Help the College Make a Match
First and foremost, remember to fill out every form your college sends you if you want avoid trouble later on.  The questions may seem silly while you are filling them out but each college has developed a system that has the best results for their students.  Sure it’s still a gamble who you’ll end up with, but your chances are much MUCH better if you give the college some idea of who you are and you’re your lifestyle is. 

Always Speak Up
There are always those times in life when you feel like it is better to let things go than start a discussion with the person- not so with roommates!  Roommate situations are unique and the more open discussions, the better.  Little annoyances that you keep quiet about will often fester and swell until they have become huge issues.  Oftentimes a person will be doing something that is driving their roommate completely crazy but they won’t even know it.  Once they realize the trouble they’re causing you, most people will try to fix it. 

Be Willing to Compromise
Understand this from the beginning: Both you and your roommate WILL have to make some adjustments.  Try not to get angry or offended at requests by your roommate.  Take time to look at it from their point of view and understand what it is that is bothering them about the behavior.  Always treat each other with respect and the understanding that you are coming from two different perspectives.  

Set Up “Rules” Right Away
Create a schedule that both of you can live with for sleeping/quiet hours versus party time.  Decide which items will be shared and which items you both would prefer to keep for yourselves.  Agree that after a certain hour, or during certain times if studying needs to be done the person should head to library.  Agree on these things ahead of time so that there is no confusion later.  It may seem silly, but it will make for a much smoother year. 

Know When to Seek Help
If you are past the point of return, and are truly unhappy with your living situation, then there are steps you can take to help yourself.  The first step is to talk to your dorm advisor (usually this is an upperclassman or adult who acts as an overseer for the dorm) or housing director.  Try to figure out with their help whether you are just a little unhappy or if your situation really is unusually bad.  They will have a lot of experience dealing with roommate issues and can probably think of solutions that you can’t.

Together you may decide that the best thing is for you to find a new room.  It may be that at that time there are few open rooms on campus, but most housing offices will do everything in their power to help a student out of a bad situation.  If you have made some good friends on your floor, it can be difficult to move somewhere entirely new but just remember that they will still be your friends and you can still see each other all the time. Realize, during this ordeal, that you’re not alone. Your friends and the advisors and housing coordinators are all there to support you.  There are most likely plenty of other kids at your school dealing with the same problem.