Living With a Roommate at NYU: The Good, the Bad, and the Awkward

You got in! Congratulations! What’s next? If you choose to live on campus, you will have the choice to select a roommate that you already know (check out incoming NYU student social media pages and discord services if you want to connect with a potential roommate). Otherwise, NYU will send you a living questionnaire asking about your cleanliness level, when you wake up, preferred noise levels, and more. NYU uses this questionnaire to assign you a random roommate, often someone from a different zipcode than you. Your suitemates will be randomly assigned. There are a few single rooms available, but these are usually reserved for those with accommodations. 

So now, the honeymoon phase begins. You and your roommate plan from the summer onward how you will decorate your space and who will bring the mini fridge. When you both arrive, you’ll have weekend Target runs, stay up late watching movies, and bond over being homesick. You think to yourself: I have a built in best friend and nothing could ever go wrong!

For most people, this phase eventually wears off. You desperately want alone time and how dare your roommate leave their light on past 10pm?! Sharing a space means sharing everything and small annoyances can pile up quickly if ignored. 

This is where communication matters most! NYU does their best to set you up for success. Every floor has a Resident Assistant (RA) who can help navigate any conflict you have. NYU also requires every roommate and suitemate pair to complete a Living Agreement. This is where you and your roommates write out expectations for each other. My suggestions? Write out a bathroom cleaning schedule, discuss when everyone needs quiet in the room, and establish when friends can come over. 

Learning to advocate for yourself and start difficult conversations can be daunting, but worth it in the long run. There were some tense times my first and second year on campus, where I didn’t say anything because I did not want anyone to be mad at me. But my silence meant others took advantage of me. I was always the one taking out the trash, cleaning the bathroom, and doing chores no one else wanted to. I kept hoping this would change one day, but nothing changed until I realized it was up to me to say something. 

Living with someone does not mean being identical or agreeing with everything all the time. It means learning how to respect differences and find balance.