For senior Brinkley Snow, this is just the case. Snow will be attending the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and is thrilled to meet his roommates and for what is to come.

“I’m pretty excited [to be rooming with a random roommate] because all of the people that are going to West Point have the same kind of energy that I do,” Snow said.

When finding a roommate, athletes may have a different process to go through, and might not have as much freedom as compared to normal students. There are a lot more factors that must be considered with student athletes, a main priority being practice schedules. Depending on the school, athletes may have the option to select another student-athlete to room with, or the athlete's coach will assign them their roommate(s).

“My coaches paired me with another athlete at North Georgia,” senior Ellie Jane Riner said. “It is her responsibility to find me a roommate, so I’m just going with the flow. I’m happy that [my coach is finding my roommate because] it’s one thing that I don't have to do because I’m so busy right now. She knows me very well so of course she will pick someone that I will get along with.”

Moreover, there are several ways in which a senior can find their potential college roommate. Whether it be by reaching out through social media apps, sticking with high school friends or by going random, there are plenty of ways that will help each individual student find their group for the next chapter of their lives.