You walk into the room you'll be spending your first year of college in with your arms full, no pun intended. It's 8:03 A.M. and you got there bright and early to "beat the rush" and be the first one in the room, and claim your niche of the domain… evidently not fast enough.
You quickly size up your new roommate of whom you may have seen pictures of and spoken to online, but never seen face to face before. Just as quickly you make a brief assessment of the room, and the parents or siblings who may be helping move everything in.
Here is a crucial time in the infancy of one's college career that they must make a good first impression, getting along with your roommate. In most cases, it really can be hit or miss on whether the two (or possibly more) "click" in a way that defines them as either friends or merely co-tenants in the same living space.
If you share similar interests, study habits, career aspirations, and values, this big time of transition can certainly be made more enjoyable, and overall less stressful. On the other hand, if you tend to notice that the person who will be sleeping and working merely feet away from you is not what you had anticipated, or just "not your type" Don't worry! This does not mean you can't still get along in a way that puts you on good terms with one another.
Most of the time, how well roommates interact can be easily seen within the first few weeks of school, sometimes even sooner. Below is a list of things all incoming students can do to help their relations with a new roommate, and the answers may not be as surprising as you might think.
#1 Be Sociable: when you first meet the new roommate. Don't be afraid to say hello to them and their families when you first meet them. This not only lets your roommate know your happy to meet them, it helps put the parents at ease too, which in some cases can be equally as taxing for many residents who keep close contact with parents freshman year. Find out what interests they have, and what their major is, what their goals are, this can usually be a good indication of how well roommates can interact over time.
#2 Make your self available to help out one another. If you are the first one in to your room and have all or most of your stuff unloaded, it's best to offer to help out your roommates and their families bring all the stuff into the room. As much as you want to explore around campus, get your books and supplies, meet new people, you will have all of the coming weeks to do this, particularly in a freshman setting too remember everyone is going through the same process and all are eager and probably somewhat anxious to get going on their college experience.
#3 Be respectful of each others stuff. If you're going to eat your roommate's food, use their computer, watch their movies etc. it's best to simply check in with one another at first to make sure this is cool. In most cases, this will not be a problem at all, but by checking in with one another it helps build trust and lets your roommate know that you respect what theirs and not yours simply because its in the room. This applies to not only roommates, but all friends of roommates who might be over as well.
#4 Be respectful of each other's space. Remember, you are sharing this room with someone who may have a schedule at times completely independent of yours. If your roommate is working on a paper or studying, and you want to have some friends over, it's best to check in first and see if this is okay. Most of the time if this will result in one of you having to move, either the roommate who is working going to the library or lounge, or the roommate wanting to have people over going somewhere else, which brings to the next point, which is the best way to help solve disputes that may possibly arise throughout the year.
#5 Be willing to compromise with one another. Chances are, your will have disagreements over space, time to shut lights out, music or TV volume, having people over; the list goes on. In any disagreement, it's best to address the issues before they can escalate into a confrontation, which in many cases can result in relationships as roommates or friends being hurt and further confrontations arising. Tell your roommate you want to respect their wishes and ask them that they try and accommodate for yours as well.
#6 Overall, be supportive of one another. This transcends into a number of areas, friends relationships, family, athletics, student organizations, jobs, classes, grades etc. There is a lot to keep mind in the course of the year, don't be afraid to wish your roommate good luck on something, and see how they are doing now and then. Do be respectful of each other's privacy, use good judgment depending on how good of a relationship roommates have don't be afraid to talk about stuff that might be on your mind from time to time.
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