Roommates and Best Practices

Having a roommate(s) can play a big part in your college life and beyond. Roommates often become life-long friends. With the right roommate, you can create a supportive and fun living environment that will enhance your academic journey.

 

Roommate Questionnaire 

The first step to finding a roommate is to complete the OSU Housing Portal's Roommate Questionnaire and make it searchable by other residents. The questionnaire is a quick overview of you—your study habits, sleep schedule, cleanliness preferences and so forth.

 

Be sure to provide a thoughtful description of yourself in the space provided. 

 

You can customize your search to find others who share the traits you are most interested in.

 

Roommate Groups

When completing your housing registration, you'll come to the Roommates Groups tab. This is where you can search for and select potential roommates. A roommate group includes you and one roommate who you plan to live with on campus.

 

To find roommates, you can search for by a resident's name or by using answers provided in the roommate questionnaires.

 

Whether you want to live with someone you already know or search for someone with similar interests, the next step is to get to know more about each other, so you can make an informed decision.

• Find a time to have a meaningful conversation.
• Ask each other about lifestyles, study habits, hobbies and daily routines.
• Consider if their answers align with your expectations.
• Can you see yourself living with them in the space provided?
• Trust your instincts. Sometimes you just know who you will click with. 

You may also want to consider looking into one of the Living Learning Programs (LLP). LLPs offer built-in communities for students with similar interests. 

 

Roommate Agreements

Key to any relationship, including one between roommates, is effective and open communication. To support that, Housing and Residential Life offers residents its roommate agreement program. 

 

Roommate agreements allow roommates to proactively set boundaries, preferences and clear expectations from the start. Mediated by a community mentor, the roommate agreements are formal documents that all parties can review and revise as needed.

 

Room Transfers

There are many reasons a resident may need to move during the academic year. To learn more about dates and policies at Request to Change/Transfer Room.