Apartment Living Advice: Dealing with Unexpected Personalities in your College Roommates

Out of all apartment living advice for college students, there probably isn’t anything more complex than dealing with college roommates. Everyone knows that because of the world’s variety of personalities, it resembles a miracle when you find a roommate that matches your persona.

Even so, you don’t really know a roommate well at just the first meeting. Certain personality traits are bound to come out later, sometimes at the worst possible moments. This could be bad when you’re studying and discover one of your roommates has a characteristic that could potentially drive you crazy over the next semester (or even the next couple of years).

What kind of roommate personalities will you encounter? Also, how do you deal with them so you don’t end up having the issue of replacing your roommate at a critical time when rent is due?

You’ll discover that even if you have effective methods of choosing a roommate, learning to live with certain unexpected personalities takes some psychological acumen.

Roommate Personalities

Roommates That Always Leave Messes

While this might sound like an “Odd Couple” type of situation if you discover your roommate is 100 times messier than you’ll ever be, it’s not impossible to fix. It’s true that it’s impossible to vet a roommate who has a tendency toward the messy side, if not even being a slob. You can’t know this until you start living with someone on a regular basis.

If your roommate is unreasonably this way and starts leaving unwashed clothes lying around or doesn’t put food away, you can’t ignore talking to them about it. The best approach is to talk honestly without being rude, then create some level of boundaries.

Yes, in this situation, you won’t necessarily change their ways, though boundaries help so it doesn’t bother you. On the other hand, if those messes are creating constant odors and attracting insects within your boundaries, you might want to look for a roommate replacement as quickly as possible.

Roommates That Always Want Things Clean

As a reverse to the above, those who have the OCD problem of always wanting everything clean can breed conflict down the road. While it’s a strange thing to ask when first vetting roommates, it doesn’t hurt to ask how clean (or messy) they are in their private life. Still, you won’t always know completely until you start living together.

Again, create boundaries if you’re living with someone who thinks nothing is clean enough. Make a concerted effort toward being as clean as you can, even if you’re treading the line of being the slob above. If you have junk lying around, keep it within your own space.

Roommates That Constantly Party or Have Friends Over

This type of roommate is a major problem, because there isn’t any way to predict when it could happen. It becomes a bigger concern when you need quiet time for studying and your roommate decides to have friends over or party late into the night. Perhaps you can vet this in advance by determining how studious they are, because anyone serious about studying wouldn’t go on benders.

Some roommates are able to do both (somehow), though this behavior should never be tolerated. It could affect your grades too, so you need to talk seriously with your roommate about cutting out the partying. Or, tell them to spend time at a friend’s apartment at night if they insist on keeping up this lifestyle.

The Roommate Who Can’t Be Left Alone

Finding a roommate that’s friendly is always the goal, yet you might find one who wants to do everything with you, all the time. They may also want to know everything about your private life, which has its good and bad qualities.

To deal with these roommates, politely let them know you need your own time to yourself and your own friends. It’s also a good idea not to reveal everything about your private life so you don’t send mixed signals that you should perhaps be more than friends.

This isn’t to say the ideal roommate isn’t one who you can connect and stay friends with for years ahead, which only makes the college experience all the more meaningful.

What are your expectations for a roommate? Let us know about them in the comment section below.