Living with friends is fun and there’s (almost) never a dull moment.  There’s no awkward “Hi, I’m Alex” stage where you don’t know really how to act around your new roommate and none of that awkward/hesitant asking “if it’s okay if your roommate, you know, turns off the lights because it’s four in the morning, maybe.”

When you live with your best friends, it’s totally acceptable to cut loose and dance and sing at the top of your lungs to Ke$ha. Living with friends is fun, carefree, exciting. I wouldn’t change living with my friends for the world. On the other hand, living with a random roommate also allows you to experience new people and hang out with a different crowd.  It can be refreshing, enlightening and you may even gain a new friend out of your random housing assignment. But eventually, with any roommate no matter if she’s a friend or random, disaster strikes because you left your hairbrush out for the third time in a row.

Here are some tips to keep your roommates happy:

Do have roommate nights. Grab a bowl of popcorn, sit on the couch, or your extra long twin bed, and put in a chick-flick. My roommates and I always have Gossip Girl Mondays. Having these nights keeps your bond strong; it’s an easy way to break away from some of the stress of school, especially when it’s midterm week and you don’t say a word to your roommate because you’re cramming for your Chemistry test.

Don’t blast music when your roommate is studying. We’ve all been there—you have an exam in each 3 of your classes and an essay due, it’s 1am and the library is too far of a trek. You are focused, in the study-zone and your roommate decides to have people over for a power hour. Great. Treat your roommate the way you would want to be treated, so respect that she needs some silence and one day she will return the favor.

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Got some college questions? Unsure of a decision? Tangled up in some guy/roommate dramz? Just wanna chat it up with some really awesome chics? We’ve got the girls for you. Hit them up in the comments or shoot them an email with the subject “College Q&A”! They’ve got all the answers you need, no matter who you are.

Question
Help! My best friend from home has just informed me that she’s transferring to my school in the fall. (I knew she applied and I’m so excited to have her there, but she was on the wait-list and just found out). Anyways, she doesn’t really know that many people at my school and doesn’t want to live with all the freshmen in the dorms, so she asked if there was any extra space in my house for next year.

There is. The problem is, I don’t want to live with her. I’ve lived with friends before and it always ended badly, so I don’t want to risk it with her. Plus, I’ve got my life already set up here and as much as I want to have her in it, I don’t want to have her THAT MUCH in it. At least not right away. I feel like a huge bitch, but I just don’t want to live with her. How do I tell her that? And should I just suck it up and invite her to live with me? Maybe it’s not such a bad thing?

Any advice you can give would be grand…and help me sleep better at night.

GPA Girl
Yikes. I can understand the way you feel, but unfortunately, there’s really no way to explain it to your friend in a way that doesn’t make you seem like a complete jerk. At least, I can’t think of any way – maybe the other ladies can help out. But dude, I have to ask: Would it really be so awful to live with your friend? It wouldn’t be like you’re sharing a room with her. The two of you will be in a house with other people. As soon as she starts making new friends of her own (which you can facilitate much more easily if you share a house with her . . .), it’s likely that you won’t even see her nearly as much as you think. In any case, I think you should open up the house to your friend BUT have a tactful and honest discussion with her ASAP about how you feel. Let her know that you need to maintain a certain degree of independence in order to preserve your friendship with her, and specify the boundaries of that degree if necessary. I think (and hope) she’ll understand. Good luck! Read More »

"I'm smiling but if she doesn't take out the garbage soon I'm going to punch her in the face."

Did you ever wake up, peer out groggily from under the sheets at your roommate who is still passed out in her bed across the room, and wonder why the eff you two are living together? Sure, it seemed like a good idea last year when you perused flea markets for cheap futons together. It even seemed to still make sense just a month ago when you were first getting used to each others’ loveable quirks. But then one day, it just hits you, like a shot of tequila.

Who is this girl that you thought you knew?
Why does she do that weird sh*t all the time?
Most importantly, how are you going to survive the year without completely snapping and throwing a beer can at her head?

I really hope none of you are going through this, but if you are, I can relate. As I type this, I am being serenaded by Lauren, my cute-as-a-teacup friend and roommate. I’m not sure what song it is, but I’m fairly certain it’s from the musical, Rent (I loathe musicals). She has a lovely voice, and who doesn’t enjoy the occasional serenade, right? Well, it happens to me probably three to five times a day on average, and it’s ALWAYS when I’m trying to actually accomplish something school-related. I don’t know why she can’t sing at me when I’m procrastinating, painting my nails, watching It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia online, or just sitting around, which, realistically, is 75% of the time. Why is it always when I’m busy? Read More »

During college, I had bad luck with roommates. I also lived in dorms or campus apartments for all four years, so I always had to have a female roommate. Which may have been part of the problem.

That’s why, when I moved halfway across the country for grad school and had to find a random stranger to share a new apartment with, I decided to look for a male roommate.

Via Craigslist, I found a guy who was looking to sublet his apartment because he was leaving the state. The three-bedroom apartment was about five miles from campus, fully-furnished, and coed-friendly, though the guys had never lived with a girl before me. Since I was scarred from several traumatic roommate encounters, I was hesitant at first, but really had no other choice. I met all of the guys for beers one night, and they seemed nice enough, so I moved in. Best decision of my grad school life.

Before I go into detail about why living with two guys ROCKED, let me first mention that it wasn’t all sunshine and lollipops. These guys were slobs. I was usually the only one who did the dishes, and I cleaned up after them a few times a week. I also frequently woke up craving leftover pizza from the night before, only to find that the boys had eaten it. And left the empty box in the fridge. But, that being said, it was more than worth it, because we had a fantastic time. Read More »