WOODBURY — The path after high school includes a lot of decision making. Students who have decided to commit to college have already made a hard choice. Now they are given another task: finding a college roommate.

Months before college starts, students are able to online search for potential dorm-mates.

“The way we have to look for a roommate is by going through the class of 2028 pages on Instagram,” said Nonnewaug senior Luke Cenatiempo, who is currently in the process of finding his future roommate. “I posted on the UConn page a couple pictures of me and wrote a little bit about me as a person. I go through all the other people’s posts, and if I see someone with similar interests to me, I’ll send them a message. It’s kind of awkward reaching out, but I just ask them if they are still looking for a roommate.”

Students are searching through other commits’ Instagram bios to find their roommates. This new way of match-making is common among a lot of incoming college freshmen.

Picking someone to live with based on a few pictures can be a gamble. That is why seniors become stressed while scrolling through options for their roommates.

Kathy Green, Nonnewaug’s College and Career Resource Center counselor, senses the stress among the graduating class of 2024. The roommate searching process makes her question if Instagram bios are really the best way of finding a match.

“I think a lot of the individualized efforts have a lot more to do with their social media profile, and I don’t think that is very reality-based,” said Green. “It doesn’t necessarily show a reflection of their values or living styles, so I think it could be limiting.”

In fact, colleges don’t host these pages on Instagram; they are all student-driven. Colleges offer a survey that asks questions primarily about living style and routines.

“I committed to Quinnipiac,” said senior Colin Frechette. “I decided I am going to do the survey. I think it gives me a better chance at finding someone who will work better with my schedule. You get a better idea of who you want to live with based on when they go to sleep and when they wake up. Personally, I like to sleep. I don’t like when people stay up too late. I also sleep with a fan on, and if they don’t like that, then we probably wouldn’t work. I never even thought about doing the [Instagram] bio.”

Ryan Campanario, a physical education teacher at Nonnewaug, also took the room and board survey when he was a senior in high school. In his eyes, it helped him find a roommate he was compatible with.

“When I was going to college, we took a survey that asked about work ethic, lifestyle, what time they go to bed, and your student life,” said Campanario. “For the most part, the survey got me someone that I worked pretty well with. He was pretty easy to live with, but some of his lifestyle choices were just a little different than me. I try to be conscious of my hygiene, and he didn’t seem to care as much as I did. He was a good kid; he just had a little bit of a wild side. If they had the Instagram bios when I went to college, I think I would have tried it out. I think I would have known a little more about him with how social media is now.”

Regardless of how one gets paired with a roommate, trying to find someone with a perfect connection is unlikely. The uncertainty of a roommate makes students apprehensive about dorming. That is why more and more seniors are trying to conduct their own search.

“I posted a bio of myself and it was very stressful,” said Nonnewaug senior Madison Ocasio, a future student at Roger Williams University. “It felt like I was on some dating app. I look through their bios to see what they look like and try to see if they match my vibe. I also try to see if they seem like a social person. I’m scared of getting someone with bad hygiene, so I try to look for that, too.”

Counselors worry about how similarly the independent search resembles a dating app. While it is interesting doing the search by yourself, having success finding a roommate is not guaranteed.

“I’ve noticed it creates a whole new cascade of stressors,” said Green. “I think it creates a lot more stress and a whole new wave of worry. I don’t know that the individual pursuit of finding a roommate really lands our students with someone compatible. I think the surveys that schools put out about living habits are more helpful to find a roommate.”

This story was originally published on NHS Chief Advocate on April 26, 2024.