College Roomate Stress

As our college-bound seniors commit or narrow down their top choices, a main concern is: who will be my college roommate? If they do choose to pick a roommate, the process is all but simple and involves trying to get posted on Instagram, finding connections through friends of friends, scrolling through lists of people, reaching out to the strangers who follow their school, and direct messaging their favorite. B-CC’s seniors are experiencing this tiresome process first-hand.

Senior Maya Tarnoff, who is committed to the University of Richmond, said, “For me, finding a roommate has been stressful and exciting at the same time. I want to find someone who I’ll have a strong friendship with, but it’s hard to know how our in-person relationship will be when we’re talking online.” She continued, “However, it does make me excited to think about college, and looking for a roommate has caused me to meet people and make some new friends, which is a positive thing.”

Tarnoff explained that Instagram has been helpful when it comes to reaching out, “I usually try to start with something we have in common, or if we live near each other, I bring that up.”

Another senior, Chris Evans, who is committed to Johns Hopkins University, is not fond of the roommate process. “I think [it] kind of sucks, because it’s really unlikely that you’ll actually be able to find someone that will make your college experience better based on online interaction.” He laughed, “… even if both of them have the same favorite food or artist.” He explained that he won’t be partaking in the normalized direct messaging process, “I don’t like the transition from meeting someone online to in person…it’s awkward and I would rather meet people in person.” 

On the contrary, Senior Chloe Wise, committed to Penn State University, said, “I have been reaching out to people, and people have been reaching out to me, mostly through the 2028 pages.” She added, “I feel pressure trying to find someone that fits my vibe and is similar to me just over text.”

Although the final consensus on how best to find a roommate seems to vary from senior to senior, it seems clear that stress will be involved in one way or another. Besides the fact that it can be difficult to really know a person behind a screen, it appears that having the option of using social media to contact possible roommates is a useful tool during the process.