Learning to Live With Your College Roommate.

My worst fear for next year is walking in to my college dorm that first day, and seeing my roommate dressed all in black burning candles and chanting to dead people. I’m sure many people have this fear, maybe it’s not as vivid an image as mine, but there is still probably that fear that your roommate will be a freak. It’s a frightening thing meeting a stranger that your going to have to live with for the next year, some people take the easier and maybe smarter way and just room with a friend from high school, but for those who don’t your stuck in a small room with a total stranger. So to help you adjust to this major change of living with someone you don’t know here are some hints to being a great roommate.

• First get to know your roommate before you get to college. Contact them and start talking, it will make things less awkward that first day you move in.
• Set up a schedule of when each of you likes to study, sleep and visiting times for friends that way your not fighting about when you need quiet time.
• Be patient with what your roommate likes. Don’t criticize what they like because you wouldn’t want them making fun of you. (How to live…)
• Be Polite. You have to live with this person and it will be a lot easier if you treat each other with respect.
• Clean up after yourself. This is not just your room so you can’t just be a slob. You don’t have to have the room sparkling clean all the time, but make sure your side doesn’t look like a tornado just rolled through it.
• Never wake your roommate when they are asleep. Sleep is a very valuable resource in college so let your roommate catch up on it whenever they can.
• Don’t use your roommate’s stuff without their permission. Also don’t snoop through their stuff.
• If you have an issue with your roommate talk to them about it directly. Talking behind their back is just going to cause drama, so save yourself the time and just talk to them about it. (Naomi Rockler-Gladen)
• Be willing to compromise with your roommate. Your not always going to get things exactly the way you want it to happen so be willing to compromise. It will make things easier for both of you.
• Discuss important issues and establish ground rules. That way you don’t have to waste time fighting over little things all the time. (College Roommate Rules)So I hope no one ends up with the roommate form their nightmares, but is you do try using these tips to get along with them.

College Roommate Rules. www.collegeboard.com, 2010

How to Live With Your College Roommate. www.ehow.com, 2010

Rockler-Gladen, Naomi. A Good Manners Guide to Keeping your Dorm Room Peaceful, collegeuniversity.com, March 16, 2007