Before you even begin your Disney College Program, you’re given the option of picking your roommates or going “random.” People really seem to have a lot of difficulty deciding which option is best for them. There are tons of pros and cons, and there are a lot of mixed reviews from alumni for both random and handpicked roommates. For new CPs, this whole process is incredibly overwhelming. Or, it was for me at least.
However, from a personal experience, I benefited greatly from choosing my roommates prior to my program start date. I know there are a lot of people out there who swear that going random was the best thing they ever did. From my personal experience, the one random person we had in our apartment caused a lot of problems for us and we went through about three people in that extra bed (one self-termed, the other was termed by housing).
I think the problems that people have after choosing their roommates may begin and end with roommate surveys. They float around the DCP pages on Facebook, trying to convince people to stay with them during the program.
While the surveys are helpful, you don’t want to stop there. Talk to your potential roommates. That’s sort of the point of picking your roommates in the first place! If you just find someone whose survey you liked, then you’re not really taking advantage of getting to know your roommates before moving in with them. Surveys will only tell you so much about a person.
My roommates on my last program made a Facebook chat with all of us in it. We would talk about stuff we liked (movies, games, plays, etc.), and we would talk about what excited us about the college program, things we were excited to experience and what household items we were planning on bringing with us on the program. That was incredibly helpful too because we didn’t end up with six toasters, four Xbox consoles and five TV sets. We did have two TVs, but I kept mine in my room and the other went in the shared living room space. We still didn’t need five of them.
Anyway, my roommates and I knew we would be compatible not just from the surveys, but from the interactions we had before the program started. Our method probably could have been improved by exchanging phone numbers, having Skype dates or even using GroupMe (which is what my current intended roommates and I are using). Social media is a great way to connect with people you may not be close to, but if you have a roommate from your state, school or even your hometown, then it might be a great idea to meet up with them in person and get to know who they are face to face. Even if you do go through these steps of trying to get to know your potential roommates, you could be wrong about them. You could find out in the middle of the program that you're not compatible. But, it's more likely you'll find a great friend and roommate this way. It requires a lot of communication to work.
For the person who likes to have a little bit of control over their lives, picking roommates is probably the best way to go. But, there are some perks to going random. For example, when you go random you have a chance of rooming with one of the international CPs. It’s really cool to interact with people from a different culture, and while you will be meeting a lot of them on your program, some people love the idea of meeting and living with ICPs.
The obvious downside to not picking your roommates is that you will not be able to get to know them before the program starts. It is likely you could end up with roommates you are not compatible living with as a result. People who are able to adapt in their living environments do better with the random roommate selection process. You have so little control over deciding what type of person you are going to live with, and, for some people, this is part of the fun. It leaves a lot of room to meet people from a different background -- cultural, religious, regional or sexual identity. It’s an exciting adventure and in many cases, it works out just fine.
No matter which method you choose, consider what type of person you are and how much control you like to have over decisions like this. Are you the type of person who likes to make plans ahead of time or do things spur of the moment to add to the adventure? Your personality will determine which housing situation will work best for you.
