It’s getting to be that time of the year for incoming freshmen: time to accept your housing contracts and find a roommate.

Deciding who you want to eat, sleep, and breathe next to during your freshman year is definitely not an easy task, and Penn State doesn’t offer a roommate survey like some other schools. Freshmen are stuck deciding to use apps like Facebook and TikTok to get in contact with other prospective students or go random.

To make your search just a bit easier, here is how you can get started on finding a potential roommate:

How To Find A Roommate

Live With A Friend

It is very common for incoming freshmen to live with their friends, especially those who want to eliminate the uncertainty of living with a random roommate. Beware, though — just because you are friends with somebody doesn’t mean that they are fun to live with!

Ask A Friend To Introduce You To Someone

If you know you don’t want to live with your friends, but you also don’t like the uncertainty of having a random roommate, this might be the best option for you. Many students meet their future roommates by asking current friends if they know another person who is looking for somebody to live with.

Make A TikTok

This is actually a more common method than some might think. Incoming freshmen began to use TikTok to find roommates when its popularity started to rise in 2020. Whether you’re already (somewhat) famous on TikTok or not, you might be able to reach more people through the #FYP. If all else fails, you may need to get your creative juices flowing.

Use Facebook Groups

Finding a roommate through Facebook groups is the most common method for most incoming freshmen. This is a great method to meet new people but still get to be familiar with who you are going to be sleeping six feet away from for nine months. Using Facebook is also a great method to meet other people in special living options (SLOs), such as the Schreyer Honors College.

Go Random

Being randomly assigned to a roommate isn’t as bad as people make it out to be. It ends up working out for many students. After all, you don’t have to be best friends with your roommate, you just have to get along.

Questions To Ask Your Potential Roommate

If you complete the first step and find a potential roommate, you might want to meet them and see what they are like.

Here are some questions you could ask your potential roommate:

“If you could pick one album to take on a deserted island with you, what would it be?”

You can tell a lot about a person by the music that they listen to. It’s also a great question to help break the ice!

“Why did you choose Penn State?”

Many Penn State students have immediate relatives that previously attended Penn State. If your potential roommate is also coming from a Penn State family, you’ll have an immediate connection!

“Are you a morning or night person?”

This might be the most common question to ask your potential roommate. It’s not fun to wake up to your roommate’s music at 2 a.m. while you’re trying to get some shuteye.

“What are your pet peeves?”

It’s much better to establish each other’s pet peeves earlier rather than when it is too late. It will benefit you in the long run.

“Sheetz or Wawa?”

This question might lead to a passionate argument, so proceed with caution.

“What is the best trophy in all of sports?”

If your potential roommate doesn’t say “the Land Grant Trophy,” it might be best to move on to a new roommate.

“If you could be any dinosaur, what would you be and why?“

If you know, you know.