If you’re like me, when one stress source closes, another window of stress opens. So, even though you are officially relieved from the anxiety that is begotten from the college search–assuming everyone reading this blog has been admitted to college and has decided where they’ll be heading–don’t get stressed out that you’re going to run out of things to stress out about.  We have another stress factor for you: Your freshman roommate.

The freshman roommate can turn out to be a(n):

A. absolute nightmare
B. BFF
C. just a person you happen to share a tiny room with

Here are 4 ways to go about choosing your future freshman college roommate:

1. Blind
Rooming blind is for the adventurous. For those who yearn for the surprise and peril of the open sea! It’s also for anyone who is kind of apathetic about the whole thing.
Pro: You could be paired with someone who you wouldn’t meet otherwise and who could help expand your college world.
Con: You have no way of knowing what you’ll be getting in to.

2. A friend
Rooming with a friend is a risk, but not for risk-takers.
Pro: You’ll be living with someone you already know! Having a safety net could help you be more outgoing when making new friends.
Con: Moving from friends to college roommates is an underrated shift in the tectonic plates of friendship. You’ll suddenly be around each other 24/7.  You could risk changing the friendship you have.

3. A friend of a friend
The friend of a friend roommate strategy is the perfect smoothie made from the blind roommate situation and friend roommate situation.
Pro: You have a friend in common, so you know a mutual friend thinks you’re both pretty rad and probably won’t steal things.
Con: If you both have a lot of the same mutual friends, your social circle might not expand the way you wanted it to in college.

4. Facebook or social networking site
For the person who wants to control the roommate issue as much as they can without going through friends.
Pro: You can handpick your college roommate by sifting through different options to find the person that you think you’d get along with while dwelling together.
Con: You might not get what you thought you signed up for.

Do you have any advice or thoughts on choosing a freshman college roommate? Leave a comment!