With the college season approaching soon, there’s probably a lot of things on your mind.  One item that has probably passed your mind is who you’re going to live with?  If you’re not staying on campus, you’re in luck because you’re not going to have to live with someone you don’t know.  If you’re going to live on campus for the first time, you’re going to probably have a roommate if you’re living on campus.  If you’re living off campus, you’ll be on your own, of course.

Whether you live with someone you know or you’re coming into the college season with someone you don’t even know, there are a few points you’re going to have to keep in mind when you start fresh in your first year of college.

Meet your roommate – Before college even starts, you’ll get to know who your roommate.  You’ll get the name and potentially a phone number.  The best thing to do is call your roommate up and see what you have in common and what you can do to make your college living a little better for the college year.  Find out what interests, allergies, etc. you may encounter.

Determine the look – We all know by now that there are all kinds of life out there.  Everyone is different and everyone will have their own tastes.  So if your roommate gets mad because you hang up a poster of your favorite band, don’t get discouraged because there may be something he/she may not like that you do.  From experience, most college students don’t care what you do, as long as it’s not too extreme.

Visitors time, etc.- If your roommate tends to have a lot of friends and/or a girlfriend or boyfriend, you’ll probably want to agree to a time where they can come and visit.  Most of the times, roommates will agree that visitors should be out by a certain time.  You won’t want to have someone staying until 1 am when you have a exam at 8 am the next morning.  Determining a time will make it a lot easier to get sleep.

Be respectful – Just because your roommate has a CD out doesn’t mean you can simply grab it and play it.  Make sure that you ask your roommate if you want to use something of his/hers.  I’m sure you wouldn’t want your roommate just grabbing things of yours without permission.  Remember, if you’re respectful, the relationship will be a lot stronger.

Living with a college roommate isn’t that hard.  As long as your respect each other and live by each other’s rules, it shouldn’t be a problem at all.  Problems start to exist when you start to cause unnecessary drama.  Remember that you’re in college now as an adult, not a 10th grader.