By Katie Naymon
Going to college with your high school friends can be awesome. They’ll get all of your inside jokes, they make college feel a bit more comfortable, and you’re guaranteed to have a good friend the moment you step on campus for the first time. A lot of people go to college with a friend or two from high school, and some take it a step further: they room with them. Her Campus talked to students across the country about the pros and cons of rooming with their high school friends in college.
Pros
You can discuss the rooming situation in person
Since you and your classmate likely live close-by, you can actually sit down together and plan out your room! Because you’re avoiding the random housing lottery altogether, you won’t need to worry about the preferences of someone you haven’t even met yet. So go ahead, talk about decorating your room and coordinate who’s bringing what. It will be way easier to figure this out with someone you already know.
You’ll already have common ground
Rooming with an old classmate means they know your background and what your hometown is like. You won’t have to defend your giant Chicago Bulls poster or get confused looks when you talk about your crazy high school teachers. These girls have experienced a similar high school experience as you and can commiserate over homesickness with you.
This was a huge plus for Paige, a sophomore at Boston College. “We went to a really a small, Catholic all girls high school, but we were never best friends. So now it's like we already have a ton of common ground,” she says. “It's been really great, I wouldn't trade it for anything.”
Alyssa, a sophomore at Ohio University, roomed with a high school friend and loved it for the same reason as Paige. “I'd say the nicest thing was having someone who had a clue about your past life. Sometimes you come to college and no one really understands you because they don't know where you come from. Having someone who shares history with you is comforting,” she says.
There’s no awkward “getting to know you” period
Entering the random roommate lottery can be nerve-wracking. Living in small quarters with someone else for the first time inevitably means you’ll have to compromise and sort things out as you get to know your roommate. Living with someone you already know and like skips this stage altogether. “Living with my friend from high school was great because we already knew each other so well, so it wasn't nerve-wracking or uncomfortable moving in like it could be with a stranger. We already knew what each other's personalities and habits were like so it was easier to adjust to living with each other,” says Michelle, a senior at University of North Carolina. However, this is only true if you’re rooming with a close friend. You might not have the same comfort level with a mere acquaintance from high school!
You won't get a weird random roommate
Most girls want a roommate who will respect their social, sleeping and cleaning habits. But unfortunately, with a random lottery system, you may get bad luck and end up with someone who has a completely different lifestyle than you. Many colleges have you fill out a brief survey prior to matching, but those can be overly simplistic. “The questions they ask you on matching surveys [at my college] don't ask about sleeping schedules so my roommate and I went to bed and woke up at completely different times. It was a nightmare,” says Emma, a sophomore at Purdue. Living with someone you already know allows you to bypass this system, if you have similar habits.
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