Should You And Your Sibling Be Roomies?

By Francine Fluetsch on June 14, 2014

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Our siblings are the people who can be our best friends, but also know the best ways to get under our skin. So if you are going to the same school as your sibling, or going somewhere close to one another, the question is: should you live together?

The answer is definitely not a simple yes or no. Rachele Chavez, who got her bachelors in health science at Kaplan University, said “I think it depends on how close you are to the other sibling and age can be a huge factor as well.”

Chavez and her brother are three years apart, and roomed with each other twice.

“To this day he is still one of the best roommates that I have ever had because we both have similarities but we also don’t get under each other’s throats,” Chavez added.

David Deck, a fourth year linguistics student at UC Santa Cruz, agreed with Chavez that it really depends on the siblings’ relationship with one another.

“I had some residents who were twins that shared a double and they loved it,” Deck said.

If you think you and your sibling get along most of the time, then it could be really beneficial to room together. Having your sibling as your roommate means not having to deal with all the awkward roommate drama of living with a random person.

Grace Llanos-Hinson, a third year German language studies student at UC Santa Cruz, currently lives with her brother.

“It’s nice to live with someone you can trust and rely on instead of a stranger or acquaintance, and we get along most of the time (haha),” Llanos-Hinson said.

image via quotes.lifehack.org

Sure you’ll get into a few arguments here and there, but you’ll feel more comfortable telling your sibling things that bother you, and for the most part, it will be like living with your best friend. I think I could definitely live with my middle sister, but my youngest sister and I would clash too much to be roommates.

Some schools even give discounts on tuition if you and a family member go to the same school, and even lower housing fees if you live in a family/student housing facility, so definitely take a look into that! (Don’t tell your parents this if you think you don’t want to live with your sibling, because we all know that if money saving is involved, you are going to have to do it.)

While there are many pros to living with a sibling, it seems as though most people are not in favor of the idea. I posted the question on Facebook, and most people replied with a no or hell no, and Jared Severson, a second year student at Palomar College, even said “I would rather try on dresses.”

The joy of college is getting away from your old life and starting fresh, creating new experiences. Having your sibling tag along and live with you may hinder this new experience-making time, and may make it feel as though nothing has changed, only that you moved to a new location.

And since you’ll always have someone to eat with at the dining hall, and don’t have to meet a new roommate, you may have a harder time making friends. Sure it’s awesome never having to sit by yourself, but that’s a big part of college–of learning how to become more open and meet random people over a crappy meal of dining hall grub. I’ve noticed a lot of siblings that go to the same school ALWAYS hang out, and while this isn’t a bad thing, you want to figure out who you yourself are as a person, as your own person.

Living with your sibling also means that your family has to buy everything for your room, instead of splitting it with another roommate. This could be good since you’ll know exactly what they are bringing and can make sure you guys have everything, but it will be more expensive. And while it saves a trip moving up, it also means that your car will be more packed since it’s two people’s things instead of one.

image via parentreviewers.com

If you and your sibling do butt heads a lot, I would definitely advise you not to live together. It will put a strain on your relationship, and will make you more stressed out all the time. Though random roommates can suck, they are—for the most part—going to be more courteous than a sibling who is pissed off at you. You’ve lived with them since you were small, and have gotten into some yelling fights to say the least. The last thing you want is for your neighbors to hear you bicker 24/7, and to hate your experience because you got stuck living with your sibling.

So the answer honestly is that it depends. You’ll have to decide if living with your sibling actually seems like something that would interest you, or if it would be better on your relationship to just stay siblings and not make the jump to roommates.

Make your next move easy by finding a place to live near campus using the Uloop Housing search service full of students needing Roommates and Sublets or people ready to rent you a great Apartment or House.

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