For many incoming college students, Instagram pages are the first place to start building up a social profile for other students to see. Students are connecting with potential roommates, making friends and getting a better feel for campus life before classes even begin. For several seniors, these accounts helped them find roommates, new friends and made them more excited about leaving home.
When Morgan Bartels committed to the University of Arkansas, she wasn’t sure how she would find a roommate. She submitted photos and a short bio about herself to multiple “Arkansas 2029” pages. After receiving a few DM’s from other girls, Bartels felt she connected the best with one in particular.
“She’s from Texas, she is very sweet, we have a lot in common, we figured that out through the posts, and I’m really excited,” Bartels said.
Bartels and her new roommate talked for about a month before making it official that they would room together. If it wasn’t for the Instagram account, Bartels wouldn’t have found someone she connected with as well as she did with her soon to be roommate.
“I’m really looking forward to being roommates with her, it’s making me way more excited about going to college,” Bartels said.
Lindsay Golden and Ellie Wohlschlaeger had a slightly different experience with Instagram roommate pages. The two had already planned on rooming together at the University of Missouri, but wanted to fill a four person suite. Early on, they decided to make a post to multiple “Mizzou 2029” pages in hopes of finding two other girls to make their freshman year memorable.
“It was very stressful finding roommates, there are so many people who reach out or who you reach out to who are very sweet and seem like you would be perfect, but then they end up wanting different things or end up changing their mind and going to a different school,” Golden said. “Some people also just don’t really end up being someone that you really click with. Getting to know someone really well across Instagram dms or a Snapchat group chat is not the easiest.”
Golden and Wohlschlaeger clicked with two best friends from Columbia, Missouri who were also looking for two girls to fill a suite, which worked out perfectly for them.
“Our roommates are Lydia and Sheridan. They are both from Columbia and go to the same school. Sheridan plays soccer and Lydia dances and they are both super sweet, funny and fun to hang out with,” Wohlschlaeger said.
Since living only a few hours away, the four met in person multiple times. They met for the first time at a coffee shop in St. Louis and instantly connected. Golden and Wohlschlaeger even drove to Columbia for their roommate’s winter dance.
“We’ve all already started planning our dorm and we can’t wait to live with them in the fall,” Golden said.
Kenneth Diekmann will be attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in the fall and decided to post to an “ERAU 2029” account to find roommates. Diekmann had a few people reach out, but felt none of them stuck out to him.
“I found three roommates during my preview day. We met during a flight presentation and ended up going to dinner and wanting to become roommates,” Diekmann said.
The group quickly bonded over their shared interest in aviation, and Diekmann found their experience both impressive and motivating.
“Their names are Andrew, Sean, and Dylan. They are all Aeronautical Science majors, hoping to pursue a career as a pilot. They all already have their professional license and ratings, so it’s a good fit for me to have a challenge.”
Diekmann believes that while connecting with potential roommates online is a great way to see who is attending your school and meet people from across the country, it’s ultimately better to meet your roommates in person.
“You can only learn so much about a person online, it’s so much better to meet them in person since I feel like you can connect better,” Diekmann said.
