As soon as Amelia Zukowski and Heidi Schanhals found out they'd be roommates at MSU, the pair pushed their apprehensions aside and met in Lansing for a day of shopping before classes began.

Three weeks into the school year, the freshmen said going in blind was a good decision.

"My roommate and I get along great," Zukowski, a communication freshman said.

"We have a lot of differences but nothing intolerable."

To make the move-in process as smooth as possible, university officials attempt to pair up incoming students based on their individual needs and sponsor activities including floor meetings and open-door nights, where students can meet their neighbors.

Diane Barker, Brody Complex hall director, said roommate requests placed before May 1, combined with gender, smoking preference, quiet-hall requests, alcohol-free hall requests and academic living options are all high priority factors in housing assignments.

"We cannot always work our magic," Barker said.

"Requested options are the driving force of with whom and where a student may be placed."

"We have a new computer program as a component of the random matching process. Everything was done manually before."

With around 15,000 students living on campus, roommate issues do arise, Residence Life Director Paul Goldblatt said.

"I have worked at schools where we did surveys to help match roommates," he said.

"But even though you'd think that the roommate situation would work out better, it doesn't always happen that way."

Having a roommate is a personal matter, Barker said.

"I've had many situations where someone wanted to live with their best friend from home, and then it ends up not being the best match," she said.

"People can move once they get here. We assist people if matches don't work. That's what we do in housing - assist people. That's what we are here for."

Mentors are an important resource for incoming freshmen, Goldblatt said.

"Mentors work with students so that they can feel more comfortable communicating with their roommate," he said.

"The role of the staff and mentors is to help students."

Accounting freshman Ryan VanCamp was the only student to attend MSU from his high school and, as a result, went in blind.

"I was a little apprehensive ,but things are working out really well," he said.

"My roommate and I talked over the phone twice to check things out. It's a lot of work to actually go and meet the person."

Going in blind can be scary for incoming students, but it's been a positive experience for freshmen Grace So and Erin Mullen.

"Things are going good," said So, an advertising freshman from Troy.

"We kind of found out more about each other as time has gone on. We basically compromise a lot for each other."

So and Mullen received each other's contact information in early August, along with other incoming freshmen and students to live on campus.

"Erin called me first," So said.

"We talked a couple times over the phone after that. We gave visual descriptions of ourselves to each other, talked about clothes, how we dress and our interests.

"We got really lucky. Not everyone else is so lucky."

Accounting freshman Scott Crosby found it difficult to adjust to his new living situation because of different interests and lack of communication between his roommate and himself.

"Be nice to your roommate, even if you don't like him or her," he said.

"You don't have to spend all of your time in the dorm. There are many other activities you can get involved in."

Psychology freshman Amanda Bender took a positive outlook on rooming blind.

"I had heard the horror stories but said I know lots of people coming to this school that I could hang out with if things didn't go so well," she said.

"So I thought, 'Why not meet someone new?'"

For more information about roommate relations visit www.reslife.msu.edu.