Senior year is full of firsts and lasts. From the first senior sunrise and sunset to the last senior exam, there is no shortage of steps the graduating class of 2023 will take before seniors leave the beloved halls of North Atlanta and off to college and career opportunities. Starting in the fall of senior year, NAHS college-bound students apply to reach, safety, and target schools, depending on their future goals. Applying to colleges is exciting yet rigorous for students, staff, and parents alike. While the application period takes up the majority of the senior year graduation experience, post-acceptance preparations also offer students stress, one of which is finding a suitable college roommate. 

The infamous freshman roommate: either your next best friend or your next sworn enemy. Many seniors go from having their room decorated to their liking to a 12 by 19-foot room shared with another person who is often a stranger. Hopefully, this person is not as much of a stranger as the roommate your parents told you about “back in the day.” Modern roommate hunting has become a social-media-driven task, starting with searching a college roommate page, scrolling through the hundreds of images from prospective students, and narrowing it down to the perfect roommate for you. Many posts include hobbies, interests, and what a student might like to do in their free time. This description allows students from all different parts of the country and even the world to connect based on similar interests and beliefs. “Picking a roommate from an Instagram page has been a great experience because I feel like I know the person better than if I were to meet a random roommate on the first day of college,” said senior Sarah Anne Hamilton. 

While some enjoy the security of choosing a similar roommate, others go the more traditional route and let their college choose a random roommate. While this method does not provide the security blanket of choice, it gives those seniors with a wild side a chance to guarantee a roommate and avoid the stress of online communication. In addition, some colleges need to provide incoming first-year students the ability to choose their roommates, leaving some seniors in doubt over who their freshman roommate will be. For example, Colgate University, among others, bans all incoming first-year students from picking their roommate ahead of time. “I am letting my college randomly choose my roommate, which is very scary,” said senior Sophie Haines. “Hopefully, it will bring me out of my comfort zone, which is what college is all about anyways.” 

As the final days of high school come to a close for seniors, exciting new ideas, people, and paths await them. Wish our class of 2023 the best of luck in meeting new freinds and keeping the old. Roommates are temporary, but Dubs are forever.