For students at the University of Florida, finding housing for the upcoming school year can be a confusing and overwhelming process. One aspect of the housing search that many students find especially stressful is deciding if you’ll have roommates, how many, and who they will be.
Read Next: 8 Steps to Finding the Perfect Student Apartment Near UF
There are plenty of reasons why you might be having difficulties finding roommates. Maybe you’re an incoming first-year or transfer student looking to make new friends. You might not have enough roommates in mind to fill the bed spaces in a floor plan that you really like. You might just be ready to switch up your living situation!
At the Sweetwater leasing office, we receive plenty of questions asking what to do if you’re in search of roommates. Luckily, at Sweetwater, like many student housing properties in Gainesville, we offer roommate matching services to pair you with roommates.
However, the Sweetwater roommate matching process is different from other student apartments. Rather than assigning “random” roommates, we thoroughly evaluate the preferences that you share with us throughout the application process to help you find the most compatible match.
To help you understand the roommate matching process, we’ve created this article answering some of the most commonly asked questions, including:
- What is roommate matching?
- Does Sweetwater offer roommate matching?
- How am I assigned a roommate?
- What categories do you prioritize on roommate match?
- When will I find out who my roommates are?
A Student’s Guide to Roommate Matching at the University of Florida
What is roommate matching?
Roommate matching is a service where you are assigned roommates by the property’s leasing team, rather than signing for a full unit with a group of predetermined roommates.
One of the biggest perks of roommate matching is that you can sign an individual lease for your particular bed space within an apartment without having to worry about finding roommates to fill the other rooms. For example, if you sign an individual lease in a four-bedroom unit, you aren’t required to search for three more roommates. It’s the property management’s responsibility to fill those bed spaces. Plus, you aren’t financially responsible for anything other than what’s stated on your individual lease, even if management doesn’t fill all of the extra bed spaces.
Read Next: 5 Benefits of Signing an Individual Lease at an Apartment Near UF
Plenty of UF students opt-in to roommate matching services because it’s the simplest choice for their situation. No matter the reason, roommate matching is one helpful tool that makes the search for housing a bit less stressful for students.
Does Sweetwater offer roommate matching?
Yes! Sweetwater offers roommate matching.
Sweetwater offers individual leases, meaning we’re able to offer students a spot in any available bed space that they qualify for. To hear more about which floor plans are currently open for roommate matching, contact the Sweetwater leasing office!
Read Next: 6 Reasons to Live at Sweetwater for the 2023-2024 School Year
How am I assigned a roommate?
At many college apartments or dorms, random roommate assignments are truly “random.” However, at some places, like Sweetwater, roommates are thoughtfully assigned based on a combination of lifestyle compatibility and floor plan availability.
In many student apartment applications, you’ll see a section of “lifestyle questions” that ask about things like your cleanliness and sleeping schedule. Your answers to this portion of your application are then used to match you with roommates.
At Sweetwater, you’ll see these questions on your application, specifically for roommate matching purposes. It’s extremely important to be honest when filling this out so that our leasing staff can get a good feel for your personality and lifestyle.
What categories do you prioritize on roommate match?
It depends. We do our best to find roommates who have the most in common, but it depends on the pool of potential roommates that we have available. The primary factors we look at are:
- Allergies
- Pets
- Cleanliness
- Classification
When will I find out who my roommates are?
Because the Sweetwater team is constantly receiving new roommate compatibility forms, we are also constantly adjusting our matchups of which future residents might make the best roommates.
This means matches aren’t finalized until Sweetwater is fully leased. This way, we have all potential pairing options available and are able to match you with your most compatible roommates. For privacy reasons, we must wait to release roommate assignments and information until everything is 100% finalized. At the time of publication, we anticipate that roommate matching results will be released during the summer before move-in.
Finding out who your new roommates are can be one of the most exciting parts of moving into a new apartment, and we understand that you’re eager to meet them! The Sweetwater team is just as excited, so we’ll share your future roommates’ information with you as soon as we can.
We hope this article helped you learn more about roommate matching at a student apartment in Gainesville and why it might be a good choice for you. If you have any more questions during your housing search or about roommate matching, contact the Sweetwater leasing staff who is always happy to help!