Picking Roommates Electronically

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the how-things-change dept

Back when I went to college, the only say I had in picking a roommate was whether or not I smoked. Other than that, it was completely random. So, it shouldn’t be a huge surprise that the match didn’t work out too well (it probably had something to do with the fact that he came to school with the mission of converting as many people as possible to his particular brand of religion, and target #1 happened to be living in the same room). I heard of other colleges that made students fill out a more detailed survey and try to match people that way. Now, however, the college freshman matching game is going electronic. Some colleges, such as Emory, have set up an online “dating” system to find your freshman roommate. All the incoming students set up profiles, and then go through others profiles to find someone who matches. I’d be curious to find out, afterwards, if the matches turn out any better than the random method. There were plenty of people who became quite close to their freshman year roommate when randomly paired, and I’d bet many of the freshman who go through the electronic process will discover that their actual roommate is nothing like what they advertised in their profile. In fact, the profiles may cause more upset roommate pairs, when they realize that their expectations were incorrect.