• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

HBCU Lifestyle – Black College Living

  • HBCU Colleges
    • What is an HBCU?
    • List of HBCUs
  • College Bound
    • HBCU Rankings
    • Black College Tours
    • College Scholarships
    • College Planning
  • College Life
    • Campus Life
    • HBCU Greek Life
  • Careers
    • Jobs
    • Career Exploration
You are here: Home / HBCU Colleges / 3 Issues You Must Discuss With Your New Roommate

3 Issues You Must Discuss With Your New Roommate

July 26, 2012 by Ruby Grace

3 Issues You Must Discuss With Your New RoommateNot everyone is lucky enough to get a roommate with similar preferences and traits. Even if you have a lot in common with your roommate, you still need to clarify your stand on certain things. Remember, your roommate is going to be sharing your space, which means you have to get along regardless of your differences. Hopefully, your roommate will welcome the chance to discuss some issues and share his or her own opinions about your new life as co-habitants of the same dorm room.

Discussing living conditions and your personal preferences with a total stranger can be disconcerting, but you have to have “the talk” with your roommate as soon as possible before you become too busy to do it. In theory, this is easy. You just have to sit down with your roommate for a few minutes to lay some ground rules. But the thing is, you don’t want to start off on the wrong foot, which means you need to consider which topics to bring up and which ones to avoid.

Which Items are for Sharing

After you’ve introduced yourself and you have nothing to do but look around to do an inventory of what you have and don’t have in your dorm room, it’s time to talk to your roommate about sharing. You can open the discussion on other topics after you’ve delineated which items are communal.

The easiest way to start on the wrong foot is by using an item that belongs to your roommate without asking permission. But using someone else’s stuff may be unavoidable in the long run. A typical dorm room is too small for two television sets, two mini-refs and two microwave ovens. If you brought your television with you, offer to

Rules for Entertaining Visitors

Every residence hall has visiting hours and some halls allow entry to rooms, as long as the residents permit visitors. Also, some of the first friends you will make in college will be people from the same dormitory, which means they might come over every once in a while. Therefore, you and your roommate should discuss this delicate subject as soon as possible.

Talking about visitors in a general way can help you ease into the topic of letting boyfriends or girlfriends sleep over every once in a while. You don’t know yet if your roommate is seeing someone, so wait for him or her to bring it up when you steer the conversation in this direction.

Use your best judgment. If your new roommate seems like the sociable, open-minded type, you can openly discuss some of the more risqué topics like using discreet signs to let the other know that the room is being used or setting up schedules for private sleepovers.

Pitch In for a Bulletin Board

The back of your door can be a good place to leave messages for your new roommate, even if you both have cell phones. To make it the official bulletin board for your dorm room, you and your roommate can pitch in to have a bulletin board installed. It can be a white board just large enough to accommodate a photocopy of your daily schedule and your roommate’s.

HBCU Colleges, Campus Life, HBCU College Life

Primary Sidebar

Search

Quick Links

  • Newsletter
  • Jobs and Internships
  • Shop
  • List of HBCU Colleges
  • Top 25 HBCUs in the Nation
  • HBCU College Tours
  • Contact Us
  • About Us

Popular Posts

  • Happy female college student working on research paper topics. Research Paper Topics: 50 Ideas to Get Started
  • A female African American HBCU student poses while smiling and holding her book in her arms. HBCU Rankings 2023: The Top 25 Black Colleges from U.S. News
  • HBCU Sororities and Fraternities to Consider The Divine Nine: Sororities and Fraternities on HBCU Campuses
  • How to pick the best fraternity or sorority...for YOU Greek Life: 5 Tips For Choosing Black Fraternities and Sororities
  • HBCU Schools with Doctoral Programs HBCU Schools with Doctoral Programs

Follow Us

  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Before Footer

Follow Us

  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to receive weekly HBCU news, jobs, and advice in your inbox.

Sign Me Up

Footer

About HBCU Lifestyle

The spirit and camaraderie of black college living is a lifestyle - the HBCU lifestyle! We're committed to keeping you connected to the black college living experience, bringing you the latest on everything, from scholarships and dorm living to Greek life and alumni giving.


Contact Us

Latest from the Blog

  • EcoCAR EV Challenge: Wilberforce and Ohio State Team Claims Top Spot
  • 2023 ABFF Film Festival: HBCU Marching Bands Documentary Selected
  • Youth Policy Lab Selects Spelman Students for U-M ASPIRE Summer Policy Research Experience
  • UPS Small Business Grant Launched to Help HBCU Designers Debut at New York Fashion Week
  • Newsletter
  • Jobs & Internships
  • Shop
  • List of HBCUs
  • HBCU Rankings
  • HBCU Scholarships
Copyright © 2010-2023 HBCU Lifestyle, LLC. All rights reserved.
Contact Us | Sitemap | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy
Get the best of the Black college experience delivered to your inbox.
Your email address:*
Name:*
Subscribe to (select all that apply):*





Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide
No spam, ever. Promise. Powered by FeedBlitz