Many American college students face an interesting living situation their first year at school: cohabitation with a complete stranger.
Traditionally, college students would be paired up randomly with another student, or were able to request a specific friend to be their roommate. But in the past few years, some students have begun reaching out over social media to get to know potential roommates.
Senior Quinn Bredl, who will attend Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in the fall, found his future roommate online by making a Facebook post on his college’s group page.
“Typically, I’m not a big social media person, but I decided to try my luck with it,” says Bredl. “I posted something that I thought captured my essence. Some people started messaging me, and one of them was a guy from Burlingame. I noticed we had some mutual friends, so we met for coffee and hit it off.”
Many colleges have begun to offer services for students to meet potential roommates online. Some colleges now offer an online survey to fill out, with information such as cleanliness or preferred sleeping time, so students are matched with someone similar. There are also Facebook pages for admitted students where they can share their profiles and look for people with similar interests.
“It’s kind of like an awkward online dating profile thing,” explains senior Matt Lanthier, who will attend UC Santa Barbara in the fall. “The UCs all have this app that helps find students with similar interests to you, so I used that to find my roommate.”
Lanthier was drawn to this fellow student by their shared interests in political science and pre-law. Even though they have not yet met, Lanthier is not worried about rooming with him. States Lanthier, “He seems like a cool dude.”
However, not all students have such luck using the online search profile. While her ideal roommate is someone in the middle—not obsessed with cleanliness or a complete slob—senior Marisa Jewett has not yet found someone she will definitely room with. Says Jewett, “I’ve seen one person [that fit], but I don’t think they’re very interested. I was talking with her on Facebook, but she wasn’t asking me any return questions.” While she may not know for sure who her roommate will be, Jewett is not concerned. She filled out her college’s basic survey and trusts that she will be matched with someone compatible.
On the other hand, not everyone needs to use the profile site to find their roommate. Senior Melissa Spaulding met her roommate at one of the meetings for prospective students her school held. She explains, “We met for the first time before either of us had decided on a roommate. For me, I wasn’t looking for someone I would be best friends with, just someone to do stuff with, and I knew she was nice.”
Overall, these online profile pages seem very helpful for students. Not only do they offer an opportunity to meet possible roommates, they also give the more general survey, so compatible people will be able to live together. While it’s hard to compare talking to someone over Facebook with speaking face-to-face, for those who don’t want to live with a complete stranger, the online option can be a good way to get to know someone. Moreover, it can be difficult to meet with someone who could be a good fit if they live in another part of the country. Regardless of how one ends up with a roommate, the most important thing to do is be comfortable with them. As Bredl puts it, “I didn’t want some creepy roommate.”
