Finding a roommate

[jbclone10]

I was suppose to room with a high school buddy and it fell through last minute. Got paired up with a rando and it couldn’t have been better for me. Didn’t mind my roommate… different hobbies / interests but we got along fine. More importantly it got me out of my comfort zone and forced me to meet new friends who I ended up liking a lot more than my HS friends That went to ISU.

also wanted to add that summer in Ames is fun but only if you’ve got some friends doing the same thing. Pretty quiet honestly.

 

[carvers4math]

My multiple kids have done the roommate deal multiple ways and it has always worked out fine. Never done the Facebook thing but that’s probably fine too.

Non ISU kid met someone at a spring orientation thing that became his roommate. First ISU kid roomed with his high school best friend, it was fine. The roommate kept going home to see girlfriend so luckily my son had met a lot of people while he was gone so he had friends too when girlfriend dumped him.

Next ISU kid roomed with friend he had met at Scout camp from another town. Last two sons went randoms and that worked out too.

What amazingly worked was when two youngest got an apartment together during early Covid. They were helping home school a little cousin with cancer and wanted to limit her exposure. Thought that might be a disaster.

I had a bad experience with a random when my roommate dropped out after first term when her mom was dying from cancer. The woman they put in my room met some guy the moment she arrived, and I became a nomad in other rooms cause of the constant sex. Guy was really creepy and would try to hit on everyone on the women’s dorm floor he was essentially living in.

 

[Antihawk240]

I would strongly encourage her to go random. Both my wife and I went random. My wife, roomed with a girl from Minnesota and they remain best friends to date. They spent (2) years together in dorms, then along with (2) more girls from their floor moved into an apartment where they stayed for (3) years and graduated. The (4) of them were of different walks of life and grew up far away from each other. The (4) remain very close to this day and have an annual reunion each summer.

I took a random roommate as well. We certainly were nice to each other and got along just fine. We both had opposite interests and that became obvious quickly. I like to say we perfectly helped each other get through the tough (2) weeks of not knowing very many people. It worked so well that we roomed together for (2) years. During that time we both met different groups and I moved into an apartment after (2) years with my friends and he moved into an apartment with his. Never saw much of each other after the dorms except he shared a last name very close to mine alphabetically. He sat literally right in front of me at graduation. We talked for about 30 minutes after graduation about our next chapters then our girlfriends/fiances took our picture together. We hugged, shook hands, turned and walked away and we havent seen each other since. Not sure what he is upto now or how the world has spun for him. I would enjoy the day and would take time to catch up if ever our paths crossed again.

 

[cyclonespiker33]

Go to the games and sit in the student section or apply to be on the WBB team scrimmage team. No idea if VB has male scrimmage players.

The volleyball team scrimmages against guys from the men's club team

 

[isufrEEk]

I mostly agree with that random is the way to go. I did that too and I'm still good friends with my roommate. We told her that she couldn't room with anyone from high school. My biggest worry is that she may get someone who has strong political leanings that are quite different from my daughter. Ten years ago that wouldn't have been a concern but in this day and age, it is to me, unfortunately.

 

[ISUCyclones2015]

I mostly agree with that random is the way to go. I did that too and I'm still good friends with my roommate. We told her that she couldn't room with anyone from high school. My biggest worry is that she may get someone who has strong political leanings that are quite different from my daughter. Ten years ago that wouldn't have been a concern but in this day and age, it is to me, unfortunately.

To be honest, who cares?

I think part of college is to really experience that type of stuff and learn to deal with people with different beliefs and values than the mostly aligned you have in a high school. And I say this from either side and any direction the roommate might be. My freshman roommate and I were vastly different individuals but we got along for the most part, that’s what makes it interesting and fun.

 

[CycloneErik]

Since we're talking about a living space, this groupthink about randomness being better makes no sense at all. You want that space to be a rather familiar, safe-ish one. If I were doing it again, I'd only move in with someone I already knew well.

If anyone wonders about bias, part of this answer comes from a dislike for random things (outside of work), and part from doing the random thing. Couldn't study there, dude actually stole money from me, something else brought us the involvement of campus police. It was a ****** deal that isn't that hard a possibility to see coming. I wouldn't recommend it at all. It's ridiculous.

Do the random, meet people stuff with clubs, classes, and what not. That's why they're there.

 

[ISUCyclones2015]

Since we're talking about a living space, this groupthink about randomness being better makes no sense at all. You want that space to be a rather familiar, safe-ish one. If I were doing it again, I'd only move in with someone I already knew well.

If anyone wonders about bias, part of this answer comes from a dislike for random things (outside of work), and part from doing the random thing. Couldn't study there, dude actually stole money from me, something else brought us the involvement of campus police. It was a ****** deal that isn't that hard a possibility to see coming. I wouldn't recommend it at all. It's ridiculous.

Do the random, meet people stuff with clubs, classes, and what not. That's why they're there.

I was the first person from my high school to go to the state of Iowa for University. So I obviously didn’t even have the opportunity for someone familiar.

That being said, I disagree. Most people are good people or at a minimum not gonna steal ****. It’s 99% young kids trying to figure out life and adulthood together which will build bonds. Yea sometimes it doesn’t work out or even over 50% of the time. But it teaches valuable lessons on dealing with randoms you’re gonna have to deal with the rest of your life

 

[BCClone]

If I did it again, I’d have roomed with dancers from big earls. They are just dancing to put themselves through college. You would have the place to yourself at nights and weekends.

 

[cymate]

My daughter is going to ISU in the fall. We don't want her to room with a high school friend. What is the best way to find a good roommate match?

Honest question what is the wrong with her rooming with a highschool friend? Personally my random roommate all 2 years was a terrible experience. College is such a weird time, hey just go live with someone random for 9 months.

just my 2 cents.

