Back in the day, finding roommates was a pretty old-school affair. Students going into college would have to rely on word of mouth, maybe slap a note on a bulletin board, or just pray for the best while they get randomly assigned. The process was fairly simple, but the unknown was also terrifying. More than likely you’d be roomed with someone who is just not the right match for your personality, and there was always the risk of ending up with someone whose habits clashed with yours. However, in this generation, it seems most students have it way easier. Thanks to all these cool apps and websites, finding roomies is like online shopping for friends or as Ilana Perkins (12) puts it, “a little dating app for your future roommate”. You can find anyone’s profiles, chat with anyone who you think would be a good match, and overall just more on your wavelength. For example one of the most popular apps for this is, Bunky. “You start off in the app talking about all your preferences and your personality. Then you can look at other profiles and see if you like anyone.”
These people will have no choice to be by you, so why not be with people you enjoy being around. It cannot be stated enough how important it is to start off freshman year with people you like and who like you. They will get your back when you’re stressed and homesick, they’ll help take the load off of just one person cleaning (or at least try), and they make living away from home feel less lonely. This is a huge benefit when you have finally moved out of your house after living with your parents for 18 years and you just want to be comforted.
There are more means and methods that people have been taking advantage of to find roommates which Sam Davis (12) explains. She states that “ finding a roommate definitely takes a lot of time and patience. I reached out to countless people on instagram and only some got back to me. But it does help to reach out to people on social media because that’s the main way to find a roommate. I found a roommate through instagram and then we switched to texting and facetime and it’s been great.! Every school should have a 2028 (or whatever year you graduate in college) page where people post on it and share their likes, dislikes and hobbies! Then anyone can reach out through that.”
Although, there are also many students who have come across issues still with finding a roommate. It is not only because it is everyone’s first time looking but because of these issues with the process, which could be the apps/website or just the people. Hannah Jebelli (12) notes that “almost all schools have an account to post incoming freshmen and their bios and whether they need roommates, however because the posting period is a little after they send it to the account people often have found other roommates through other accounts, websites, or apps.”
