I grew up in a small town, and couldn’t wait to make my way to Santa Cruz to attend Cabrillo College and play basketball. Without a doubt, the thing I was most excited about for college was having my own place, followed closely by who I’d be sharing it with. Your roommate is a crucial part of your college experience, and let’s face it, you’re most likely going to have to have a roommate in college. Especially if you live in an expensive area like myself.

Once I was preparing to move to Santa Cruz, the first step was finding a place to live and roommates to live with. I started with Craigslist, which can be challenging. I posted an “ad” essentially and waited for the emails to come in. Once I started getting options I filtered them out, once I narrowed it down I met with a select group of girls in a public setting and go tot know them a little better. (This is important, you don’t want to move in with a complete stranger). Luckily, for me, I found two girls that were the perfect fit. In fact, I’m still friends with them today.

Another good way to meet new people to potentially live with, is with RoomSurf. It’s simple, all you do is: choose your college network and create a profile, take the roommate survey and review your matches, and then get to know your matches, pick a roommate, and submit a mutual roommate request to your school or find a place together.

Obviously each conversation and person is different, but here are five important subjects to mention when speaking to your roommate for the first time.

1. Study habits. My work flow at school varied throughout the years, but I never was one to sit down and study all the time. I had some roommates that needed their space and quite time, this would be hard if you like to play music all the time and be loud.

2.Visitors. I have lots of friends who could get a little crazy at times, make sure that this won’t be an issue if you want to have people over.

3. Sorority recruitment. I didn’t decide to join one, but if I did it would be a lot nicer going through it with someone else. Who better than your roomie!

4. Sleeping habits. I have the worst sleeping schedule, especially during the semester. Late night projects and studying, you won’t want to share a room with someone who goes to sleep at 9pm.

5. Common interests. You don’t have to be their best friend, but you will be living with them for at least a year in most cases. Try and see if you have something you can do together, like watch the same show or workout together.

Something else that I found extremely important throughout my roommate years is COMMUNICATION. I have had multiple roommates that kept to themselves, in fact I had one tell me she was moving out by leaving a note on the fridge. It is critical that you have good communication with each other. Rent, bills, and cleaning is something you will have to keep up together. You will want to live with someone who is willing to discuss these things with you.

Good luck finding your perfect roomie!

 

 

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