Making the Move

Living with roommates in a dorm is whole different experience compared to living in an apartment off campus with roommates whether you know them or not.

For students, living in the dorms with a single roommate freshman year is almost required, and can be useful in learning how to be a good roommate. A number of students make the move from on-campus dorms to an off-campus apartment after freshman year, and there are certain tips to keep in mind when doing so.

Don’t go into the new living situation expecting to become close with all of your roommates. Keep in mind that just because you and your roommates hit it off to start doesn’t mean trouble won’t arise in the year or so that you all will occupy the same living space. Expect to have little things like leaving a glass of milk out on the counter to cause tension or frustration. Which comes to the next tip.

Keep the apartment clean. It may sound easy enough, but a mess can accumulate quickly if not taken care of promptly. The last thing you want is to be known as the apartment that has pests all over the place. It would be best to talk with your roommates to decide on a cleaning schedule so that the place doesn’t become a dump.

Paige Ford, a senior majoring in Kinesiology, is currently a community advisor for one of the buildings in the Ames West apartments and has lived in apartments off campus for the past three years. When it comes to keeping the living space tidy and clean, she likes to lead by example instead of making a cleaning schedule.

“Right away, when I’m done with something, I clean it.” Ford said. “Just leading by example, we’ve been able to keep a tidy space.”

That way when a dirty dish or garbage is left out in the open, it’s seen as something out of place; this has proven to work best for her in the past. A good roommate should clean up after themselves, instead of relying on others to clean up after you.

Keep in mind that you don’t need to be best friends with your random roommate assignments, but you do need to be civil and mature about living together.

Susan Cross is a professor of psychology, and has taught at. She weighed in on the idea of being best friends with your roommates.

“Sometimes it’s a business arrangement. You just need a place to sleep, need a place to get your work done, need a place to eat. You don’t necessarily need a friend. For some people, they don’t want to be friend,” Cross said.

As for being a bad roommate, there are a number of reasons as to why you could be viewed as a bad roommate, but one reason sticks out. “Being inconsiderate,” both Ford and Cross said.

“That can include cleanliness,” Cross said. “That can include things like being loud when other people are trying to sleep.”

That is the main way to become a bad roommate, don’t expect your roommates to be ok with having to constantly clean up after you, this will only cause tension and frustration. You do live in the same space as others, so don’t be inconsiderate with how you live in the apartment.

Keep in mind that being inconsiderate may not seem like a big deal, but it can affect your roommates health and school work by causing them a great deal of stress.

“Well it can certainly cause stress. Stress has been shown to be related to poor health, so people who are under high levels of stress can get sick more easily,” Dr. Cross said.

So when it all comes down to having good roommate etiquette, it’s all about being considerate of your roommates.