Welcome to your new dorm! A lot of new students are going to have random roommates, and you might be one of those. It could feel daunting to have to share your space with other people you don’t know, especially during your first year living away from home. Don’t worry- a lot of students feel the same way about having to learn how to work with new people. Here are some tips for working with your new roommate to lead to a smooth semester!
Cleaning The Room
While you do not have a large room to worry about, it's surprising how fast dust gathers in a dorm room! Talk to your roommate about scheduling cleaning times, or what part of the room each person is responsible for. Do you want the top part of the fridge and not the bottom? Do you want to only clean your side of the floor? Talk about it!
Sleep Schedules
While RIT tries to match up roommates with people who have similar sleeping habits, college tends to be a great time for those habits to change. Discuss with your roommate whether you like sleeping early, late, etc. Having somebody get up before you can ruin your sleep, same for having somebody stay up hours after your bedtime. Discuss what you do and don’t want to see, even as sleeping habits change due to classes and how exhausted students tend to be.
Food and Dishes
Dorms are going to have a microwave and a fridge that both people are able to make use of. Tell your roommate if you have any allergies or other food issues that could be a concern! Plus, discuss rules for leaving food out. Do you have issues with a messy microwave, food lying in the microwave, crumbs on the floor, or dishes being left out? Talk about this during the start of the semester. As a good rule of thumb, you want to keep your side as clean as possible so as not to be a problem. This is the time to break messy habits!
Communicate, Communicate, Communicate!
You want to communicate a lot with your roommate! One thing you might have noticed for the rest of these tips is that communication is mentioned in every one of them. This is because the best way to get along with a roommate is to talk about things. Be willing to make compromises. Be willing to clean up your side and sometimes clean up the floor too, even if it's not your half of the floor. Try to sleep at a decent hour (which is something you should be doing regardless!)
Finding Common Interests
You might not be able to befriend your roommate, and that’s okay as long as you can work alongside them and get along over the semester. However, it's always better to have a friend, especially for your starting semester of college when you won’t know anybody! Do you have similar majors or interests? Any shows you both like? Same favorite animal? Maybe you both have a chubby orange cat at home that you miss dearly. Communication is key, but it could be great to go further and try to develop a real friendship. If you do, you can even room together for your second year- saving you the hassle of living with another new person!
About the author
My name is Elizabeth Sanabria, a New Media Interactive Development major, hailing from Yonkers, New York. My life passions are drawing, writing, and as expected for a RIT student- playing video games. I’m ready to share what RIT and the surrounding Rochester area has to offer for prospective students and newcomers!
