A tiny dorm room isn’t ideal for most college freshmen, but sharing a room is something most freshmen will have to get used to. Students should be aware that roommates can affect your life more than expected. Bruce Sacerdote, Professor of Economics at Dartmouth, wrote in a study, “Roommate effects are important influences in freshman year GPA and in decisions to join social organizations.”

The scenarios of how roommates can affect your freshman year are endless. For example, before the school year begins, roommates talk about joining different organizations which can include going Greek. Another example is studying for an exam while every other roommate may suggest going to a party. While being away from home, first year students may have the desire to be social, instead of studying. College is all about learning how to be an independent adult and accountable for your actions, so if there starts to be a sign of lower grades and there is a direct correlation with your roommates, then something must be done to fix the situation.

Here are tips on how to fix roommate problems:

1. Speak up to your roommate, tell them you have priorities and that you need to find a way to accommodate each other in such a small space. Read the rest of this entry »

The first day of class is just days away for many college campuses. That day can be very emotional for any student. However, there may be no one more emotional than the incoming freshmen. The first day of college is more than just attending a new class, it’s entering a whole new world.

It’s been 12 years since I had my first day of classes. Many of my biggest fears came true that day. I couldn’t find a place to park, I got lost, and I was very late to my first class. It was a public speaking course. The first assignment was to give a quick speech about the person sitting next to you. My partner had very little time to interview me as I was so late. Her speech went something like, “I can only assume she’s not a very punctual person given she was so late today.” That got her a laugh and me a red face.

Looking back, I find it funny, too. But that day I was ready to cash in my chips and assume college wasn’t for me. Our emotions have a way of getting the best of us. By my final semester I had made many more mistakes, been late a million more times, and still managed to get lost on campus after all those years. Those issues among a million others seemed to happen to everyone though, and after a few years of it, the fretting stopped and it was just understood that college is a dynamic environment. Everyone was trying to find their way, it wasn’t just me who struggled from time to time.

More than a decade later, I wondered what today’s freshmen were dealing with. What fears are keeping them up at night as they prepare for their first day. I asked several members of the class of 2016 and here’s what they said were their biggest fears: Read the rest of this entry »

When I was in high school, I had a self-imposed bedtime and woke up at the same time every morning in order to go to my classes. As a result, I got eight hours of sleep every night and felt more energized and aware when I woke up in the mornings. My energy levels stayed high throughout the day and when it was time to go to bed at night, I fell asleep easily.

All that changed when I went to college. During my freshman year, I would stay up until 4:00 A.M. one night, wake up at noon, and then go to bed at 10:00 P.M. in order to wake up for my 8:00 A.M. class the next day. My sleep schedule was completely wacky, and as a result, my overall health suffered.

It turns out I was not alone. Many freshmen struggle with getting enough sleep as they transition into college. Also, when freshmen do sleep, they tend to think that they are getting a better quality of rest than they really are.

Read the rest of this entry »

Being a college roommate is not easy. If housing services “matches” you with someone you’re far from compatible with, you’re going to have to make the most of it. While you’ll likely find ways to be amicable and keep the peace while you’re in the room, conflicts are sure to arise.

You’re not at home and you can’t run to tell your parents. They can’t fix it. This is one of those times you’ll have to resolve the problem on your own. And hopefully your roommate is responsive to your polite and friendly suggestions for living peacefully under one concrete ceiling.

Here we take a look at a few common points of tension, and the best ways to fix them.

Neat Freak vs. Pack Rat

Everyone’s definition of clean will vary. You need to work together early in the relationship to define what that will look like in your room. Read the rest of this entry »

Dorm rooms across the country are beginning to fill with doe-eyed college freshmen and slightly jaded sophomores. It’s an exciting time, as for most students it’s the first address they’ve ever had that they didn’t share with their parents. You might have shared a room with your little brother or sister at home, but we promise you few people will take tattling seriously in your dorm if your roommate touches your stuff.

Living with a college roommate isn’t as bad as you might have heard or have imagined in your head, usually. Whether you and your dorm roommate are bound to be life-long friends, or counting the days until holiday break to get away from one another, we want to show you how to start off on the right foot. Read the rest of this entry »

We thought this was too good not to share with you. What started at CollegeHumor is making its way around the Web faster than a rumor in the dorm.

