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Roommate Relations

The foundation of a close residential community stems from close and positive roommate relationships. While many of us have had experience building relationships of various types, few of us have had experience living in such close quarters. This may, of course, prove to be quite challenging.

It is important to recognize that roommates need not be best friends. Yet, building good roommate relationships requires the same courtesy, consideration, understanding, listening and time that is required by building good friendships. Just as friends occasionally have disagreements and misunderstandings, so do roommates.

A good place to start in getting to know your roommate(s) is by talking about and comparing notes on your background and your thoughts about being at UCLA—a quick overview of where you’ve been and where you’re headed. You may want to talk about some of the basic issues college roommates face, such as: study times, friends vs. privacy, drinking, and room neatness, etc.

Triple Rooms and Suites

A unique problem with triples is based on the simple fact that three is an odd number.

Two roommates may be tempted to have a conversation and hence disturb the third who is trying to sleep or study. Two roommates may develop a friendship and inadvertently (or purposely) leave out the third. Of course, there may be times when you feel you have more in common with one roommate than the other, but it is important to remain mindful of the other roommate’s feelings. Beware of consistently excluding a person from what is happening in his/her room or suite.

Having more than one roommate may be a pleasure, a challenge, or an adventure—depending on your attitude. A sense of being “crowded” depends on your perspective, as well as your physical surroundings and the people sharing the room.

You may feel crowded with one roommate if you are used to having your own room at home. Naturally, the task of getting organized becomes more difficult as you increase the number involved in the process. Consequently, communicating and negotiating are essential to living with others. Make sure you fill out your Roommate Contract with your roommates (see your RA for assistance) to help facilitate the establishment of open lines of communication.