You have just chosen your college for next year and are thrilled to be moving on in your life. And moving out. But now comes the challenge of living with someone and getting a roommate.
Before the internet, Facebook and other social networking sites, roommates for colleges were chosen randomly. Facebook was not around to connect with future classmates, possible friends and even potential roommates.
As connecting with classmates before freshman year is becoming easier, many students are choosing roommates as opposed to random roommate selection.
VHS Senior Darian Melchione met her two roommates from her college’s Class of 2016 Facebook group. “We all started talking and connected” Darian says.
Colleges also have created online websites where students create profiles and fill out surveys to match them to roommates, very similar to online dating sites. Senior Erin Smythe, who is attending Rider University in the fall, said “There is a school portal where you take a compatibility quiz, answering questions about when you wake up, go to sleep, types of music, and then make a profile to show who you are compatible with. I picked the girl with the highest match to me and then Facebooked her.”
Dan Banks is also attending Rider and used the same method to find his roommate. He says “Will it work out? I guess I’ll find out.”
Other colleges chose a completely different route and still do not let students chose their freshman year roommates, but force random selection. Filling out surveys for random selection can get you matched up with anyone. Some colleges go by similarities; others try to pair you up with opposites.
After she graduated from VHS in 2000, math Teacher Danielle Mutovic attended Boston University, where she filled out a compatibility test for random roommates. “The survey showed we were going to be the best of friends,” states Mrs. Mutovic, “but it did not turn out like that. We were not a good match.” Mrs. Mutovic wound up with a degree from Rutgers.
Random roommates are either a hit or a miss. But so are chosen roommates, too.