College Preparation #1: Complete a Dorm Roommate Contract

Well, for those of you who are reading this who are not in college yet, but whom are preparing for school, I am going to put some tips on here that I think you could use.

Preparing for college is one of the most exciting things I have ever done, and the most "exciting" aspect of it is of course the roommate gamble; I HIGHLY recommend taking a random roommate. If you have a friend you think you would like to room with, I recommend rooming in the same building...NOT the same dorm. There is no better way to ruin a friendship than by rooming with someone. If you have known someone as something besided a roommate, it can ruin a friendship; however, if you meet someone new and become friends with them while they are your roommate, you will be able to deal with it, and you will be good friends/roommates.

My roommate and I are friends now, and are rooming together again next year. My roommate and I from my freshman year did not get along so well. We weren't hostile to each other, but we definitely didn't click. If I had roomed with my best friend from before school, I promise you I would not be friends with him today.



If you are taking the plunge and taking a roommate blindly (which, as stated before, I highly recommend this) I also will tell you: you WANT a roommate contract. If you don't want to tell your roommate you want to do a roommate contract, talk to your floor RA and ask them to require a roommate contract. It might sound dorky, but trust me, I promise you won't need to bring it up, it is helpful because it forces you to bring up issues before they become issues (ex: I wake up at 6 and go to sleep at 9 every night, or...I take naps during the day from 2-4, or I will not allow partying in the room while I am trying to study/sleep) You can also get over the issues like whether or not members of the opposite sex will be allowed in the room at certain times. I am trying to find a copy of the contract we had.

Another nice aspect was we ranked the following by which gets priority use of the room: Socializing, sleep, studying. We had sleep first, then socializing, then studying (you can go to a study lounge to study, you can't do the same to socialize)

Anyway, I will continue trying to find a good roommate contract you can use, and post a link here. If possible, I will find the one that we used, because it worked well.

Note: If you and your roommate are comfortable talking about this without filling out a contract, still use one, it brings up issues like "can I eat your food? And under what circumstances may I?"
As well as many other issues