Meeting My College Roommate

I absolutely adore my freshman year roommate, and I really could not have asked for anyone better than Lizzy. She is sweet, funny, personable, and a great person to live with for my first year of college. Lizzy and I met online when we read each other’s Facebook profile in the Purdue Class of 2024 group page. We found out that we lived 15 minutes away from each other and ended up having a lot in common. In true COVID lockdown fashion, we even had the opportunity to have a socially-distant get-together and meet each other in person. Once we both settled on Purdue and after many rooming specific discussions, we decided to live together which was one of the best decisions we made freshman year.

Your roommate needs to be someone who will respect you and your space the entire year. It is important to make sure both of your habits won’t clash and make it challenging to live together. Looking back on that experience and others I have had with roommates in the years since, I have some tips for when it comes to finding the right person to room with.

Start with your learning community

If you are applying to join one of the many learning communities at Purdue, make sure to find someone who also wants to live in the same space. Lizzy and I were both in the Honors College which requires living in the honors dorms your first year. It was also extremely beneficial for both of us to be engineers since we took the same honors engineering classes and could help each other. Living in a specific community really helped us narrow down our options because we could only room with another person in the Honors College. This also holds true for learning communities such as the Women in Engineering Learning Community in Meredith South where you will room with another woman in engineering in that community. This makes learning communities a solid starting point for finding your roommate!

Communication is key

Lizzy and I had many FaceTime calls and met up a few times before committing to be roommates with each other. These discussions are important to have to make sure you really know the person you will be sharing a room with for the next year. Some talking points for these discussions should be things like working preferences, sleep schedules, how often you plan on being in the room, and what goals you and your roommate might have for college. These things if not discussed honestly could lead to conflict later on. It is also okay if these things might change when you get to school–you can’t predict the future–, so just be sure to have these conversations with your roommate. Things worked out for me and Lizzy even though we had completely different schedules. On nights when she would start working at 10:00pm, I would sleep like a rock right through it. I also did my best to silently pack up and leave the room for my 7:30 class so she could sleep. We also let each other know when we were using the room to study or have other friends over. The bottom line here is communication here is key, before and during your time on campus.

It is OKAY if your roommate is not your BFF

This statement can be taken two ways. First, it might not be the best option for you to room with your best friend from high school if you are not compatible as roommates. If you are more messy and your best friend is extremely tidy, this might clash once you are in the same living space. Also, sometimes this might feel limiting, and rooming with another person will allow you to meet more people right when you get to school! However, rooming with a friend from home can be a comforting and great experience as long as you have compatible ideas for shared living spaces. Second, despite who you choose as a roommate, you might find later that you and your roommate simply co-exist more than being best friends, which is totally okay! As long as you and your roommate continue to respect each other and your individual spaces, you can live peacefully and stress-free. You can also find your people and community through classes, WIE, or clubs. Ultimately your room should be a comfortable environment for you to call a “home away from home”. You can also make spaces in your building other than your bedroom feel like home. Most dorms have nice lounge spaces to study or hang out with friends too!

If you are ever struggling, talk to your RA

If things are just not working, please go talk to your residential assistant (RA) to help you through the situation. They are there to help mitigate conflict and help with resolutions between roommates. At the beginning of the semester, you sign a “roommate contract” with your RAs present that sets the expectations in a way with higher authority present. While it might seem silly, it also serves as a more firm way to set expectations with your roommate. Your RA can also step in should a situation call for it.


I really could not have asked for a better freshman year roommate than Lizzy! There are so many moments from my freshman year that I am so glad that I had her around. We helped each other with homework, getting ready for social events, talking about our boy drama, troubleshooting robots that didn’t work, and just talking through things that came up in our lives. Lizzy and I had created a safe space in our room and treated each other and our spaces with great respect. To me, she really set the standard for what a great roommate should be!


If you have any more questions about this topic or anything else, feel free to reach out to us in our social media or over email.

Becca Jennings, MSE '24

WE Link Leadership Team

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