social networks pick better roommates. RAs rejoice

So the Chronicle of Higher Education is reporting that more and more colleges are leveraging social networks to better match incoming students as roommates. (Cue the grampa voice: "In my day, we just threw them together in a room and let the RAs sort it out.")

I was one of those lucky Resident Advisors back in college forced to fix these personality clashes. And maybe that's where I cut my patience and diplomacy teeth mediating disputes between mis-matched roomies.

I really had to wonder how often the housing folks simply gave up trying to match students as roommates based on the information supplied by the kids who knew damn well mom & dad would be glancing at their proffered details before they went in the mail to school. How many non-smokers were curiously paired with chimneys? How many bookworms found themselves rooming with the life of the party? It was all lies on the form, and the staff could only work with the cards they were dealt. Besides, the info that seems to most indicate how well we'll click (religion, attitides toward sex, political beliefs, party habits) isn't the kind of stuff that colleges care to, or are allowed to, keep in their files.

I don't even remember what I put down as my habits/likes/dislikes on the form back in 1987, but I do remember the guy I got matched with as an incoming freshman was, um, curiously odd (no offense, Roberto, if you're still stalking me all these years later). I of course blamed the system. There's no way I was that eccentric. Nuh-uh, not me.

So now, knowing that kids are already scouring MySpace and Facebook for the sordid details that'll repel or attract them to their next roommate, the colleges are getting wise.

Tulane University recently announced a partnership with RoommateClick, a service that allows incoming students to select roommates through a closed social network.

RoommateClick provides about 10 colleges with customized roommate-choosing networks, where students fill out a questionnaire regarding their living habits (cleanliness, smoking, etc.) and provide profile photos and other open-ended profile information about themselves. Students can then search the closed network to choose roommates if they don’t wish to be assigned matches by the housing department.

At $5 to $10 a student, this could be quite the lucrative market if it's executed properly.

Heck, I'm sure the RAs would even chip in to prevent the headaches on the magnitude I experienced long ago.

(A Card Sort in Progress photo by Yandle)