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How to Choose a College Roommate
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Social-networking sites have changed the freshman dorm equation forever. Plus, dishing with ex-roommates of Barack Obama, Madonna, and John Kerry—and a gallery of famous roomies.
The canon of freshman-year roommate horror stories is as old as dorm life. Gruesome tales of ludicrously ill-conceived cohabitation have been anxiously repeated by countless high-school seniors, embellished (though not always by much) for maximum drama, and immortalized in movies like Animal House and PCU.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW OUR GALLERY OF FAMOUS COLLEGE ROOMMATES
To get a sense of just how strange it can feel to be paired with a roommate by a large bureaucracy, The Daily Beast tracked down the former college roommates of future celebrities. From Barack Obama's air-conditioning quirks to John Kerry's odd sleeping habits to Madonna's penchant for risk-taking, their former roommates' anecdotes say a lot about how to navigate your freshman-year living situation.
But such navigational skills are becoming less necessary, as the increasingly sophisticated science being used by colleges in matching up roommates is making horror stories a thing of the past. Today, many schools are using social-networking techniques to make sure there are no surprises come move-in day. So this year, whether your freshman roommate ends up as your best friend or your worst enemy, chances are fate won't be to blame. As first-year students flood campuses over the next few weeks, the annual mating dance of who gets matched up with who in the dorms looks more like online dating than luck of the draw.
Click Here to Read Anecdotes from the Former College Roommates of Today's Celebrities
Consider Connecticut’s Sacred Heart University. More than three-quarters of its freshman this fall will move in with a roommate they themselves selected via an Internet matchmaking service. Students post a profile, complete with a detailed questionnaire and photos, and can then browse other potential roommates.
After submitting their profiles, a courtship of sorts ensues as the teens use a messaging system to pair off. “We understand that this is a generation that uses the Internet to have a say over every aspect of their life,” says Joel Quintong, director of residential life at Sacred Heart. “Why would picking where they live or with whom be different?”
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Jacob Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Daily Beast. Previously, he was a features writer at WWD and W Magazine. He has also written for New York magazine, Paper, and The Huffington Post.
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Kathleen Kingsbury covers education for The Daily Beast. She also contributes to Time magazine, where she has covered business, health and education since 2005.
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Kathleen Kingsbury covers education for The Daily Beast. She also contributes to Time magazine, where she has covered business, health and education since 2005.
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Kathleen Kingsbury covers education for The Daily Beast. She also contributes to Time magazine, where she has covered business, health and education since 2005.
What's the big roommate hilarity in "Animal House"? I'm not remembering. Yes, it was set on a campus, with wacky characters.....
Cramer and Spitzer were roommates? Mr. "buy Bear Stearns!!!" and Wall Street's #1 persona non grata were roommates? Irony at its best.
you'll always place Madonna's face with Barack Obama's after linking into this article. Its "face" association.
Its different here, than Madonna's face and images being hinted with the publicity surrounding Michael Jackson's death- and her using his tour date- post mortem. Which was done last month.
Unlike the accusations of the "queen" claiming John McCain is a neo-nazi, or Barack Obama being likened to 2 murdered spiritual leaders (Ghandi and Dr.King)- which Madonna and the Warner Bros. publicity team imaged during the election.
(purchasing a front page slot on The Daily Beast costs how much?)
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