Things to Consider when Picking a Roommate

If you ever had roommates in college, chances are you were thrown together by your university's housing department. I have heard of a few places that attempt to match roommates by common interest, but I suspect most schools are like the one I attended and put students in rooms quite randomly. When it's time to pick your own roommates, put more thought into your decision than the housing department did.

First, you cannot assume that your friends are automatically safe choices. You may trust them quite a bit, but that may not be enough. You also have to consider how well your friends manage money and how successful they are at keeping jobs. If they were to come up short with their part of rent, they may assume you'll just cover it because you're friends. Be sure your friendship is strong enough to survive living together.

When picking roommates, evaluating money and job situations can be a big help. Those should not be the only deciding factors. It would be a great idea to consider common ground. I do not mean hobbies and interests. One could like to read, while the other hates reading and still live together. More important things like whether one is an early riser and the other is a night owl should be considered. It can also be beneficial to consider things like whether one likes quiet and the other likes frequent loud music. These things are much easier to hash out before moving in.

Consider recreational interests as well. In general, I have found from experience that a "home body" and a "party animal" do not mesh well together. This is not so bad if the party is not at your place (unless you're awakened by a drunken roommate stumbling towards their bed at 2:00 a.m.). However, certain activities could take place at home that you're not comfortable with. If you do not drink at all, you will probably not appreciate your roommate and their friends drinking (and spilling) in the room, for example.

It also could not hurt to consider roommates that are in the same phase of life as you. If one roommate is living away from their parents' home for the first time, and the other roommate has been renting for a few years, there usually is a bit of a difference in maturity. This can be annoying if you're the older, more mature roommate who wants a roommate that is "grown up". Also, if you are not a student and your roommate is, you need to learn to be respectful of study times and finals week. You may not care that there's a history final at 7:30 tomorrow morning, but your student roommate sure does.

Once you have roommates selected, be careful if you will be sharing a bedroom. You must establish rules/guidelines for overnight guests. (ex: should you give warning, place a signal on the door, etc.). This can avoid undoubtedly awkward situations.