Worst Case Scenario: Freshman Edition

Case 1: The Dreaded Roommate

You had a glorious vision of being best friends with your roommate: you’d tell each other everything, go shopping and complain about the dining hall meatloaf together. Instead, you have the roommate from hell; there is either awkward silence in the room, or you are arguing about every little thing. (Does her boyfriend really have to stay over EVERY night? Why is the room always a pigsty every time I come in?)

Communicate!—Very often roommate problems stem from a  lack of communication. According to Mr. Zamojski, “the goal with roommates is for a good, successful relationship that really doesn’t need to be a best friendship. You need to live with someone that you respect and who is respecting you back– who you can communicate openly with and who can communicate openly with you.” If you aren’t best friends with your roommate, it’s okay, as long as you are able to communicate.

If communication isn’t enough—Talk to your RA. “You have to talk with your roommate and obtain your roommate’s consent before permitting anyone to stay overnight,” says Zamojski. But if “consent” isn’t in your roommate’s vocabulary, it’s your RA’s job to help.

Best friends are not always best roommates—Sometimes rooming with your best friend actually makes for a worse living situation, Mr. Zamojski claims: “I think that it’s always good to have a best friend that lives elsewhere. When a student lives with a best friend, we’ve seen some of our more challenging roommate issues develop because the emotions run really deep.” He sees better relationships with roommates “who get along but have their own lives and their own circles of friends.” It’s fun being best friends with your roommate, but sometimes it’s best to keep your social life and your 8×10 dorm room life separate.