Kira Drury
“It’s like a situationship,” commented senior Caroline Sniffen. This is how stressed-out seniors describe the search for college roommates. With applications, acceptance letters, and more AP classes than is good for someone’s mental health, senior year is a stressful ten months. Then add the search for a roommate, and the amount of stress makes sleep almost impossible. All colleges have different ways of finding a roommate. Whether schools offer major-specific housing, off-campus housing, or match-making through social media platforms, seniors reflected that the process of finding a roommate can be confusing and challenging.
Helen Hutchison will be attending Vassar College next year, majoring in French and Francophone studies. Vassar is about a 45-minute drive from Cold Spring; however, the college does not generally allow students to live at home and requires them to apply for permission. Hutchison has not yet talked to any potential roommates, but stated that Vassar’s housing process and application are all online. To all the juniors going through this process next year, she said it really depends on the school when and how you start looking for a roommate.
Amelia Alayon is off to the University of Rhode Island, majoring in marine biology. She applied for a roommate through an Instagram page. Her school has something called “living-learning communities.” Each major has a certain community and area of dorms. To increase their chances of being placed in a certain dorm, it’s recommended that students try to find a roommate with the same major.
Alayon said that finding a roommate is simply going back and forth between different people and having the same conversation. Eventually, you hit it off with someone. Alayon started talking to a potential roommate on Instagram, but the girl had planned to room with someone else. Fortunately for Alayon, the girl’s planned roommate later decided on a different college. Now she can be Alayon’s roommate– but they still have to apply for a dorm.
Kira Drury will be studying nursing at the University of Vermont. She hopes to room with just one person because she doesn’t want to be thrown into a living space with a group of new people her first year. At her school, there is specialized housing; when you apply for a room, you rank your top five housing options. The only catch is you don’t always get your first choice.
Drury has not yet found a roommate, but she has submitted information to an Instagram page that helps people connect with potential roommates. The post contains about ten pictures of her and a bio about her interests. Drury says it’s like “speed dating for roommates.” She has been very stressed throughout the process, since her school has no guaranteed housing. Plus, as someone under 18, she can’t rent housing in the town closest to campus. Her advice to juniors is that “if you know what school you are applying to, find people who want to go there or are going there and connect with them now.” This way, you know what the school has to offer. In a very serious tone, Drury added, “START SOON. DO NOT WAIT.”
Wilson Robohm will be studying communication science at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. However, the area where the university is located is in the middle of a housing crisis. The school provides no dorms to students, so college students are competing with other residents for housing. Most landlords prefer to rent out their homes to older renters. Luckily, for Robohm’s first year, he has found family friends to stay with.
Whether through Instagram, school-promoted apps, or college surveys, many students are using digital platforms to secure their roommates. Each of them has similar advice for the rising seniors: secure housing sooner rather than later, as it is a stressful and competitive endeavor.