Let Fate Pick Your College Roomie

Matching services ruin a good life lesson
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 11, 2010 1:43 PM CDT
Let Fate Pick Your College Roomie
If your dorm pal sleeps in odd places, learn to deal with it.   (Shutterstock)

Maureen Dowd is saddened by this new trend of college students using matching services to pick their roommates. If college is supposed to broaden your horizons, what's the point in finding someone exactly like you to live with? As a primer for the real world, letting fate determine your dormmate can't be beat. "Co-habiting with snarly and moody roomies prepared me for the working world, where people can be outlandishly cantankerous over small stuff," writes Dowd in the New York Times.

"The serendipity of ending up with roommates that you like, despite your differences, or can’t stand, despite your similarities, or grow to like, despite your reservations, is an experience that toughens you up and broadens you out for the rest of life." (She also retained this life lesson, imparted by her brother, after a fight with a roommate left her stranded: "Never pick a fight with the guy who's driving.")

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