Picking Roommates

[michigan girl]

Hey everyone, I finally made my decision and am now in the process of finding an apartment. I think the on-campus housing is too expensive.

I found a very nice 2-bedroom apartment for $900/month in a quiet neighborhood. I am considering having a roommate to split costs. The lease would be in my name, and I will draft the roommate contract. I have never done this before so here are my questions:

How do you find a roommate?

If you have several candidates, how do you pick the right person?

Do you pick people who will be in same/different program? Friends or strangers?

[Jakrabite]

I did this during my Master's program. I got the lease myself and put out an ad on the listserv for grad students. I eventually had a stranger for a roommate who was in a different program. Luckily he turned out to be a person with similar sensibilities and things were hunky dory. As for picking out a roommate amongst several candidates, I told them my preferences and asked for theirs. After a process of weeding out the obvious weirdos, I just chose randomly amongst the remaining few.

[was1984]

One thing I would advise against are the online roommate finding services. My girlfriend used these services twice, with disastrous results both times. People tend to be very dishonest about their habits and expectations.

[fuzzylogician]

If possible, it's important to talk to the person more than once. Try to get a feel for the person and see if you two can have a decent conversation and generally get along, have similar opinions, etc (let them say what they think before you tell them your views!). Be specific about your expectations and habits and ask about anything you think might bother you. People might lie so notice their behavior, not only their words. In the end, it's all a crap shoot. Personally, I've had some bad-mediocre experiences with strangers I picked from websites. I had the best experiences living with friends or with friends of friends. I figured that people who got along with my friends were likely to get along with me, and luckily it always worked out that way in the end.

[michigan girl]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will make sure to conduct two interviews to screen candidates.

Is it possible to link financial aid to off-campus housing? (Let's say I have a $12,000 loan I want to apply toward the apartment lease.)

[LingGrad2009]

At my school that's only possible with the university-owned housing. I'd imagine that would be pretty standard. However your university (or whatever your funding provider is) should be able to give you proof of income forms and such if your potential landlords need them.

[kaybee]

I have friends who have found roommates through facebook. Most grad programs have a facebook group where they usually post helpful information for each other, sometimes related to housing. You could try and find a group associated with your program, or perhaps even grad students at your school. Sometimes people post adds in these groups when they are looking for a roommate, or for another person to fill a house.

You can look at the profiles of prospective candidates to get an idea of who they are. Of course this doesn't give you a realistic picture, but you get the idea. Hope this helps!

Kay