20 Questions You Need To Ask Your New Roommate
Entering your freshman year of college is an exciting start to a major transition in your life.
You begin a new life out of the neighborhood you know like the back of your hand into a city you need Google maps to find your way.
A new scene away from the familiar faces from high school into an institution full of new ones.
And a big move away from you parents and siblings at home into a small dorm room you’ll share with a roommate.
Adjusting from living with your family to living with a roommate can be a bit tricky, considering they’re likely somebody you’ve never met. This is why it’s important to make a great first impression. It is also important to ask your new roommate many questions so you can learn and figure out exactly who you’ll be sharing space with for the next handful of months.
The first one-on-one conversation with your new roommate could start off pretty awkward, so break the ice with these 20 questions that you need to ask your roommate!
1. What Is Your Name?
Because you probably want to know who you’re talking to, right?
It’s likely that you’re already aware of what your new roommate’s name is, but it is still one of the great go-to questions as you introduce yourselves to one another.
2. Where Are You From?
This is usually the immediate follow up question following the name exchange. Find out where you’re new roommate is from and get a feel for how you two differentiate geographically.
3. What Is Your Hometown Like?
If they’re from a place you’ve never been, allow your roommate to paint the picture for you.
4. What Are You Studying?
Find out what your new roommate plans on studying during their time in college. It’s always interesting to hear all the different things students have come to campus to study, and who knows, you two just might be sharing the same major!
5. What Made You Choose (Enter School Name Here)?
After you know the above information, this is an excellent question to ask. Another interesting thing to learn is all the different motives for choosing a particular college and how similar or different it is to yours.
6. Do You Have Any Siblings?
Ask your new roommate about their family. Seeing if they have siblings is a good question to ask to see whether they’re used to sharing some type of space with others or if they’re an only child.
7. What Do You Do For Fun?
This is a good question to ask to find out what your roommate’s interest and hobbies are.
8. Do You Know Anybody On Campus?
Chances are if they’re far from home, you’re the first person they’ve truly been introduced to.
See whether your new roommate has any friends or is familiar with anybody on campus. You two could be each other’s first college friend!
9. What Classes Are On Your Schedule?
Wouldn’t it be cool to share a class with your roommate?
Entering your freshman year you’re probably going to start off taking general education classes. You could ask what your new roommate’s schedule is like to see if you both have any classes together.
10. Do You Play Any Sports?
See if you’re new roommate is an athlete on campus or if they’ve played sports in the past. You just might get to support them at a game!
11. What Kind Of Music Do You Listen To?
It’s always interesting to see what someone’s taste in music is, especially your new roommate. Who knows, you each might put each other on with a new favorite song or artist!
12. What Shows/Movies Do You Like To Watch?
This is another question to see what type of movies and shows they like to watch on TV. Maybe they’d rather watch documentaries or their favorite YouTuber instead. This is another question that can field some interesting answers and could give you some new things to look forward to watching.
Once you get through a list of personal questions to get to know your new roommate’s a bit more, you should probably begin asking questions to sort out your new living situation.
13. How Do You Feel About Guests?
You’ll definitely go on to meet more people and make more friends during your freshman year of college. And when you do, you’ll likely invite your new friends over to your dorm room to hang out. Your new roommate may not mind, but there’s a chance they might not be comfortable with guests all the time, so it’s important to ask them from the start how they feel about guests being in the room.
14. How Do You Feel About TV/Music?
Maybe your roommate doesn’t mind hearing your music or TV across the room. Maybe they’d like for it to be quiet while they’re there. You’ll never know their preference until you ask.
15. When Do You Generally Wake Up/Go To Sleep?
Is your new roommate an early bird or a night owl?
Asking this question will help you find out. It’s important to know what times you and your roommate wake up and go to sleep so you can each prepare to respect each other’s rest times.
It also helps to know if they like to take midday naps so you know not to barge into the room.
16. Do You Feel Comfortable Sharing?
Sharing is caring, right?
If you’ve gotten the chance to message or speak to your new roommate in advance, kudos to you. You’ll probably have a head start on this question.
For others, this is an important question to ask.
With the freshman dorms already tight on space, you both should workout who brings the microwave and who brings a mini fridge for you each to share.
Asking if your roommate will share food or share their WIFI is also something you should know. Sharing with someone usually takes trust, and sharing with someone you’re just getting to know can be hard at first.
17. What Else Do We Need For The Room?
You and your new roommate are a team now, and you must each work together to help enhance your own college living experience as much as theirs. Figure out if your room could use a few more things and work out who will get them into the room.
Don’t let this become a one-sided deal. Work together!
18. How Clean Do You Like To Be?
You need to ask your new roommate this!
Figure out how they like to live. Do they put their clothes away after their washed or leave them laying? Do they clean up after themselves or leave messes behind? Do they shower an appropriate amount?
Your dorm room is just as much yours as theirs, and vice versa. This is your home while you’re on campus. Respect their desire for the room to be clean the same way they should respect yours!
19. Do You Have Any Pet Peeves?
Is there anything that people do that get’s under your roommate’s skin? Ask this question to find out what you should and shouldn’t do while living together!
20. Is There Anything Else I Should Know About You?
Each of these questions will give you a great idea of who your roommate is, but this question to end off on leaves the door open for any additional information your roommate is willing to share with you.
Rooming with someone new your freshman year of college can be as exciting as it is uncomfortable for some. The best way to ease tensions in the room is by asking questions like these to your new roommate to figure out who they are and how they live.
Having to share your own living space with someone you might not know at all can be hard, but it’s also a great opportunity to make your first friend in college!
