College, if nothing else, is where comfort zones go to die. 

It is a cold plunge into adulthood and independence, and it is very rarely a comfortable four years. But perhaps the most valuable and educational ingredient in the American college experience is a significant source of said discomfort: the opportunity to connect with people from around the world.

Geographic location can shape everything about a person. Our superficial features like accents, mannerisms, and style of dress are all molded by our place of upbringing, but so are our qualities below surface-level, like our customs, values, and perspectives of the world. So when we meet people who are entirely different from us – whether in terms of culture, beliefs, or background – we are offered the invaluable opportunity to expand our understanding of the world. Preconceptions can be dismissed, perspectives can be broadened, empathy can be further developed – and we may find that even our own beliefs are refined or changed.

Nowadays, the most common method of college roommate selection takes place through matching programs. Colleges typically collect information regarding students’ interests and lifestyles and create roommate matches accordingly. This is contrary to the approach that has historically been taken: the random assignment of roommates. While there are certainly benefits to survey-based matching, it will ultimately result in rooming with someone who is, for the most part, similar to you – this takes away the aforementioned necessary part of the college experience. The process of randomly selecting college roommates opens opportunities for incredible growth and sensitivity among students, and is likely to improve almost every aspect of college life.

My father was raised in Mt. Lebanon, a suburb of Pittsburgh, which is quite homogeneous. He grew up around people who were, for the most part, identical to him – white, wealthy, and well-educated. But he spent the majority of his early adulthood in West Philadelphia, studying medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. West Philadelphia is a much more diverse and urban region than Mt. Lebanon, but that’s not only what made his college years the most memorable. His roommates during his freshman year at Penn, Angus and Jonno, were from Nottingham, England. At first, he didn’t seem to have much in common with the two, but over time, they bonded. Angus introduced my dad to the English sport of rowing, where my dad became the coxswain for the lightweight team, a position and sport he had previously been entirely unfamiliar with. Although he could never be mistaken for a natural athlete, with a skinny frame of only five feet and three inches, he joined Angus in walking on to become a Division I college athlete shortly after his introduction to the sport. They showed him English bands and acts like The Cure, The Clash, and Billy Bragg. Whereas parties in high school meant Bruce Springsteen, poker, and pizza in a suburban basement, parties with Angus and Jonno meant Sex Pistols, and pints and late-night fish and chips at the local pub. Even today, these British musicians remain among my dad’s favorites, and he still rows in a local summer league. His home office is decorated with photographs of his team, and he constantly recounts his years with them as the happiest of his life.

Had he chosen or matched with a roommate based on shared interests and lifestyles, he would have never had such memorable experiences, which he still carries with him today. Rowing and British rock music remain among his great joys in life. Despite attending an Ivy League university, my father claims that his close bond with Angus and Jonno and the benefits that emerged from it are more valuable than any program or degree that schools have to offer. 

There are studies that prove the existence of diversified and more empathetic views of the world when roommates are randomly assigned, too. A recent study conducted at the University of California-Davis suggests that white college students, when paired with non-white roommates, become more accepting of other races and ethnicities (Carrell et al.). A study conducted in 2020 by researchers at Princeton University implied that college roommates influence each other’s political ideologies and that they tend to move closer to their roommate on the political spectrum over time (Strother et al.). Bruce Sacerdote, a statistician at Dartmouth College, noted in a 2001 study that roommates tend to exhibit higher grade point averages when paired randomly (Sacerdote). There are clear benefits to randomized roommate matching that exist in and extend beyond the realms of personal growth and broadened understanding.

And it must be acknowledged that there are realities in which reintroducing randomized matching may become uncomfortable for students – or, in more severe cases, hostile. While my father’s experience was positive, there would be those who have suboptimal relationships with randomly-assigned roommates. But even these situations are beneficial to students – learning conflict resolution and problem solving is essential for personal growth and understanding those who are different from you.

Growth is what college is all about, and real growth occurs in discomfort. The decision to reintroduce randomized college roommate matching may receive negative backlash from students at first, but I have no doubt that colleges would soon find a generally escalated morale, a higher quality of social life, and greater understanding among students. As mentioned earlier, college is where comfort zones go to die, and by no means will surrounding yourself with comfort and those who are similar to you expand or enhance your college experience. Rather, expanding your horizons by surrounding yourself with diverse groups of people will prove nothing short of invaluable to your college experience, as well as your life and career after. Whether relationships formed with randomized roommates emerge as good or poor, significant personal growth and understanding will occur.

As a future college student, I hope for a roommate who is entirely different from myself for these reasons – and I hope to see colleges begin to implement a random roommate selection process in the future, too.

Works Cited

Carrell, Scott E., et al. The Impact of College Diversity on Behavior Toward Minorities,    pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/pol.20170069.

“Housing & Roommates.” CollegeParentsMatter, www.collegeparentsmatter.org/housing-roommates. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024. 

Sacerdote, Bruce. Peer Effects with Random Assignment: Results for Dartmouth Roommates, Jan. 2000, https://doi.org/10.3386/w7469. 

Strother, Logan, et al. “College roommates have a modest but significant influence on each other’s political ideology.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 118, no. 2, 21 Dec. 2020, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2015514117.