1. You are forced to be conscious of things that make you difficult to live with.

Psychologically, we are less likely to make late-night, drunken, pukey mistakes if someone is there watching us. Especially when that person sleeps three feet away.

2. You learn to be clean.

If you find a roommate who, by some twist of fate, is cleaner than you are, you will consistently be embarrassed when you leave your stuff all over the floor. No matter how stubborn you were in high school when your mother nagged you, your roommate’s silent disapproval will cause you to change your ways very quickly.

3. You learn how to handle conflicts, big and small.

This is very important. Having a roommate, especially a psychotic one, will cause you to look at yourself, look at other people, and all around be more open to hearing someone’s side of a situation. For those of you beginning your freshman year and adamantly marking yourself as a person who “hates confrontation”, this is key for you. You will learn very quickly that the consequence for not being honest about what pisses you off is living in miserably awkward silence. So next time your roommate uses your soap or eats your last Double Stuf Oreo, voice your concerns in a respectful way and you are more than likely to be heard.

4. You learn to have grown-up conversations.

See #3.

5. You learn how to share.

Living with someone will teach you to share space, share food, and share shampoo. You will learn what your limits are, as far as what you are willing to give away, and what you need from the other person. This ties in with number 3 as well. One thing that you will also share with your cohabitant is your mind. It is hard to find privacy in such a confined space. If you cry, your roommate knows. if you smile, your roommate knows. If you eat bad pizza, your roommate knows. With that being said, your mood and your roommate’s mood will have control over the whole atmosphere. It is important to take this power with great responsibility. You will learn to become conscious of taking out your anger on someone else, as well as being in tune to the feelings of others. This will help you in SO many aspects of your life.

6. You will learn that people suck. So agree to disagree.

It is one of the sad facts of life that sometimes people are just crappy. They can be jerks who will completely neglect your feelings. They will hold uneducated views that are insensitive to others and will simultaneously be vocal about those views and live in complete denial of their douche-iness (you will find that these traits often go hand-in-hand). With that being said, there are some people that will have views that are the polar opposite of yours, but in all other ways be o.k. people. In this situation, you are theoretically able to pretend these incompatibilities don’t exist altogether by simply avoiding controversial topics. You will rarely be in a situation in which you agree with everyone. This is part of living in the adult world. Having a roommate, especially one whom you disagree with, can really help prepare you for this aspect of life. You will master the art of the “respectful disagreement”.

7. While there is no greater teacher in life than our own mistakes, the screw ups of other people are a close second.

If you have a roommate who (bless their heart) just cannot seem to get his or her sh*t together, this can be a great learning experience. It sounds pretty heartless to think about the failures of others as the facilitators of our own success, but view it this way: if your roommate continually makes the same mistake, they obviously have not learned from it so why shouldn’t you give it the ole' college try? Witnessing your roommate drop that thun-thun on a Monday night as often as she drops her grades, can be used as motivation for your own personal growth. College is a great opportunity for self-improvement. We hear so often that we make decisions throughout adolescence that can affect our entire lives. This is especially true in college.