The majority of high school seniors probably have one thing on their mind right now: college. These past couple months have been stressful. Whether it’s financial aid, applications, or orientations, it’s been a rough and confusing couple of months. One big part of the college experience is a roommate. A roommate can make or break that school year and it’s important to find the right person. Right now is the time every senior is scrambling to find a suitable roommate for them and it hasn’t been a pleasant process.
Everyone always shares roommate horror stories. Common issues are they’re too messy, they’re too loud, they bring too many friends over, etc. Some people live completely different lives. Sharing a living space is a big adjustment that can take some time getting used to, and some people are better at it than others. This is why finding the right person is so important, but is the right person out there? Breila Allen ‘24 shared some of her standards before jumping into the process.
“The main thing I was looking for in a roommate was someone that sleeps in a dark, quiet room. I can’t fall asleep to the noise so I needed someone that was the same,” Allen said.
The most common way to find potential roommates is through the college meet pages on Instagram. Each college has multiple with hundreds of posts and it’s a pain to scroll through endless profiles that all say the same thing. Everyone loves going out (and staying in) with their friends. They’re looking for a potential roommate and new friends so make sure to reach out! They all have photos showing themselves, some friends, and maybe a couple shots to show personality. It can be hard to find the right person with all these options out there. Riley Reed ‘24 has had the chance to connect with other students.
“Just like any other colleges out there, Kent State has an Instagram page for the class of 2028. Although I have already found a roommate, I’ve had the opportunity to connect and talk with a bunch of other incoming freshmen,” Reed said.
When an option finally presents itself, send them a nice DM saying there’s interest. They’ll respond in one of three ways. They’ll either respond and engage in conversation, leave the message on read, or leave it on delivered for an eternity. If a follow up message is sent, they’ll probably still leave it on delivered. While this is upsetting, there’s still plenty of people to talk to.
“I learned that you can’t be afraid to reach out to people. Everyone is in the same situation,” Reed said.
If the potential roommate decides to leave the message on read or delivered, it probably wasn’t going to be a good match anyways. If the person actually responds, there’s potential to get a good conversation going. If the person is very dry, isn’t asking a lot of questions, and takes forever to respond, then they aren’t a good fit either. They always end up ghosting in the middle of the conversation and down goes another potential roommate. A nicer way to do this is asking for a snapchat username. With this way, they don’t have to keep the conversation going but they aren’t completely ghosting if they send a snap every once in a while. They might have found someone else and that’s okay. When this process is repeated over and over with countless strangers, it can get tiring and frustrating. It can be very hard to find the right person to click with, but they’re out there.
“One of the first things my roommate said was asking me to be her roommate. This was a shock because all of the other people I was talking to were dancing around the question. I really liked the boldness of the question and we got along really well,” Allen said.
If the right person is finally found, it’s a moment worth celebrating. Chatting with them for weeks is a comforting feeling because finally, someone is just as interested. If they finally pop the roommate question, then the hard part is over.
“Finding my roommate was a huge relief because finding a good roommate was something I was really stressed about. Especially because other college deadlines were so much sooner I felt like I was running out of time to find someone. It also gave me someone to talk to while navigating the orientation process,” Allen said.
While it’s stressful, a lot of other people still aren’t at that point yet, and that’s okay. The whole situation is very frustrating, especially when everything is done virtually. The process of trying to find a roommate in a giant sea of people is truly a struggle and not meant for the weak. If all else fails, is giving up and going with a random roommate really that bad? It may just take a little longer for the right person to show up.
