To help you approach your new living arrangements with the right attitude and to make the best of your experience on campus, here are a few guidelines to have and to be a great roommate.
Roommate relationships begin first and foremost with the choices you make. Regardless of how dissimilar you and your new roommate (or even your suitemates) may be, you hold the power to make your living situation successful.
If you can’t make the decision to get along, all of the advice in the world will be useless when a conflict arises. So, open up your mind and prepare for a new experience. Make the best of your living situation and experience campus living with a fresh start.
Many incoming first-year students have never shared a living space before and are used to having things their own way when it comes to their living environment. Your roommate is working to share the space, just like you are. So, be respectful of your roommate’s belongings and area of the room and try to work out a living arrangement that is suitable for you both.
If you have suitemates, you will be sharing a bathroom space as well. Conversations about respecting community areas shouldn’t stop with your roommate – many of the same discussions would be beneficial to have with your suitemates.
A good way for you and your new roommate to get to know one another is to simply ask questions. This might seem somewhat intrusive and uncomfortable at first, but in the long run you’ll see that doing so proves worthwhile. Social media can also be a good way to informally get to know and talk to one another before actually moving in together; however, don’t form opinions of your roommate based solely on the information provided on these sites.
Maintaining open communication is imperative. Establishing the similarities and differences in your living styles, habits, and interests is the basis for creating an enjoyable living environment.
Create some ground rules from the start. When developing friendships, people generally try to be extra considerate, but it is important to have a mutual understanding of one another. Speak up from the start, and don’t just find a compromise. Collaborate and come up with a living plan to suit you both.
Establishing guidelines in the beginning will be much easier than doing so after you have already developed a relationship with your roommate. The longer you wait, the more difficult it is to give your opinion and state your views without the possibility of offending your roommate. Agree on some basic rules in the beginning and save yourselves an argument later on. Feel free to refer back to those rules periodically and make modifications if necessary.
Conflict is perfectly normal, but knowing how to deal with the conflict can sometimes be a challenging task. When a conflict does surface, you have yet another choice to make. You can choose to constructively confront the situation(s) at hand or you can choose to ignore it. In general, ignoring a problem often makes the problem worse, and it doesn’t disappear like we might hope it will. Try to work it out as best you can.
Remember, there is no such thing as a “perfect” roommate relationship. Everyone squabbles, but how you choose to handle it will set the course for the remainder of the year.
Decide together how you will confront one another if an issue does come up, so you will feel comfortable in discussing the situation. Set up a meeting in a neutral place rather than diving into immediate confrontation. Be very straight forward. Say “When you do x in situation y, I feel z.”
Be honest about your needs, thoughts and feelings. If you find that you just need space away from one another, try making a schedule to allow each individual personal time in the room, get involved in the activities on campus, and develop a life away from your room. This will not only give you and your roommate time apart, but it will help you to meet other people as well.
Not every conflict can be solved without outside advice. So if all else fails, don’t be afraid to involve your Resident Assistant and take advice from an unbiased third party. That’s what they’re here for.
If you find that a solution cannot be reached between you and your roommate, you do have the option of speaking with your Residential Life Coordinator. Due to limited professional staff availability, we certainly recommend attempting to solve the issue first in order to avoid drawing out the situation unnecessarily.
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