Hashinger hall roommates Meagan Kiser, Golden, Colo., freshman, and Kelley Rushing, Shawnee freshman, were paired together for the 2006-2007 school year. While going potluck for roommates can feel like a gamble, it's a good way to meet new people instead of sticking with your high school crowd. Kiser and Rushing worked out schedules for cleaning and took turns buying food to keep dorm life running smoothly.

If you’re an incoming freshman and plan to live in Kansas University’s residence halls, the smells, sounds and presence of another person will inhabit your 12.5-by-15-foot room. Maybe you’ve heard the horror stories of sweaty socks turning into a moldy mess underneath the bed, or a roommate’s frequent and unwelcome visitors, but going potluck can grant you a friend you’ll know for the rest of your life.

“You shouldn’t form any prejudgments,” Kelley Rushing says.

Rushing, a student from Shawnee and former resident of Hashinger Hall, was skeptical she and her roommate could get along because they were interested in different things, but they became close friends while living with each other. Rushing’s roommate, Megan Kiser, of Golden, Colo., even stayed at Rushing’s family home over winter break.

To facilitate the transition of living with a stranger, residence hall staffers require residents to fill out a written roommate agreement to help them figure out how to share the room.

“The process encourages roommates to discuss topics about sharing the room,” says Jennifer Wamelink, interim associate director for residence life.

In Kiser and Rushing’s agreement, they worked out details like cleaning responsibilities and rotating who bought food. They also agreed to tell the other person if they were having company stay overnight.

“(The agreement) really puts that emphasis on communication,” Wamelink says.

More than 60 percent of residents plan to live with a randomly assigned roommate, and others who requested a roommate sometimes switch mid-year.

Wamelink says when disputes come up and the hall staff has to intervene, most of the time the reason roommates aren’t getting along is because they haven’t been communicating well enough about things that bother each other.

“As the year went by, we could invade each other’s space a little more,” Rushing says.

If you’re worried about getting paired up with someone you may not necessarily get along with, you’ll have the chance to meet plenty of friends freshman year while living in the residence halls.

Ryan Sipple, of Ottawa, had planned to live with a friend from high school in Oliver Hall. But the duo decided to switch roommates, and Sipple moved in with a friend he met after coming to KU.

“Once you get here, you’ll make a lot of friends,” Sipple says. “Just don’t make (a) big deal out of stuff.”