5 Types of Roommates You Could Have in College

By Allie Mitchell on November 11, 2016

While in college, you may have the great pleasure of rooming with someone. Sometimes, your roommate could be your best friend or they could be your ‘worst enemy’ — maybe not exactly of course, but you may not get along with them so much. Having a roommate that you don’t get along with can make for a long semester or even a long year.

Some people don’t have the luxury of having their friends come to the same school as them and getting to room with them. That would make everything much easier. No, some students, like myself, have to just wing it and hope for the best. You will have that ‘who is my potential roommate’ anxiety up until move-in day when you come face to face.

One of the many interesting factors of having a roommate, whether or not you have known them for a long time, is that you never really know a person until you have lived with them, or at least spent ample amount of time in the same room with them. You would be surprised at how much people change once the days/weeks start passing by.

Of course, different types of roommates bring different aspects with them. The way you have to present information to them or how you talk about things is different depending on the type of roommate you are living with.

I had numerous types of roommates throughout my time in the dorms and I can honestly say it was an interesting experience every single time; on the upside, you start to learn a little about yourself each time.

Here are five possible types of roommates you could have in college.

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1. The Chatter Box: They talk about their family, their friends, their significant other, their car, their classes, etc. The list goes on and on. Now talking about your life and so forth when you are getting to know each other is one thing, but over-talking and even over-sharing can get on somebody’s nerves.

They are that roommate that talks to you when you are studying or barges in when you have a friend over and makes themselves a part of your conversation when all you want them to do is well, just leave and be quiet.

2. The Sorority/Fraternity Pledge: Living in the dorms you may come across a roommate who wants to rush. There is nothing wrong with that, but, depending on who the person is and their personality, things could take a turn.

I’ve had numerous people tell me that their roommate became a totally different person (they became more uppity, more of the party type or completely changed their friend group). People are allowed to be and do what they want, but sometimes it can be mind boggling to have your roommate be one person and then all of a sudden be ALL about something in the next 10 minutes.

3. The Honeymooner: Ah, being in love is a sincerely beautiful thing. No, really it is great, but it can be honestly so awkward and annoying to see your roommate making out with her boyfriend when you walk in. Or to see your roommate fooling around with his girlfriend when you open up the door to your room.

There is the typical college relationship and then there is, ‘jeez guys, do you do anything else but make out?’ Sometimes having a significant other come over all the time can be quite annoying for you as a roommate and could possibly put a strain on the relationship between you and your roommate if you don’t resolve it.

4. The Type-A: This one is a recluse. The one who lives in the library. The one whose side of the room is 10 times neater than yours and makes you look bad. They are the one that you ask for help in a class they aren’t even in. Their personality in entirety will determine how annoying they are.

Sometimes these roommates can be arrogant and haughty about their smarts and indirectly (but directly) shove it in your face or they could be really nice and help you out. These are the roommates that complain endlessly about not getting an A, when they just got an 88. Sometimes you love to hate them.

5. The Ghost: Lastly there is the roommate I like to call the ghost. What I mean is that they are never there. They may be in bed when you go to sleep, but they are gone literally the entire day and most of the night. They come back sometimes to maybe get food or a snack, but then they are gone again.

Do they go to parties? Are they in the library? Did they drop out? Who knows.

You are a little bit nervous to ask them where they end up every day, but you never do because you are thinking it is somewhere cool — and deep down it’s probably not.

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