Some of us will be going to colleges pretty far away from home and if you don’t know anyone from town going to your university, it’s harder to find one of the most important things you need to start college, a roommate. Nowadays we have endless tools to help us to find a roommate: Facebook, Instagram, RoomSurf. Some schools even have a test you fill out to match you with the most compatible roommate based on your answers, It’s like online dating but for friends! The pandemic has made it even harder to meet roommates in person. Many of us in these situations have had to rely on our universities class Instagrams and Facebooks to reach out to people we are interested in as roommates/friends. Picking the right roommate is one of the key factors in having a good on-campus living experience. In the olden days, the colleges were in charge of matching up roommates, but not anymore. I’ve heard so many terrible roommate stories that I understand why students have taken the search into their own hands. But how do you decide for sure who’s the right person to choose if you’ve never met them in person? Myself, along with a few other Wilsonville seniors are going through the online roommate search right now! Last year’s seniors may have had it even rougher with their roommate search but they are also happy to share their positive and negative experiences to help anyone who is or will go through the quest to find your perfect roommate!

How did you find your roommate?

Casey Young, a Wilsonville 2020 grad going to Northern Arizona University, used the schools housing matching website to find his roomie. Casey explained, “We wrote short bios about ourselves, our major, and personal interests. Then we answered some questions about our sleeping habits and personal habits and then we got matched with people who had similar answers.” Kylie Aube, a Wilsonville 2020 grad going to University of Arizona, had a similar way of choosing a roommate as Casey,“In the housing portal each student fills out a survey about living habits and personality traits and then you write a little paragraph about yourself. People linked their social media accounts and I reached out to people from there. I found her insta and then messaged her and got her snap.” Kate Jeffries, a Wilsonville senior going to BYU Provo shared that the most useful tool for finding her roommate was Instagram, “I met my roommate through Instagram on one of the various class of 2025 Instagrams students create for schools.” Nowadays the class Instagrams and Facebooks are definitely the easiest way to meet people before you even start school. You usually send in some photos of you, a bio including your major, where you’re from, what you like to do and a tag of your instagram or snapchat so people can reach out to you!

What was the deciding factor to wanting to room with that person?

Reese Stalheim, a Wilsonville senior going to California Baptist University shared, “I decided on my roommate by looking at her insta and also seeing that she is signing to cheer as well. The deciding factor was knowing that she was cheering too cause we would have the same schedule.”Aube explained, “We talked for literally one day and had the best conversation. We just seemed to click and she was from the area so I figured she would be able to show me around.” I have to agree with Kylie, I found my roommate online and even though I had tons of convos with super cool girls, my roommate and I clicked and had so much in common. After talking for a few weeks on Instagram and Snapchat we decided to facetime to figure out housing preferences and it felt like we’d know each other forever! 

What have you realized are the most important things to ask to see if you and your roommate are compatible?

Some things Young recommended to ask your potential roommate included “What kind of groceries they get, if they’re vegetarian or vegan or something like that, when they usually go to sleep or wake up and If they like having people over or listening to music.” Aube suggested asking, “How serious are you about school? Do you want to split the grocery bill or buy food separately? Do you stay up late? When do you like to go to bed? Do you mind having people over? Do you drink/smoke?” Sydney Carskadon, a Wilsonville 2020 grad going to University of Arizona, noted “Make sure your sleep schedules line up, that becomes pretty important in dorms.”

What is some advice you would give to someone searching for a roommate online?

Jeffries’ advice for using the class instagram pages was, “Reach out. It was scary at first to dm people but it was so worth it and even if you don’t room with someone you talk to, you make friends before you even get to college.” Young’s biggest piece of advice was, “Don’t rush into picking a roommate. Actually have multiple conversations with them and find out more about them before committing. Make sure your own personal sleep schedules match up a bit because it’ll make everything so much easier.” Aube added, “Start looking early and talk to as many people as you can. FaceTiming is a good idea because you can really get an idea of who they are. I got lucky because I only talked to her for a day before committing to a room with her, but we got along so well the entire year. I would also advise that if possible, plan to meet up with them and talk in person.” 

Do you have any funny roommate stories? 

Not every roommate pairing works out for the best; one Wilsonville grad shared “My roommate is kinda crazy, and her sleep schedule is wack: she sleeps all day and comes home at 4am or is up at 6am. It was a bummer but I made so many other friends in my dorm so even though I’m not close with her it all worked out!” Young had a better experience, “My roommate and I got along very well. On our first week there together we wanted to make spaghetti so we got all the needed ingredients. We forgot that we didn’t have any pots or pans so we didn’t have anything to actually make the spaghetti in. So we went around knocking on people’s doors asking if we could trade some spaghetti (once it’s made) for borrowing their pots and pans.” Aube said, “The first night we spent in the dorm we went to get dining hall food and it was SO GROSS! We ended up going to the market and buying sushi. It was definitely a rough welcome to college!”