University of Connecticut Residential Life is using the website My College Roomie for continuing students’ on-campus roommate matching starting this year, University Spokesperson Stepanie Reitz said in an email statement.
The platform was first introduced last summer with the incoming freshmen class as a more effective way for new students to meet each other and find roommates, Reitz said.
“For many years, students and families have been asking for a way to identify roommates or find other students to connect with,” she said. “They often turned to social media outlets such as Facebook, but that wasn’t particularly effective.”
This is the first time that My College Roomie will be used for returning students’ roommate pairings. In past years, students matched with roommates in the MyHousing portal.
“Although many continuing students create their own roommate groups, many others don’t have someone identified and find value in this service,” Reitz said.
A My College Roomie account was automatically made for all students registered and approved for on-campus housing next year, according to the emails the platform sent to students.
My College Roomie allows students to create detailed profiles where they can list basic information like their gender, major, hometown and smoking habits. Students can also input their hobbies, favorite TV shows, movies, music and books, according to the website. They can add a profile picture, a biography, link to their social media accounts and a one-minute introduction video.
There is also a detailed slider scale questionnaire which asks about one’s personal habits like studying, socializing, bathing or technology use, as well as their “Comfort Zone,” which is where they would like a potential roommate to stand on the scale. There are four categories in the questionnaire: Lifestyle, Social, Room and Personality, the website said. Students can search for a specific person using their name as well as search for specific attributes like hometown, hobby or major.
Under the “Matches” tab on the website, students can scroll and find potential roommates. Each profile has a “Match Score” percentage, which helps students find similar people to reach out to. When students click on a profile, they can see the students’ biography, basic facts and social media links. Students have the option to start a chat with other students on the platform as well. If a student is part of a special interest group including learning communities, upper division honors or gender-inclusive and gender-neutral housing, they are only able to see students in the same group as them.
To match with someone, students have to send a friend request to each other first. After both parties accept, they can match together as roommates. Like friend requests, both parties must accept the roommate request.
Roommate groups must be finalized by 5 p.m. the day before the earliest pick time of the group, according to an email from the UConn Department of Residential Life. After that time, the roommate group information will be transferred into the MyHousing portal to prepare for the next day’s housing selection. If students drop a roommate on the day of selection, they cannot add them or anyone else into the group until the following day, the email said.
Housing selection and roommate pairing opened on March 27, according to the Department of Residential Life. Special interest groups had their selection period from April 2 to April 6. General selection for housing begins on April 9 and ends on May 2, the department said. May 1 is the deadline to cancel Fall 2025 housing for a fee of $500.