by Caitlin Fletcher

Seniors have lived in their own houses, in their own beds for 18 years. They may have shared a room, or they may have always had their room to themselves. They might be clean, or they could be a slob. Next year, seniors will be living away from home and now, they just have to pick a person to share a room with.

Going potluck

Will she be a soccer player? A singer? A business major? Senior Madeline Barth has no idea because she decided that if she goes to the University of Kansas, she will be going potluck.

What does this mean? It means that you sign your housing contract without putting someone on the sheet of paper saying you would like to room with them. It means that, more likely than not, you will not know the person who you will be spending your freshman year of college living with.

“I’m excited to meet new people by having a roommate I’m not already friends with,” Barth said. “I’ve never shared a room with a girl either because I don’t have sisters, so I’ll get to see what that’s like.”

While Barth said she is more excited than she is nervous, there are still some things that worry her.

“Now that someone mentioned [stealing], I’m a little worried about [it],” Barth said. “What would you say if all of the sudden some of your stuff was slowly going missing? That would be so awkward.”

Barth is also worried she will have a roommate she doesn’t necessarily get along with. However, according to Barth, this is a better option for her than rooming with someone she is already good friends with.

“My mom always told me she roomed with her best friend and they had to switch at semester because it didn’t work out,” Barth said. “I don’t want to lose a friend over problems we might have rooming together.”

Friendly faces

Jackson and Wilhelmus will be attending the University of Missouri in the fall and will be rooming with each other as opposed to going potluck or searching online for a roommate.

“I decided I didn’t want someone crazy, so I decided to go with someone I know,” Wilhelmus said.

Both Jackson and Wilhelmus knew they wouldn’t want to room with someone they didn’t know when they started looking for a roommate.

“I never even considered rooming with someone I didn’t know,” Jackson said. “I’m very particular, so I didn’t want to room with someone I didn’t know and didn’t trust.”

According to Wilhelmus, she and Jackson are both laid back and similar so rooming together will not be a problem.

“I mean, we know we both don’t want someone to steal our clothes, both of us are laid back, we both like to eat a lot so our refrigerators will be stuffed and we go to bed at the same time,” Wilhelmus said.

According to Jackson, they are not worried about rooming together because they are friends but they are not too close that they will drive each other crazy. And unlike Barth, Wilhelmus would be more worried about having issues with a roommate because she doesn’t know them, not because she does.

“I don’t really see [Alex and I] getting in fights,” Wilhelmus said. “I decided to room with her instead of someone I don’t know because I don’t want to risk having all these issues with them when I know I won’t have them with Alex.”

They both agree that rooming together will be a nice familiarity in a new place.

“It’s just nice to have someone you know when you’re thrown into a new setting that is totally different than what you’re used to,” Jackson said.

Online search

Ever heard of online dating? Well, this approach to finding a roommate is very similar. Some colleges have a “room surf” website which allows students to log in and create a profile for themselves, including what they look for in a potential roommate. Students then browse the website and contact potential roommates. The University of Mississippi has this option and senior Allison Hogan decided to do it.

“You can look at all the girls who signed up for housing,” Hogan said. “It was really helpful and easy to do.”

Hogan has already found her roommate for next year, Suzannah Merritt from Fort Worth, Tex. However, Merritt wasn’t the first girl Hogan talked to about being roommates.

“I had talked to a few girls, but I had talked to Suzannah the most and when I had made my final decision on Ole Miss we just decided that we wanted to room together,” Hogan said.

One of the girls Hogan considered rooming with was fellow STA senior Morgan Trees. However, in the end they both ended up applying to room surf and finding a different roommate.

“Morgan and I had kind of talked about rooming together and getting a third roommate who we didn’t know, but I think we both wanted to do something different and have the experience of rooming with someone new,” Hogan said.

The possibility of meeting new people wasn’t only the reason Hogan decided to find a roommate who she didn’t know before.

“[Meeting new people] was one of my deciding factors between KU and Ole Miss,” Hogan said. “I knew going to KU would mean I would have mostly the same friends and a roommate who I knew. While at Ole Miss, I would only have a small group of people I knew and a whole new atmosphere.”

Although Hogan will be meeting new people next year, she is not unfamiliar with her roommate. Since finding each other on room surf, the two have been in contact.

“I was extremely nervous at first, but so far, it could not have turned out better,” Hogan said. “I’m not nervous anymore at all because I feel like I know her well enough to know she’s not really weird or anything like that. I’m happy I’m doing this instead of rooming with someone I know or going out of my comfort zone.”