By Tatianna Gomez-Lucero
They’ve heard the warnings before: “Don’t do it unless you’re really close and confident that it won’t be an issue.”
But these students have decided to put their friendships on the line, hoping their bond will get stronger.
Seniors Emerson Townsend and Raegan Faletic decided to ignore the comments and trust that their friendship would last. Emerson and Raegan will attend Indiana University.
They decided to room together because they have known each other for almost their whole lives and thought it would be fun to live together during their first year of college. Raegan thinks rooming together will work out since they’re so similar and have gone on vacation together.
Emme’s concern about rooming together is getting annoyed with each other because they’ll spend too much time together. Raegan is more concerned about keeping the dorm clean since it’s small.
If any problem occurs, they plan to be straight with each other and talk it out.
Emme’s pet peeve is trash not being placed in the bin. Raegan’s pet peeve is having clothes on the floor.
Raegan decided not to room with a stranger because “since IU is such a big school, it would be easier to ease into the college environment with someone you know well, get along with, and make friends with, and it won’t be a big transition.”
Seniors Mackemzie Lipps and Hailie Woodring decided to take this challenge and adjust to college life together. Mackemzie and Hailie will attend Purdue University and room together in the Honors College dorms.
At first, they joked about rooming together in college. After they visited Purdue in October, they decided to make it official and be roommates.
They made this decision because they have been best friends throughout high school. They have stayed over at Mackemzie’s home, so they already know how each other lives and believe it won’t be such a huge adjustment.
Even though they have stayed together, they still have some concerns about rooming together. For Mackemzie, it’s drifting from one another, ending in a huge argument, or changing a lot in college. Hailie is concerned about being able to branch out more and make new friends, or if it’s only going to be them.
Mackemzie can’t stand snoring, loud noises, laundry everywhere, or constantly picking up after the other person. Hailie and Mackemzie said they both take up most of the bed when they hang out, so they might have to learn to adapt to each other.
Since they are pretty mature about a lot of things and value their friendship, they will talk about the problem and figure out a solution, rather than keeping it to themselves and getting angry about it.
Something that makes Hailie mad is having a messed-up sleep schedule, like if Mackemzie is constantly up all night. When Hailie is sleeping, she needs the room to be completely dark and quiet. Mackemzie sleeps with music.
For Mackemzie, her main pet peeves are not respecting boundaries, being disrespectful, and being super loud when studying. Also, she thinks it’s important to tell each other where they are going for safety reasons. Constantly not knowing where her roommate is or if she’s coming back to the dorm would be a problem for her.
Mackemzie decided not to room with a stranger because she was scared of getting a roommate with whom she would clash and not get along. Knowing who she’s going to room with comforts Mackemzie.
Seniors Marcus Bright and Cooper Bratton decided to room together and try not to get burned out from one another. Marcus and Cooper will attend Ball State University and will live together in a house on campus.
They have talked about rooming together since freshman year and had planned to live together if they were going to attend Ball State. Since they both were going to attend Ball State, they made the decision to room together.
Cooper decided to room with Marcus because he was a guy he could see living with, a real close friend, and a long-time buddy. Marcus decided to room with Cooper because they had talked about rooming together for a while. One of their friends’ parents owns a house on campus, and it felt like a cool opportunity and a good time.
Originally, they were going to room with Bronson Edwards, but he decided to go play football at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion instead of going to Ball State.
Cooper is concerned about getting tired of each other and keeping the house clean. Cooper knows that Marcus will get on him for being messy since Marcus is a neat guy. Marcus is concerned about Cooper being too loud and keeping the house clean.
Since they have been friends for so long, when a problem occurs, they’ll talk about it and maybe set some guidelines before the semester. The guidelines will keep them on the same page and show them what they want their house situation to look like.
Marcus decided not to room with someone random because he didn’t like the whole dorm aspect of college; it didn’t feel like the best place for him to be.
Marcus said, “If I roomed with someone that I knew, it would allow me to grow closer to them and have a home base on campus instead of the dorms.”
