Luke Mansueti, a senior psychology student, ran into trouble when trying to find someone to live with his freshman year of college.

“It was difficult to start searching for a roommate because I did not have Facebook, which was almost needed to connect with potential roommates,” Mansueti said.

Many incoming college students fear finding a suitable roommate and run into many roadblocks. Where do you go: stick with someone you already know? Go to social media? Go random?

Speech pathology major Erin Hewitt thought she had it easy, but her friend ended up flaking. She then took to Facebook in hopes of finding a roommate.

“It was going to be easy finding a roommate because my friend from back home said she was going to college with me,” Hewitt said. “Then a couple months later, roommate applications were due, and my friend told me she was just going to community college.”

Facebook serves as the social media platform that many students use when searching for potential roommates because there is a group that has incoming students who are looking for housing and people to live with. 

Since Mansueti did not have a Facebook account, he decided to search and message people through Instagram but ran into some of the same kinds of problems.

“It was difficult and frustrating because when I tried to reach out, they ended up picking a different college to go to, so I was still in the same boat of not having a roommate,” Mansueti said. 

Coming out of college into a whole new environment can feel defeating, but having someone to comfortably live with can make you feel more at home. The hardest part for Mansueti was reaching out because he is more reserved.

“I am not usually first to start conversations,” Mansueti said. “I am more of a shy person, so I wait for other people to reach out to me.” 

In order to not get stuck with a random roommate, Mansueti tried to push himself to reach out to people. Some days, he would think he had a set roommate, but a couple weeks later, they would tell him they found someone else or were going to a different college.

“I got a direct message on Instagram one day from someone who was going to major in psychology, like me,” Mansueti said. “I was excited about it because I was having so much trouble finding a roommate.” 

After Mansueti talked with his potential roommate, they started realizing they had more similarities and actually knew the same people. The potential roommate knew someone Mansueti went to school with, so they had mutual friends. Things were finally starting to fall into place, Mansueti said. 

“Towards the end of our senior year, we signed our roommate lease and picked two dorm options where we would want to live,” Mansueti said. 

When they arrived for freshman year, both Mansueti and his roommate got along well. They just graduated this past year and still reach out sometimes, here and there. If he had to change one thing, Mansueti said it would have been to create a Facebook account because it would have been easier to find people.

Even though Mansueti recommends getting a Facebook account, Hewitt got nowhere with her attempts there.

“I used Facebook to find a roommate because not only did people recommend it, but I did not have much time left and there was this class group that had incoming freshmen in it,” Hewitt said.

Many people reached out to her while she reached out to many others. She was looking for a roommate who had many similarities to her schedule so they would not keep each other up at different hours of the night. Many times, she would have people commit to live with her; then they would never contact her again. 

“It was just weird,” Hewitt said. “I would be set to live with them and then they would never reach out. I don’t know if it’s something I did, but it seems pretty disrespectful to me.”

Time was running out and everyone seemed to have already picked their roommate. With no options left, Hewitt said she knew what she was going to have to do.

“I just slowly gave up,” Hewitt said. “After time and time again of constant searching, I just decided to go random.”

Some people went random when picking roommates and found their best friend for life; some were horror stories, Hewitt said. She heard many different stories and was nervous about either choice she made.

For the majority of the time, Hewitt was not a picky person and at most times, just went with the flow. She was hopeful that her random roommate would work out, but was quickly proved wrong. 

“I didn’t think it was going to be bad, but it ended up being awful,” Hewitt said. “My roommate kept trying to be a mom, followed me around, and then when I did something she didn’t like, she would say was concerned for me.”

It got awkward fast, Hewitt said. Her roommate was acting weird and said she would go back and try to find a different roommate earlier.

“I thought it was going to be OK because my other friends that came to college before me had random roommates and they said they loved it,” Hewitt said. “I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone; I would definitely try to have a friend move in with you or make sure you know that person before signing rooms together.”

Cassondra Siaus covers relationships. Contact her at [email protected].