It’s that time of year again! Apartment buildings all over town are gearing up for the rush of students hunting for the perfect place to live next school year. Whether you’re searching for the bare minimum or all the amenities, furnished or unfurnished, or a specific proximity to campus, there is one thing all apartment hunters have in common: choosing the perfect roommates. It’s a dilemma every collegiette™ goes through, and luckily Her Campus is here to help make your decision easier before signing the dotted line!!
Before you even begin picking out your roommates, the most important thing to do is a quick self-evaluation. Think about how you live—are you a total neat freak, or is some mess okay? Do you like to sleep in and stay up late, or do you get up with the sun and go to bed early? Is silence necessary for studying or do loud noises have no effect on you? Figuring out your habits will make it so much easier to choose the people you’d like to live with.
Next, think about your ideal roommate. Do you care if your roomies aren’t as clean as you, or do you want someone who will pull their weight with chores? Would it annoy you to live with someone who is ultra-social, or would you never want to live with a homebody? Do you want your place to be party central, or would you rather just have small get-togethers? Thinking about those sorts of things will allow you to narrow down your friend group to those you could actually live with.
Rooming with friends is by far the most convenient option, but there are some major downsides to living with your best friends. Everyone has little quirks that come out when you’re just hanging out at home, and you need to make sure you don’t choose a friend whose quirks will rival yours. If you know you tend to get stressed and overly emotional, don’t pick your friend who has stress-related meltdowns as well. Both of you could be having small breakdowns at the same time, and things like that can put a strain on your friendship. If you are particular about bringing hookups home, don’t room with the friend who has a tendency to bring back a different boy every weekend. As a general rule of thumb, do not pick friends that tend to do little things that bother you. Little things can add up fast, and you don’t want to ruin a friendship because you are living together.
When choosing your future roomies, pick the girls from your friend group that you have an equal amount of similarities and differences. If you’re too similar, things can get tense very quickly. If you’re too different, you may end up feeling really uncomfortable in your place. Neither of those situations is ideal, and you don’t want to spend the rest of the school year living with someone you no longer like. Nothing is worse than having your friendship change and being forced to live with that person for several more months.
If you have doubts about living with one of your friends, don’t live with them!! Best friends usually stay best friends when they don’t live in the same place (just look at Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte–none of them lived together and their friendships remained strong!). Plus, there are always plenty of options, and you may even gain a new best friend over the course of the school year.