Choosing a Roommate

[curly]

For those IN law school: How'd you choose a roomie? Are you living with a fellow student? Do you know others who are? How's that going for them?

For those heading to law school: How are your living arrangement plans going? Are you planning on a roomie? If so, how'll you choose?

I've been living in a single room for the past three years, and I've gotten really 'set in my ways.' I feel like when I live with other people I always feel kind of like a 'guest.' I'm extra careful not to leave my stuff lying around, I'm always uber-preoccupied with cleanliness, and I try to be really considerate with guests and noise. This is especially true when it's people I don't know.

However, I don't want to spend three years of my life living like a guest in someone else's home. I want to live with someone I'm comfortable with (I'd still be clean and considerate, just not as anxious about it), and also with someone who doesn't make life a living hell. How do I find that someone when I don't know ANYONE?

Help...please?

[*shell*]

ive had my own place for almost 2 years and there's no way im going to live with a roomie.  i get the whole guesty feel when i live with other people too and i don't want to have to add another adjustment to make.  i figure since im paying it all with loans, in for a penny in for a pound.  id rather spend 3 years comfortable.  a lot of the schools you got into are in large cities, though, and the apts are pretty expensive... most schools have databases you can search for roomies on, and craigslist is always awesome.  good luck!!!

[pass36]

Help...please?

How about this?  You help me get into Yale and I will cook (thai, mexican and cantonese are among my specialties and I was born in Texas which gives me instant BBQ street cred) and clean for you for the first year and one semester of second year.  By then you will have a SCOTUS clerkship wrapped up and won't care so much about your surroundings.....

[curly]

This would be remarkably tempting if I had ANY control at all over admissions decisions... 

[cayberr]

I've been living in a single room for the past three years, and I've gotten really 'set in my ways.'
.....

How do I find that someone when I don't know ANYONE?

Why start now?  You don't want to live by yourself in LS?

I'm not looking forward to a roomie.  But with budget constraints, I will have to take one on... until I realize the value of my sanity and comfort, then I'll forfeit food for single rent.

[pipskicks]

I love my roomates and my living situation, but unless I get into one of my reaches here, I'm most probably going to have to move.  When this happens, I'm sort of undecided, it's much cheaper with a roomate, but I've had roomates move out and taken other roomates, and that is why my last place fell through.  It's a big risk to take (I had a partier, tons of guests I didn't know over etc. etc.) and with the other stress you're going to have, it doesn't sound like the most amazing option.

[WinnieCooper]

Law school is very, very stressful.  You need to do what makes you comfortable.  For most people, moving in with someone you don't know is stressful on its own.  So, take that for what it's worth.

And there is no reason for anyone over 23 years of age to share a bedroom with a roommate (who is not their significant other).  The "savings" in money would not be worth nearly as much as what is spent in headaches.  Leave that practice in college where it belongs.

[practiceboy02]

If I end up at HLS (which is looking pretty likely at this point), then I'll probably room with my best friend who happens to be a grad student at MIT

[maka nani]

ive had my own place for almost 2 years and there's no way im going to live with a roomie.  i get the whole guesty feel when i live with other people too and i don't want to have to add another adjustment to make.  i figure since im paying it all with loans, in for a penny in for a pound.  id rather spend 3 years comfortable.  a lot of the schools you got into are in large cities, though, and the apts are pretty expensive... most schools have databases you can search for roomies on, and craigslist is always awesome.  good luck!!!

me too shell...five years here...when i see roomate it makes me feel old 

[The Dread Pirate Roberts]

I'd love to have my own apartment, but considering that I'm almost sure to end up in NYC or Boston, I just don't think it's going to be possible.

(Slightly off topic: Columbia has dorm rooms that cost upwards of $700 a month!  DAMN!)

I currently live with four other people in a four bedroom apartment (2 are dating, which is way less awful than I expected), and while it sucks on occasion, it's not too bad.  I actually think it's better than living with just one other person, because a) you can afford a lot more and nicer common space, and b) it's more of a group dynamic than a constantly-seeing-this-one-other-person dynamic.

So my plan is to use the board of the school I'm going to and craigslist, and, if it's boston, some other groups that I know, to find hopefully a 4 bedroom with 3 other grad student-y people, and try to screen very carefully to find people who I'll get along with.

What I plan not to do is live in a dorm.  I'm so over dorms.