10 Questions Your Family Will Ask About Your Roommate

By Elana Goodwin on February 12, 2016

When you’re living with someone, whether you’re in a dorm or an apartment, your family is bound to ask you some questions about your roommate to get an idea of who it is you’re living with and how they’re working out as a roomie.

Your family undoubtedly only has the best of intentions, so in order to prepare for their inquisition, you may want to spend some time getting to know your roommate well enough that you can ask any questions that may come up. Here are some of the questions your family will probably ask about your roommate that you’ll want to have the answers to.

Photo Credit: Getty

1. Where is your roommate from? This is a pretty standard question that you’ll probably field from your family about your roommate, so when you’re getting to know your roomie, you’ll want to find out where they hail from. Your family will be curious to find out if they’re in-state or from somewhere close by, or whether they’re going to school further from home.

2. What is your roommate studying? Since this is something most students ask each other whenever they’re introducing themselves, your family is going to want to know what program your roommate is in. If the answer eludes you, you definitely need to spend some more time getting to know your roomie since this is a very basic question.

3. What are they planning to do with their degree? We live in a very job-centered society so it’s natural that your family will ask about your roommate’s plans for after graduation. Of course, your roomie may not be sure what they’re going to do with their degree or you may not be certain as to what exactly they want to do long-term, but when you talk about majors, the conversation usually turns to after graduation plans so this one shouldn’t stump you either.

4. What do their parents do? Again, we live in a job-centered society but coupled with the fact that your parents will want to know what your roommate’s parents do to compare themselves to them (even if they won’t admit it), your parents will be interested in the occupations of your roomie’s parents. Since they may meet at some point and you’ll probably meet your roommate’s parents sooner rather than later, it’s not a bad idea to ask your roommate about their family and careers.

5. Do they have siblings? If your roommate has sibs, they may come visit at some point, so when getting to know your roomie you’ll want to ask about their family. Plus, you may find you bond over being the youngest/oldest/middle/only child, and it’s a classic getting-to-know-each-other question and discussion that your family will assume you know the answer to.

Photo Credit: roomsurf.com

6. Do you have any classes together? The answer to this should be pretty simple and easy to know — you may end up having some general classes with your roommate or you may not have any over the course of your undergraduate years because of your majors, but either way, your family will probably ask you about your classes and whether you and your roommate have any together.

7. Do the two of you hang out? This one can really be answered with a simple yes or no unless you want to go into more detail. You don’t need to recap every time you’ve hung out but generally your family asks this question to find out whether you’re simply living with your roommate or also doing things outside of your apartment or dorm with them and becoming friends.

8. Are you two getting along? Different from asking if you two hang out, this question wants to know if you like living with your roommate, if the two of you living together is going well, if you’re able to happily (or at least civilly) share a dorm or apartment with one another. This question is really inquiring about your emotional and mental well-being so it may require more explanation.

9. Are they messy? Basically, your family wants to know if you’re living in filth and if so, whose fault it is. If you’re in a dorm and sharing a room, your roommate being messy may be more obvious and problematic versus if you have your own rooms in an apartment and just have to deal with messiness in common areas.

10. Have they eaten any of your food? Obviously, this is the big question your family will want to know — and stories may be funny or helpful to illustrate your feelings on the matter.

Living with a roommate isn’t always easy and your family cares about you and wants to know how it’s going. So while some of their questions may be about your roommate specifically, most of them will be more focused on how you feel about your roommate and the overall living situation — which means you can’t just put your roomie on the phone and have them be interrogated by your family directly!

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