Can we watch “Glee” on the projector tonight? You guys, you’ll neverrrr guess who I saw today. Rania, can I borrow that sweater again? Who’s playing the “Funny Girl” soundtrack, and can you queue “Don’t Rain on My Parade?” Come home quick, we’re debriefing.
Olga Khazan, a staff writer at The Atlantic, writes, “if the people around us influence our personalities and health, the people living five feet from our twin dorm bed do so all the more.”
Meeting your first-year roommate has always been a suspense-filled rite of passage for new college students. At most universities around the country, students have the ability to take advantage of social networks and online platforms to select their own roommates. At Harvard, students do not get to choose. To assist in the matching process, incoming freshmen are asked to complete a First-Year Housing Questionnaire.
The form asks students to list everything from their academic and extracurricular interests to their taste in music, and the number of roommates they would prefer. The form also asks students to write an essay describing themselves and what they want in a roommate. Are you a morning person? A definite night owl? Clean or neat? Noisy or loud? The goal of the survey is to help the assignment of roomates and entryways for the year.
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January 25th, 2024
I’m walking home after a night out, choking back tears. As I approach the steps of Holworthy East, I am greeted by my roommate Victoria, who is sitting eating Joe’s on the front steps at 1:45am. I can’t help but laugh as she explains how she couldn’t find her ID and was just waiting for someone to come home.
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Harvard rooming assignments are finalized just before they are sent out to freshmen in mid-August. Similar to Harvard, other universities like Duke and Dartmouth enforce random roommate policies in hopes of ensuring that students are interacting with peers across all backgrounds.
There is an inherent comfort to being able to pick your own roommates. Often, we gravitate toward people with similar regional or cultural backgrounds and those with similar interests. On the other hand, college student bodies, composed of varying nationalities, ethnicities, religions, and languages, offer us the unique opportunity to meet people across a multitude of different backgrounds. The random rooming process helps with this ability college provides us to meet new people as we aren’t necessarily matched with someone exactly like us.
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December 6th, 2023
It’s 3am on a Wednesday, and Riley and I are both completely awake. As I string up fairy lights around our windows and Riley tapes bottle caps and dried flowers above her desk, we sway and hum old Christmas carols together.
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If students gravitate towards others with similar backgrounds and interests, it could exacerbate existing social divisions at Harvard. Wealthier students from “feeder schools” or those belonging to exclusive social circles would form clusters, creating an even more stratified social landscape. This would undeniably alienate students from less privileged backgrounds or with less common interests, hindering the potential for diverse interactions and cross-cultural learning.
Harvard prides itself on the strength of its residential communities. If self-selection becomes the norm, these communities could lose their diverse energy and become less vibrant and dynamic. The sense of shared experience and common ground that often emerges from living with a variety of people could be lost, impacting the overall quality of the residential experience for all students.
Admittedly, for many people, the random rooming situation doesn’t always work out in a built-in best friend sort of way. It’s important to remember, however, that once a student receives their roommates, it’s up to them to cultivate a relationship. As with most things in life, it is what you make of it.
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October 14th, 2023
In our dimly lit room, I find myself dozing off to the muffled sounds of Love Island coming from Della’s laptop computer. I’ll hold on to the warmth of Saturday afternoons at Harvard, shared in our little double, near to my heart for a while. I’ll hold onto her “I’m the One x Marimba” morning alarm for a while too.
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As I reflect back on my first semester at Harvard, I can’t help but feel an unwavering sense of gratitude. I’ve learned so much about people and myself. From understanding how to effectively communicate to developing patience and tolerance, my roommates and I have become a lifeline for one and other. I have found myself constantly confronted with needing to step outside of my comfort zone to understand and appreciate my roommates’ perspectives and experiences. Together, we have helped each other cultivate empathy.
There is no version of me at Harvard that doesn’t include my three roommates— Della, Riley, and Victoria.
There is not one linear thing to derive about our relationships to one another. We are messy, chaotic, and loud, but nonetheless, the shared love and compassion that we have developed for one another is understated, and that’s what makes it so special. The relationships that I have cultivated, tethered to Holworthy 23’s brick walls, are different, and I’m grateful for that. These relationships that we get to make with each other are one of a kind, because these people were placed into our lives, not by choice, but by chance.
And that’s the magic of it all—the authenticity that can only come from randomness. Rania Jones ’27 (rjones@college.harvard.edu) wouldn’t have it any other way.