 

[CycloneErik]

I was the first person from my high school to go to the state of Iowa for University. So I obviously didn’t even have the opportunity for someone familiar.

That being said, I disagree. Most people are good people or at a minimum not gonna steal ****. It’s 99% young kids trying to figure out life and adulthood together which will build bonds. Yea sometimes it doesn’t work out or even over 50% of the time. But it teaches valuable lessons on dealing with randoms you’re gonna have to deal with the rest of your life

Sure, the stealing is rare. The other parts, probably not so much.
You can get all those lessons on dealing with randoms outside of the place you live. It's probably a whole lot healthier that way, as well.

 

[TitanClone]

Even if she rooms with a high school friend, she'll meet tons of new friends. Just tell her to not come home the first month, at all. That's the most important time.

This. If the friend is a good friend that's the way to go IMO. Being in the dorms is literally the easiest way in the world to make friends, having a good roommate could make or break the situation tho since you're with them every night.

 

[cytor]

I went random and it was awesome. Best way to meet people and become friends. My first roomie was ok, but he pledged a frat and moved out (which was fine because he partied too much).
My 2nd roomie was the best man in my wedding and I was the best man in his.
Definitely go random.

 

[cyclonespiker33]

I ended up rooming with someone that went to the same high school as me but we almost never talked during HS. We don't have a ton in common, but it worked out great. His second year, he had a random roommate. The three of us lived in a townhome our 3rd and 4th years (and their 5th) and they continue to be my best friends.

 

[CYdTracked]

I did the random roommate thing in the dorms my 1st 2 years with mixed results. Freshman year I got assigned to a room with a guy that was a sophomore previously on the floor that had a roommate backout. Got along with him fine, he was a mechanical engineer so was really into his studies during the week but would go out on the weekend. Probably really didn't settle into fun groove with him until 2nd semester but never any real drama between us. Had a fun floor of guys that I found a bunch of new friends with right away. Second year the script was flipped and I was the sophomore that stayed on the same floor and taking in a new freshman roommate. This kid was also an engineer but much different personality than my previous room. Very into the sci-fi stuff and had some weird friends and was not into drinking at all which made some awkward moments when I would pop a beer open in the room on a random night as it made him neverous since we were both underage. I got along with him OK but never really bonded as a friend with him and wound up moving out a month before end of 1st semester when I got hired on as a Resident Assistant to take over for a guy that got fired. Found out that early 2nd semester the guys on the floor finally got the kid to open up and he all the sudden was a big lush and started drinking so dunno what I was doing wrong LOL!

The random roommate thing can either work out great or bad really. Met a girl my freshman year that had a horrible roommate. Apparently even though she had a boyfriend at another college she was bringing random guys back to their room and having sex right there with her still in the room. She confronted her about this and said she was not comfortable with it and while she didn't mind giving her some privacy and leaving would appreciate a heads up and not just walk in the door and just start going at it with the random guy right away. That didn't go over well so would get a random call once in a while to see if any of us that were friends with her could meet up in a common area to hang out when her roommate had brought some random guy back to bang without giving her a heads up. She wound up getting a room to herself 2nd semester and said her roommate was upset she moved out which she didn't know why because it was obvious they were not getting along.

 

[Gonzo]

This. If the friend is a good friend that's the way to go IMO. Being in the dorms is literally the easiest way in the world to make friends, having a good roommate could make or break the situation tho since you're with them every night.

This is why both our daughters and their HS friends didn't want to room together at ISU. It wasn't as much a way to ensure they'd make new friends, it was more that they didn't want the HS friendships to end badly being that close to each other day in and day out for that much time.

 

[isufbcurt]

My first roommate was a absolute weirdo. To this day I am waiting to hear his name on the news connected to a missing persons or murder case. He would leave in the morning about 3:00 am and get back around 7:00 am. No alarm or nothing, just wake up and quietly leave.

I moved out over Xmas break without telling him I was going to. he was pretty shocked when he came back from break and I was in a different room on the dorm floor.

 

[Clone83]

I did the random thing and it was fine. This was before helicopter parenting was much of a thing, so you were dropped off, and everyone was basically on their own figuring things out until Thanksgiving or Christmas. Once freshman got to know others -- not all but the great majority were freshman on my floor -- there was some changing or rooms or roommates, which ISU was happy to accommodate. I'm not aware of any freshman on my floor who knew each other before starting school. Not that there weren't roommate issues, or people with issues more generally.

And it wasn't just people in your dorm that you got to know, but people elsewhere on campus, classmates, friends of your new friends and such.

We were still on the quarter system then, with Thanksgiving the break between first and second quarter, so there was greater opportunity to change rooms/roommates. Before they changed to semesters, there was also a much shorter break for Christmas.

Two of my high school friends were roommates at UI, and it didn't work out. They were different people. It wasn't planned. So there are some special considerations there.

 

[CyCrazy]

I was suppose to room with a high school buddy and it fell through last minute. Got paired up with a rando and it couldn’t have been better for me. Didn’t mind my roommate… different hobbies / interests but we got along fine. More importantly it got me out of my comfort zone and forced me to meet new friends who I ended up liking a lot more than my HS friends That went to ISU.

also wanted to add that summer in Ames is fun but only if you’ve got some friends doing the same thing. Pretty quiet honestly.

Its pretty great for us permanent Ames residences.

 

[BCClone]

My first roommate was a absolute weirdo. To this day I am waiting to hear his name on the news connected to a missing persons or murder case. He would leave in the morning about 3:00 am and get back around 7:00 am. No alarm or nothing, just wake up and quietly leave.

I moved out over Xmas break without telling him I was going to. he was pretty shocked when he came back from break and I was in a different room on the dorm floor.

Maybe the guy was out getting tail early in the morning?