Lemondrop

Getting assigned a roommate your freshman year of college is sort of like a year-long blind date that can go horribly right ... or horribly wrong.

Earlier this week, we asked you guys if students should get to pick their roommates, given the rise of sites like URoomSurf, which allow you to find a roommate based on your hobbies, lifestyles and interests. We were curious to hear whether you won the roomie lottery in college -- and whether you'd use URoomSurf now if you could do it again.

Jane is all for meeting and learning to deal with people who are of a different breed, but argues that that can take place outside her dormitory. She says, "My roommate freshman year and I had nothing in common and didn't get along. We were polite in the room, but never friends. After the year was over, she unfriended me on Facebook and never acknowledged my presence even when we passed each other on campus.

"Living with such a cold-hearted stranger for a year was pretty awful, and I can't say the experience taught me anything. I did learn about people who were different from me who lived in other rooms on my hall or who were in my classes -- I just didn't need a complete stranger in my room. I wish I had been able to choose my roommate."

Agrees M, "I've had such bad experiences with three different sets of bad roommates. I even transferred schools. And then missed out on making friends at the new school. I'm so glad Usurf is for peopel out there now. I dont think i can use it -- most people that are starting now are incoming college freshmen but maybe for grad school in two years it will catch on!"


Meg found herself in an unbearable situation, and wished that, at the very least, her college had accounted for students' basic living habits. She says, "I wish I got to [pick my roommate], because I got shacked up with the worst roommate ever. Bad enough I left the dorms after a semester. There was like a little survey about personal habits and the school didn't even listen to it on that (for example, I said I was a bit of a night owl, I got someone who got up early and listened to country music really loud), so I think it would be a good thing."

Reader A is the lone dissenter, having clicked instantly with her roomie: "I was paired up randomly with a roommate my freshman year, and by the end of the year she was like the sister I never had. If we hadn't of been roommates, we probably would have never been friends, her being a pink loving, girly girl athlete, and me being an anti-social rocker girl. I guess its just the luck of the draw, but having a random roommate can expose you to people you never thought you'd have anything in common with and you can come out of the experience with a good friend."

Was your random roommate experience terrible or awesome? Share below!