<p>Without going into specifics, here is my dilemma:</p>
<p>I am a high school senior poised to graduate in under a month. During my college’s admitted student day I met a fellow soon-to-be freshman who had a few similar interests (namely that we were both not there to party all the time), and we decided to room together in the fall.</p>
<p>At my school, politics is huge - its definitely a topic of passion for the majority of students, myself and my roommate included. We knew that we had opposing political views when we agreed to room together, but we reasoned that it would not be too big of a problem.</p>
<p>However, in the months since I have seen him make a complete [donkey] of himself in our Class of 2015 Facebook group. In the political debates that have unfolded, he has not only stated things that offended me and other members in the group, but has on more than one occasion reverted to name-calling other students. He has grown pretty unpopular for his behavior it seems, and I am afraid I might be dragged down with him through association.</p>
<p>I am pretty uncomfortable by the way he has conducted himself, and I am not so sure if I really want to live with/be friends with someone who behaves as such. I know that roommates do not have to be friends, but I feel that because we requested each other it would be expected. </p>
<p>I contacted student housing who informed me that although the housing application has closed, I could still change my roommate preferences if I so pleased, but to hurry because they will be assigning roommates soon.</p>
<p>So my question to you, CC, what should I do? Should I leave my roommate preference as it is and see what happens? Or do I have a talk with my roommate, change my preference to none, and let fate take care of the rest?</p>
<p>I would talk to your future roommate before making any decisions and then see if you can sort it out. If you got along before hopefully you can both be mature and handle your differences. There’s no guaranteeing a different roommate would be any better.</p>
<p>Just to be clear, it’s not his political views that I have a problem with (well, not really). It’s his childish and overreactive manner in defending his points that bothered me, and make me wonder if I’d be better off just rooming blindly than with someone who is already starting to get on my nerves. I don’t know, I feel as though I’m not making myself clear enough. I wonder if it’s really fair of me to knowingy room with someone I’m fairly certain I will not like very much.</p>
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That’s a silly reason not to room with someone. Your social circle will be mostly separate from his. </p>
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This sounds like a much better reason. If you suspect that you wouldn’t get along very well, you are probably better off with a random roommate.</p>
<p>You’ve got to understand that he has a harder time with the social scene than normal people do. I mean, it is not easy being from the future. Many things have changed, including everyday manners and actions. Try teaching him how things work in 2011. Maybe he brought technology from the future that can drastically impact your life and lead to wacky adventures where you two learn a lesson and become closer. </p>
<p>But that’s just my take…</p>
<p>The new person you get might be just as big of a jerk, but from what you have described, I would contact him and let him know you are switching. I just feel that I know the type of person you are describing and having that person for a roommate would drive me nuts. Good Luck!</p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice guys, I’m thinking I’ll request a switch to random rooming. I suppose I would be better off taking a chance of getting a roommate that I might like or might not like, then definitely getting someone whom I’m pretty sure already I will not like.</p>
<p>Silly Republicans!</p>
<p>Yeah I’d take my chances. Good luck!</p>
<p>Freshman year can be lonely for many… that being said hanging with someone you despise is tough. My freshman year i roomed with a tree hugging vegan… We did not see eye to eye on really … anything</p>
<p>Having said that I really would not trade the experience for the world, and in fact we are still great friends, even though we run in different circles, we still go have beers a couple times a semester and even met up last summer when we were both going to the same beach with our families and had a blast.</p>
<p>I dont really know what to tell you other than my personal experiences with a roomate that my parents said looked like “cheech and chong only more stoned” Except that in my situation I was glad for the company in the beginning and now really like the guy (his food sucks though.)</p>