When you arrive at college, you are most likely expected to live with a complete stranger for the better part of a year. When problems arise your Residence Advisor will undoubtedly tell you to try and work it out with your roommate. In all honesty, you should try to make it work. But in some extreme cases, you are stuck with a nightmare who could care less about you or your willingness to “work it out."

In those extreme cases, it is time to take matters into your own hands.

1. Kill them (with kindness)

I cannot stress this enough. The last thing you want is to respond aggressively to your roommate. When a Residence Advisor is dealing with your case, you want to prove to them that you have tried every diplomatic method. There’s a great difference between someone who has exhausted their patience and someone who hasn’t even tried.

2. Become best friends (with your RA)

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When I say become best friends with your RA, I do not mean smother them with staged friendship. Tell them every single problem you have been having with your roommate. Building a case is the only way to expedite either the eviction of your roommate or your new housing assignment. Understand that at this point, you are the damsel in distress and your RA is there to save you from the burning building that is your dorm room. Let them save you. Your tuition gives you the right to annoy them with your problems.

3. Patience is key

This process takes a while. The fastest it can happen seems to be a week. That’s an entire week of either dorm-hopping or putting up with your nightmare of a roomy. During that time span, don’t do anything rash. Even if they’re trying to push you.

4. File a police report (if necessary)

If your roommate tries to get physical or even threaten you, file a police report immediately. This way you will have documentation of the situation should you meet again in court. Also, it helps communicate just how seriously your roommate situation is to your Residence Director when they finally take up your case. It will also give you the right to answer the question: “Do you think you could work this out?”

5. Enjoy your Room

Whether you have a dorm to yourself for a couple weeks as your RD finds you a new roommate or have a new considerate roomy, enjoy your new found peace. Hopefully, you will no longer deal with inconsiderate behavior when you have an 8 a.m. class or hostility whenever you are in the room you pay thousands of dollars for. Even if your ex-roommate hates you for outing them.