6 Types of Roommates You’ll Meet in College
| Created At: | 03 September, 2018 |
| Created By: | Ola Elwassify |
| Updated At: | 14 March, 2023 |
If there’s one thing about studying abroad every student must know, it’s what to expect from their college roommates. By sharing a room, studio, or whatever type of student dorm, you become more of a family and you learn to deal with your differences. Student life is already the best time of your life, but as an international student, you get to experience much more. So get ready to adapt to the different types of roommates in college!
1. Messy Roommates
We all mess up our rooms and belongings every now and then, especially when we're about to deliver an important assignment or are busy studying for exams. But when we talk about messy roommates, it’s way more than just basic student clutter. Some people will treat the floor as if it is their wardrobe and their beds as their studying desks, and doing the dishes is absolutely unthinkable. We've got some messy roommate solutions for you!
How do you deal with a messy roommate? Well, start by helping them limit their mess to their side of the room. Give them easy solutions like a bedside trash bin for empty cans or a throw-in plastic box for the “unfoldable” clothes. Let them share the payments of the cleaning products so that they feel responsible for cleaning their side of the room because they actually paid for it. Take it step by step and in no time you’ll both be satisfied with the outcome.
2. Super-Clean Roommates
These college dorm roommates are the exact opposite of the previous ones; they vacuum the crumbs on the carpet even if it's dawn and they’ll make sure that the very last teaspoon is not left unwashed in the kitchen sink. It’s unfair that only one person does all the cleaning and all the others just litter, so to be fair and square you have to stick to your share of cleaning.
How to deal with OCD roommates? Talk to them about jotting a schedule for cleaning times that suits you both because both of you should be involved in cleaning your shared kitchen and living area and, of course, the bathroom(s).
3. Partying Animal Roommates
Whether it is in the middle of exams or the beginning of the semester, these mates will always find a good reason to party, and worst of all, not alone! They will invite friends over and party hard till 5 AM, so be ready to join the party or do some confrontations.
How to deal with the partying types of college roommates? If you are not the partying kind, try talking to your flatmate about scheduling parties away from weekdays and exams time. If you’re both into partying, try to set a good theme for the party, like watching some football games together or some wrestling quests that are scheduled far from exams time and weekdays with early lectures in the very next morning.
4. Night Owl Roommates
University life is different in the sense that you can be a nighter as long as you study well and deliver your assignments on time. However, this could be troublesome if you are a morning person and your mate is a night owl. Some people just cannot function properly except in the late hours of the night. We could also argue that you could be the nighter and your flatmate is the morning person. Either way, you will have to adapt to sharing your student room with someone following a different schedule and lifestyle. What's a college education without learning to accept diversity, right?
How to deal with nighters or morning people? Try finding the common hours that both of you are awake and free to do shared tasks, like cleaning or buying groceries. Also, make sure that each informs the other about their favoured studying hours so that the other person could arrange to be asleep and not bother or distract the one who’s into studying. Maybe it is for the best to have a sleeping roommate than a wide-awake noisy one.
5. Super-Friendly Roommates
University life is incomplete if you are not making new foreign friends; however, some roommates are too friendly that they are considered space invaders. Having a flatmate does not necessarily mean that your privacy will be violated every now and then. However, they could do some acts as the norm while they’re unconsciously invading your personal space and violating your privacy. For example, a roommate might feel it is okay to eat your sandwiches or juices out of the shared fridge without even feeling remorse about that evil deed.
How to deal with space invaders flatmates? Putting some boundaries is a must to avoid future misunderstandings and remember, your flatmates will be from different countries, even continents, and each individual has a different background. So you have to make sure that you set some mutual rules to be followed to avoid annoying one another.
6. Noisy Roommates
Most roommates won’t realize how much noise they really make unless you confront them about the issue at hand. Some flatmates bring their friends over in inappropriate times. Talking on the phone or watching the TV in a high volume is completely unacceptable at times, especially when exams are on the horizon or simply because it is too late to be doing so in any given weekday.
How to deal with noisy roommates? You have to talk to them in order to arrange appropriate visiting times for their and your friends. Manage to set a normal volume of the TV at all times and when one of you is studying, the other should be as noiseless as possible out of respect and, of course, mutual agreement.
