Adjusting to a roommate is a significant transition experience. You might make a lifetime friend or end up with an exasperating acquaintance you wish you’d never known. A roommate doesn’t have to be a best friend, just someone with whom you can share your living space comfortably. Furthermore, your best friend might not make the best roommate. In fact, many students have lost friends by rooming together.

With any roommate, it’s important to establish your mutual rights and responsibilities in writing. Many colleges provide contract forms that you and your roommate might find useful if things go wrong later.

If you have problems with your roommate, talk them out promptly. Talk directly—politely, but plainly. If problems persist or if you don’t know how to talk them out, ask your residence hall adviser for help; he or she is trained to help resolve roommate conflicts.

Usually, you can tolerate (and learn from) a less than ideal situation; but if things get really bad and do not improve, insist on a change. If you are on campus, talk to your residence hall adviser or to a professional counselor in your campus’s counseling center.