Rooming with a friend vs. Rooming with a stranger

mikemac
Tue, 19 Jul 2005 00:12:55 +0000

I’d go with the stranger.

Think about it. Your friends right now, you spend time together but then you go your separate ways. Do you have to tell them to clean up the mess they’ve left in their room? Figure out a way to get time alone so you can spend it in a romantic encounter with someone you’ve met? Do they go into your closet and root thru it for clothes to wear, go thru your desk looking for stuff they can borrow? No, because they don’t live under the same roof with you.

Reason 2: College is a time to explore and try new things. Hopefully in a year (and in 4 years) you won’t be the person you are today. But if you go into college with a friend from HS they might expect (quite reasonably, actually) that you’ll be the person they knew before. But what if you want to change that person, what that person does for fun, what that person thinks?

Most people room with a stranger and it works out fine. Remember that the roomate doesn’t have to be your best friend (or even a friend). Sure, sometimes people make lifelong friends. But sometimes they don’t and the experience is still ok. You just need to have mutual respect and decency towards each other.