Xatal

Having a good roommate is essential to your well-being. Having a roommate you don’t get along with is something you never want. Imagine coming home after a long day only to see someone you really can’t stand. Is that really want you want? Probably not, so make your choice wisely.

A lot of the time, you’re going to be stuck with someone you’ve never met before. This isn’t that bad — it gives you a great chance to branch out and meet new people. Most schools have a survey that you fill out to help partner you who is similar to you. If you’ve been assigned a roommate by your school, but you don’t know the person, read here to find out how to start building a friendship.

However, if you’re going to a school where you already know a lot of people (like a school that’s close to home), you’ve no doubt considered dorming with someone you’re already friends with. Because most schools will give you a chance to request a specific person to room with, this is very possible. And that’s all good and well, but just because you two are best friends doesn’t mean you can stand living with each other in a small room. Here are a few important questions to ask yourself when considering who to choose as a dormmate:

How well do you know the person?

You’re probably much more inclined to live with someone you know well already, but if you have a desire to get to know someone else better, be aware that they might have personality quirks that you’re not aware of yet. It’s a lot easier to hide from a hurricane when you know it’s coming. Try to stick with people you already know fairly well if possible.

Does he/she have any personality traits that could cause trouble?

Maybe your potential dormmate is very argumentative, bossy, nosy, or even too apathetic. When you’re hanging out with your friends normally, such traits are a lot easier to overlook than when you’re cramped up in a small dorm room together for a year. All it takes is one bad argument to destroy a good friendship, so make sure you think of everything that could cause trouble down the line.

Make sure you two have similar schedules.

I’m not talking about what classes you’re taking, but what times you two do things in your day. If you function best when you go to bed at 3 and get up at 11, then you definitely don’t want to be roomed with someone who goes to bed at 11 and gets up at 7. It sucks having to be extra quiet because the other person is sleeping — try to line things up the best you can.

Consider potential extra baggage.

If the person you want to room with has an especially annoying boyfriend, you have to be ready to spend a lot more time around that person too. Perhaps your potential roommate likes to drink and party heavily. If you’re not into that, some potential drama is definitely lurking there. Maybe they like to always have friends over in the room, or maybe they’re against that.

Can you stand to be around each other that long?

Not to be a Negative Nancy, but a lot of best friends get seriously annoyed with each other after being in close company too long. A lot of times it doesn’t have to do with personality traits — they just get sick of each other!

Cleanliness.

Perhaps one of the most important, make sure you’re not getting with someone who is drastically different from you in how clean they like their living space to be. If you’re messy as can be, staying with a neat freak will be hell for you. Conversely, if your roommate leaves all kinds of half-eaten food lying around, you’re going to be pretty pissed too. If you can, see what his/her current bedroom looks like. That’s about what they’d like to keep the dorm room at, so make sure you two are pretty close in your expectations.

My personal recommendation is to make a list of all the reasons why living with each of your potential roommates would be bad. Then, go through that list and decide which ones you would be willing to put up with and which ones you wouldn’t. Eventually, it should become clear who the best choice for you is.

Also, don’t feel like you have to live with a friend. Always give some thought to living with someone you have never met before. You can still keep your current friends, you just won’t live with them.

Don’t take any options off the table!