By: Erin Pratt

Picking a college roommate is almost as stressful as selecting a college in the first place. After sweating it out to make sure you got into the college of your choice, you have to pick who you will live with for the next year.

Some students decide to go in blind and have the college pick who they will be rooming with, but others don’t like leaving it up to fate. Seniors Clara Kissling, Elizabeth Raider and Mackenzie Biediger are planning on going to Grand Valley State together and will be rooming with each other as well. “Mackenzie and I have been friends since we were in kindergarten and all three of us have been on the equestrian team for all four years of high school so we have become really close,” Kissling said.

Some people won’t be attending a university within the state of Michigan so they are less likely to know who they will be rooming with. Senior Kennedy Turkington is going to Arizona State University and is most likely going to go in blind. “Since the school I’m going to is far away I don’t expect to know anyone going there,” she said. “But I don’t mind going in blind. I think it will be fun to make new friends and have new adventures” she continues.

Senior Carly Orick doesn’t know where exactly she will be attending, but it will most likely be Grand Valley State University. “I know a lot of people who are going there and I will probably room with them, I’m too nervous to go in blind,” she admitted.

Knowing a lot of people going to the same school as you can bring a sense of comfort to leaving home and knowing your roommate on a personal level before college will only add to that comfort.