Roommate roulette

 "Face it! To live with anyone 24 hours a day in a room the size of a closet is gonna bring on some tense moments, friend or not."

Junior in sociology, University of Colorado

Top 10 ways to make your roommate happy

•  10 Buy your own shampoo and deodorant-and use it.
•  9 Wash your cereal bowl and socks before they're green and fuzzy.
•  8 Keep your towel off the beds.
•  7 Keep visits from high school friends down to less than a week.
•  6 Don't hit the snooze a thousand times for an 8 a.m. class you're not going to anyway.
•  5 Keep your beverages off the computer.
•  4 When your roomie's sleeping, turn your cell phone on vibrate and turn off the volume on your computer if you're IM-ing.
•  3 Remember, it's a dorm room, not a romantic hideaway.
•  2 Don't disappear when its time to pay for the pizza or anything else.
•  1 FLUSH.

Advice on roommates straight from the horse's mouth!

My roommate had this "need" to make our room "Party Central" all hours of the day and night. I was too gutless to suggest anything as nerdy as quiet hours. It lasted until grades came At least this nerd's still in school. 
Junior in geology, Arizona State University

I had an incredible roommate all four years. She was so easy to live with because before doing anything else she always asked a question: "Do you mind if ... ?"
Graduate of engineering, Iowa State University

The biggest mistake that roommates make is that instead of just telling the other person what they're mad about, they do something to get even so then everybody's mad and it just snowballs.
Junior (R.A.) in engineering, University of Miami

Set limits. After letting my roommate borrow a sweater, my closet became a free-for-all especially if I left for the weekend. Make it clear that it's an ask first policy and set a specific time that you need it returned.
Senior in psychology, Adelphi University