What is pasted here is an excerpt from an exchange between two new college roommates on Facebook. Nolan originally reached out to Jordan to make the transition to living together in a 10×10 cell, I mean room, a little more amicable. Nolan, a pre-med student, volunteered to bring the fridge and asked that Jordan bear some of the responsibility by bringing the microwave. Jordan argued that by bringing the Xbox and a TV that Nolan should go ahead and pick up the microwave “with a popcorn setting.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Living in the dorms. Everyone knows it is a huge part of the college experience. I lived on an all-girls floor at the University of Oklahoma during my freshman year and met my best friends there. I will never forget the late night trips to the ice-cream shop and “The Bachelor” marathons we watched together. I loved my dorm girls more than anything else my freshman year. I cannot imagine what it would have been like if I had gone to Stanford, The University of Chicago, or any of the other 50 universities where co-ed dorm rooms are now available.

As is to be expected, many parents are deeply troubled by this. However, if a boy and a girl are going to be sharing a dorm room, you would at least hope that they wanted that arrangement.  Read the rest of this entry »

Living in a small dorm room with a total stranger is a universally stressful experience.  Learning to be polite and considerate to each other is a must, as is mature, open communication about what the two of you expect from each other. But if you really want to get on your roommate’s nerves, here are 20 great strategies.

1. Use your snooze button whenever possible.
2. Avoid cleaning, especially things involving food and dirty underwear.
3. Have an extra loud ring tone, and make sure it goes off in the middle of the night.
4. Have an extra loud everything, for that matter. The noisier you are, the better.
5. Make sure you have lots of company whenever your roommate has an exam.
6. Buy a comforter that completely clashes with your roommate’s.
7. Borrow your roommate’s things–no biggie, right?
8. Break your roommate’s things–no biggie, right?
9. Gossip about your roommate to everyone on the floor.
10. Forget to mention that visitors have stopped by.
11. Spill perfume or cologne in the room.
12. Study in the room all the time.
13. Eat your roommate’s food, and drink his or her milk right out of the carton.
14. Make sure your guests are rude to your roommate.
15. If you have a “special” guest, be sure to be be intimate in front of your roommate.
16. Eat things in the room that gross your roommate out.
17. Spill things on your roommate’s homework
18. Be rude when your roommate’s parents visit (bonus points for being drunk).
19. Put political and religious messages all over your side of the room that your roommate disagrees with.
20. Flirt with your roommate’s ex–or current.

Incoming students, your first year of college is just months away! And like many freshmen, you may be about to experience the most frustrating part of adjusting to school: living with a total stranger in a tiny dorm room. However, with a good attitude, life with a roommate doesn’t need to be painful. And the first thing you can do is establish a good relationship with your roommate over the summer before school starts.

As soon as you get information about your new roommate, make contact. Back in the “old days” when I went to college (1988), that meant a phone call. Of course, today there’s email. And if you’re both on Facebook or MySpace, add each other for sure. Getting to know each other a little bit now will make the transition easier, and you can use cyberspace to do this easily.

When meeting your roommate, keep an open mind. When I first called my roommate, I felt like she was looking for things not to like about me. Don’t do this. You certainly don’t have to be best friends with your roommate, or even friends at all—but you will have a much easier time if the two of you are friendly to and respectful of each other. So assume the best about your roommate, especially at first.

Once you get to know each other a little, summer is a good time to talk about expectations you have about the room, or even to draw up a roommate contract. Compromise is important, but it’s also important that you let each other know what you expect. For example, if one of you isn’t cool with overnight visits from the opposite sex, get that out in the open now before it becomes a problem. If cleanliness is very important to you, let that be known.

On a more practical note, summer is a good time to discuss things you’re going to bring to the room. One of you might choose to bring the fridge, and other the rug. You can also discuss color schemes to make sure things don’t horribly clash.

If you can, meet your roommate in person. This will make the first day in the dorm a whole lot less weird. If you live close to one another, get together for coffee or lunch. If you’re a long drive away from each other, consider getting together for lunch on campus, or invite your roommate over to your home.

Spend some time getting to know your roommate over the summer. Remember, freshman year is stressful, and the time you take to establish a comfortable relationship with your roommate can make things much easier.