Ellie Harrington wanted a roommate she could relate to so she wouldn't have to make the long trek home to Florida on weekends. Instead of throwing her fate to housing's random roommate assignment, Harrington logged onto Boston University's Class of 2014 Facebook group, where she found her perfect match.
"We had the same taste in music, both wanted to play sports, wanted to party but were also serious about school," said Harrington, a College of Arts and Sciences freshman living in Warren Towers. "It's working out really well, we get along great."
About 20 percent of entering freshman at BU request a specific roommate, many of whom find roommates via media outlets such as Facebook, URoomSurf.com or Lifetopia, according to the Office of Housing. Through these websites, students can fill out online surveys spelling out their music tastes, social life, hobbies and study habits in order to find their ideal roommate. However, due to BU's belief in diversity, Housing does not recommend students to room with their exact matches.
"I will not encourage anyone to use a social media site if it is their desire to avoid being assigned a roommate who is different," said Housing Director Marc Robillard in an email.
"The freshman experience is one of learning and exploration. Living with someone from another culture, religion, geographic area, race or whatever is an integral part of this experience."
Some schools such as Syracuse University, New York University and Drew University in New Jersey encourage the use of questionnaires within their mandatory roommate surveys in order to assign roommates who share similar interest. But BU does not agree with this method.
"People do not always tell the truth in "life style' type questionnaires; their parents have an undue influence on their responses; students' habits will change from the time they are high school seniors to college freshmen," said Robillard.
"There is no direct correlation between academic performance and assigning students who share similar habits, and we want to promote diversity and understanding and this is difficult to do if we assign "like' people together as roommates."
While random roommate assignments may work for some people, there are cases when the roommates are just different people and can't communicate effectively together.
"My roommate spends a lot of time on the computer and in the room as opposed to me, where I'll only be in the room for homework and sleeping basically," said a Warren Towers freshman who was randomly assigned and who wished to remain anonymous.
In cases like these Housing suggests that communication is important, but extreme cases may warrant a direct swap.
During her sophomore year, College of Communication junior Laura Montorio chose to live in an apartment in South Campus with one of the girls she had lived with in her freshman year. Almost immediately, the dirty dishes, uncovered food and piles of clothes raised tension within the apartment, she said.
"Unfortunately, because these individual tensions were never discussed as they arose, our friendship and roommate relationship completely deteriorated," she said. "I ended up requesting a room transfer in the last month of school due to the unbearable tension between the two of us."
In cases like these, Housing recommends seeking help from a resident assistant or residence life director to repair a roommate relationship through mediation methods or to seek a roommate change.
"Ultimately, you're paying way too much money to hate your housing situation," Montorio said. "And August to May is a long time to be unhappy."
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