You’ve heard it a million times — try the random roommate thing! Leave your high school friends behind! You’ve known your best friend forever — don’t ruin that friendship by living with them!

Honestly, it’s BS. 

I lived with my high school best friend my freshman year of college and loved it. We ended up becoming better friends because of it and lived together our sophomore year, too. We still love each other as much as we did when we were 18.

Picking a roommate can be an incredibly personal decision. You’ll live with this person, you’ll eat with this person, you’ll laugh and cry with this person. This is your decision to make. No one can say that all best-friends-turned-roommates will end up in disaster, because that’s not the truth.

Are you thinking of living with your high school best friend? Examine the relationship you two currently have. Chances are, if you coexist well together and communicate effectively, you’ll be just fine.

In my case, my high school best friend and I were in music together. We sat next to each other on every marching band and show choir bus (even the bus that drove 27 hours from Iowa to Orlando without stopping). We shared hotel rooms on every school trip. Looking back, my best friend and I had gone through the roommate test before we received our residence hall room assignment. We had proven to each other that it would work out. 

We knew we would thrive as roommates.

Your parents/older siblings/teachers are right about some things, though. Do branch out in college. Find new friends you never would have met in high school. Learn about yourself and the world around you. My freshman year, I met a professional triathlete (hey, Ian), a fashion designer (love you, Kajsa) and a student journalist who would become editor-in-chief of the Iowa State Daily and who inspired me to become a columnist myself (shoutout to Annie). 

High school me would have avoided Ian, Kajsa and Annie like the PLAGUE. High school me would have stayed in her nerdy AP class and band kid bubble and she would have missed out on so much.

Don’t be like high school me! Put yourself out there! High school stereotypes don’t exist in college. No one will make fun of you for being friends with someone.

And if you think you’ll have a better time with your best friend by your side, why deprive yourself of that?

You’re still you in college. Never forget that. But maybe college can make you a better version of you.