As summer is coming to a close, and with move in day right around the corner, I can’t help thinking about how high school seniors are just beginning the college application journey. I just think it’s crazy how a year ago I was in that same position and now here I am, days away from beginning my college career. Aside from getting applications done on time, the one thing on my mind was finding the perfect roommate.
In the age of technology and social media, finding a roommate for college is similar to online dating. You try to look as fun and desirable as possible and you pray you get a match. I probably went through about three potential contenders until I found my perfect match; actually two but three just sounds better, but that’s beside the point. Alex, if you’re reading this, I love you girl! Best roommate ever!
I kept seeing on my college’s freshmen Facebook page that I should go on roomsurf.com so that’s where I started my search. What I like about that site is that it asks you a series of questions, then shows you your potential matches and how well you match up. That’s how I met my first potential roomie.
Here’s some advice: Don’t settle for the first person that offers to room with you. Sadly, she and I didn’t work out but it worked out better in the end since we both found people we were more compatible with. Though we did have a falling out, I can honestly say that we’re friends now and super happy.
That’s where the next piece of advice comes in: Mention your deal-breakers upfront. Personally, smoking cigarettes was a definite no for me but you may not like someone who is super messy, parties a lot, drinks or smokes pot. It’s college, let’s be honest here. Just because you’re desperate to find a roommate so you can start dorm shopping and planning out your perfect Tumblr and Pinterest-worthy room, doesn’t mean you should resort to being stuck with someone who you don’t necessarily agree with. Keep in mind though, who you decide to room with can either make or break your first year dorm experience.
Following that unfortunate falling out, my roommate journey took me back to my college’s rising freshman page on Facebook. I started scrolling through posts seeing if anyone still needed a roommate and checking the comments just in case they already found one. After messaging a few girls I finally found someone, on Twitter of all places.
This girl is one of the funniest girls I know and I’ve never met anyone who loves cats more than she does. She’s super sweet and caring and we clicked almost immediately. Again, don’t settle just because you’re in a rush to find someone. That awkward moment when you think you found a roommate but then you see that she posted on Facebook that she’s still looking… but hey, that was one step closer to finding the perfect match.
The final stop in my quest to find the perfect roommate was on this app called QUAD. I highly recommend this app to anyone trying to meet people before school starts. For those who don’t know, QUAD is a huge group chat app where groups can be as big as 500 members. At least for my university, there was a group chat specifically for the rising freshman class where I met tons of my super close friends. It was so great going to orientation already knowing lots of people and being able to meet them in person.
On my university chat, there was a subgroup called "roommates," which pretty much is self-explanatory. That’s where I met my roommate and learned that first impressions can be flawed.
I must admit I didn’t think we’d click right away but clearly we did because here I am now, writing an article about how perfect my roommate is! My sister swears we’re the same person, probably because we are. It gets to the point where we text the exact same thing in a group text and tweet the exact same things seconds apart from each other. I could go on and on fangirling about her but for the sake of this article I’ll spare you the boredom, and the read.
I promise you, your perfect roommate is out there. Whether you find them on Facebook, Roomsurf, QUAD, or anywhere else, once you’ve found the perfect roomie you’ll know. I’m fortunate enough to say that Alex and I are like sisters and I’m super excited to see what this year has in store. For all of you starting this journey, I wish you the best of luck in your search for the perfect roommate!
