New software matches roommates

Freshmen fear them. Resident advisers go through grueling training to learn how to handle them. Graduates look back and cringe at them.

But can roommate horror stories be avoided?

Universities across the country are experimenting with new computer software that seeks to match students more effectively -- with the hope that these systems will do just that.

At Emory University in Atlanta, the Office of University Housing installed WebRoomz software last February for returning upperclassmen, graduate students and incoming freshmen to choose their roommates, Assistant Director for University Housing Lisa DeMik said.

The program requires students to fill out questionnaires detailing their lifestyle and roommate preferences. That information is then sent through the system, and students can anonymously contact their closest matches through e-mail and, later, phone calls.

It is a radical departure from the old "pencil and paper system," which matched students based on smoking, sleeping and other lifestyle habits, DeMik said.

Although it is too early to tell whether the program prevents personality conflicts, it "gives students more control," she said.

"It wasn't that the other system was bad, but that this was better," DeMik explained.

Penn's software, Residential Management System, or RMS, works quite differently. With the exception of a few questions -- whether a person is an early riser, keeps kosher or smokes -- roommates are matched randomly based on their room preferences, Associate Director for Housing Administration Ellie Rupsis said.

The main exception consists of students who sign up for residential living programs. Housing sends these applications directly to the program's house dean, completely bypassing the software's randomized matching, she explained.

"We've talked to students about the matching process, but no decisions have been made," Rupsis said.

"There is no evidence that any particular tool reduces roommate problems," she added, noting that most room change requests at Penn are made for room types or location, and not due to roommate personality issues.

The WebRoomz software's main benefit consists in relieving "the anxiety of not knowing who you'll live with," she said.

"Our random process has worked really well," Rupsis added.

"It's great to fine-tune a system, but we have a fairly good system now," Ware College House Dean Katherine Lowe said, noting that less than 10 percent of her students request room changes due to personality conflicts.

But some students paint a less-than-rosy view.

"My roommate was very disrespectful of my things," said one student, who wished to remain anonymous to prevent problems with her ex-roommate. She noted that many of her friends had significant roommate conflicts.

"They give us three questions and they don't even abide by them. They have these questions to make you think they're doing something, but they're not."

"It's ridiculous," she said. "The school may not think it's a big deal, but it is."

Davidson College in Davidson, N.C., takes a slightly different approach. Incoming freshmen take a Myers-Briggs personality test and fill out a lifestyle questionnaire, which administrators use along with their college applications to pair students.

"We used it when I was a freshman in 1985" and it has worked well, Associate Director of Residential Life Leslie Urban said.

Last year, only one student requested a room change and approximately 40 percent of sophomores requested to live with their freshman-year roommates, she added.

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