Addressing Student Concerns About A New Roommate

By Allie Mitchell on August 8, 2016

Students deal with many things when moving into the dorms for a new semester, whether it be packing, moving in, readjusting the room, or even being away from home.

One of the main things that comes with moving into a dorm is a roommate or a suitemate if you have a private room. Either way, you will be sharing some sort of space with another person and you will have to learn to adjust to that. I shared a room with my sister for most of my life, so rooming with someone wasn’t all that big of a deal to me.

On the other hand, for some of you rooming with someone or even living with x- amount of people will be something you will have to get used to. But never fear, it is doable; you just have to be willing to make an effort.

Of course, I am not going to overlook the fact that not everyone is going to get along. It is not always happy sunshine and rainbows all the time or even at all sometimes. Out of all my years of living on campus, I had one roommate for a semester who was awful; besides that, all of my other ones were wonderful human beings who I still talk to on occasion.

The goal of having a roommate isn’t to wind up being best friends, but it is an experience to ultimately learn your own tolerance and to focus on being independent while learning to deal with “adult” situations on your own. Situations such as conflict management.

http://www.upb.pitt.edu/

There will always be concerns when it comes to having a roommate and that is what this article is here to help with. Everyone always has questions and concerns, so here are a few things to know about moving in with a new roommate.

Hopefully this will help ease some of your minds and address a few of the things we are all thinking.

1. Study/sleep schedules: This is all up to you guys as roommates. If you are living in the same room as someone and you are someone who has to sleep with all the lights off, but your roommate has a test and needs a lamp on … well this is your time for a roommate talk. Most times people like to study in the library, but there are those chosen few who can’t and can only study well in the confines of their own living space. Talking about certain things beforehand can save a lot of time and awkward arguments.

2. Guests: Specifically talking about who you are bringing over and things like that can save you both a whole lot of trouble. There are those people that don’t mind another person staying over on the couch or even in the room, but there are some who don’t like it and personally it is their right to say no. It is their room as much as it is yours.

In the beginning of the semester, most colleges have you fill out a roommate agreement form and guest policies are normally something to be talked about.

3. Personality: Everyone wants their roommate to be nice and sweet and they want to get along with them and become friends for life. Unfortunately, the hard truth is that this isn’t the case most of the time. If you guys end up just being cordial to one another that is wonderful, but sometimes there are the situations where you and your roommate are just not compatible whatsoever.

There are things called roommate mediations sometimes at some universities and sometimes moving out is what is necessary. Make sure to exhaust all options.

4. Smart discussions: If you are going to have a disagreement or a discussion with your roommate, make sure it is done in a smart manner. No one wants to have an all-out yelling match. Make sure to listen to what the other person has to say and then speak your mind.

Even discussions about whatever topic can be another way to understand your roommate as a person and vice versa. You may end up realizing that you can’t room with this person again or you may be able to work out something that makes the both of you happy.

feather-mag.com

Always know that the housing community at your school is there to help you with any concerns you may have and giving them a quick call for any in-depth issues will be vital for your success in a housing community.

Just remember to always be friendly and just be yourself. If all else fails, just keep to yourself, make friends outside of your dorm and focus on other things. Roommate situations can be hard, but they are not impossible to deal with. You just have to find a way to make it work for you.

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