FAIRFIELD, Conn. - Katie Anninos' friends are jealous. The 18-year-old freshman from Dresher, Pa., is starting classes at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield and over the summer she chose her dorm roommate online.
None of her college-bound high school pals had the same advantage, she said.
"I have tons of friends and when I told them about the program they were really jealous," Anninos said. "I think it's a lot more personal and a better way" of matching up roommates.
The program is Sacred Heart's roommate service, a first-time option for the school's 928 freshmen.
The university contracted with Lifetopia Corp., a rooming and housing network based in New York, to link students to the online roommate service, through the school's Web site, where only the school's freshmen have access.
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Students post their profiles and pictures, answer a questionnaire and search the site for compatible roommates. Once two people agree to be roommates, they contact the university about their choice, said Quintong, and the match is done. "We were really pleased with the turnout," said Quintong of the 590 profiles posted. "It's so second nature to students to have this kind of environment to view and choose their roommate; it's almost expected, in a way." "We understand millennial students like options and like more control over the educational experience," he said. "If a student can pick a roommate, they're going to take great care finding someone who they think they'll mesh with." Sarel Doglu, chief technology officer at Lifetopia, said the company started in 1995 as a commercial Web site to help people find roommates in major cities. About three years ago, the company began approaching universities about its services. "It's an easy solution for them," he said. "We do all the work for them posting links and banners on their housing section to let roommates find their (school) account." Doglu said the company recently surveyed Sacred Heart users and found 50 percent of the freshman class tried the site and 87 percent were happy using it. Follow-ups will be done in March to see how well the roommates are getting along. It's a far cry from the "random act of housing" Quintong said has been most colleges' methodology. For some time, Sacred Heart sent questionnaire with 11 questions, asking about studying and sleeping habits and if students were smokers, Quintong said. It used the answers to match freshmen as roommates. Sacred Heart senior Caitlin Saporito, 21, of Bristol, was randomly matched with two roommates her freshman year, she said, and it worked out fine. One of the women is still one of her roommates. "All three of us got along fine," she said. "I was a little nervous, but there were enough questions that they had the ability to match people up (well). "I'm the type of person who can adjust pretty well. Even if we hadn't gotten along, I didn't have to spend all my time with a roommate," she said. Anninos said she started using the roommate service in mid-June and contacted four or five people after reviewing their profiles. She said she was looking for someone who was outgoing and had the same study and sleeping habits she had. "I like to be real quiet for studying and to myself," she said. And as for sleeping? "I go to bed late and wake up late. My earliest class is at 11 a.m., so that works out real well." She found a match in Stephanie Khoury, 18, from Washington Township, N.J. who contacted her, she said. They started talking and texting, she said, and found out they had a lot in common, including a love of shopping and cheering on their school's sports teams. Before the Fourth of July, they knew they'd be roommates, she said. "My parents were happy I found a roommate so quickly and that made me more happy," she said. "I'm not as nervous."
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