COLUMN: Don't let bad roommates ruin your college experience


courtney

I spent my first month of college constantly being miserable. Today, I am happier than I was in high school. I know it seems like a drastic claim, but the largest factor in it all was my roommates. 

Last April, all of my friends were stressing over finding their college roommates. I sat content believing I had found the perfect match. Yet, I was the one crying myself to sleep the during second week of school.

I had spent months during my last semester in high school trying to find who I thought would be my college roommate/best friend. I downloaded the Schools App and meticulously went through each and every profile hoping to find my perfect fit. 

I thought I had found the perfect group of four - all of us ready to take on Central Michigan University and crush our freshman year. Then, both of my expected suitemates dropped. I still had my roommate, who I had been texting for months and even met up with. I knew I could move in and no matter who my suitemate was, I could rely on my roommate.

Sadly, I was mistaken. Not even two weeks into the semester, the two girls had teamed up against me and made our suite a living hell for me.

I cried more in those next two weeks than ever before. There I was two hours away from home, all alone, waiting for the mandatory two weeks of the semester to pass so I could begin my search for new roommates.

The CMU Residence Life Policy states, “Approved space changes may take place beginning the third week of the semester (after two full weeks of classes).”

As soon as the second week of classes came to a close, I took it upon myself to make a meeting with my residence hall director and began making appointments to tour different dorm rooms.

After touring more than 20 different dorm rooms, I had made my final decision and all that was left was for me to pack and move.

A week later, I was officially out of my dorm room and completely settled into my new one. After less than a day in the new room I had chosen, my mood was already lifted. 

I automatically clicked with my new roommates. They became my family here at CMU.

Instead of dreading going back to my dorm, I couldn’t wait to go back to my dorm.

My awful roommate experience was going to forever be the reason I dropped out of CMU. I thought that was just a taste of what the next four years of my life would be here. I promised myself I would make it through a semester and if I still hated it, I would transfer.

So many people have had bad roommate experiences. No matter how we handle them, these situations really do end up impacting us in major ways.

The stress of taking care of myself, all the homework, extra activities and adjusting to college life were already too much to handle, let alone the negative experience from my roommates. Now, I have the support of my roommates during a bad day and people who will care about what I accomplish and what happens to me.

Not only am I happier in my room, my grades are better and every part of me just feels lighter because I am now able to be myself. 

In the end, I am glad I didn’t transfer. I now have some great roommates and although I won’t be living with them next year, I know that no matter what next year brings, I will have them.

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