By: Sydney Stanton, Edited by: Lydia Doss

Imagine going into your new dorm room on move-in day for the first time. After stalking your new roommate on social media all summer, you finally get to meet them in person. You are probably not only excited, but also nervous.

Right before you walk in, your mom fixes your hair and makes sure you don’t have anything in your teeth. You take a deep breath and hope for the best. As you open the door, you meet the anxiously awaiting stare of your new living partner for the next nine months. They look different in person than they did on their Instagram, but you move to introduce yourself. Little did you know, that your introduction and first impressions of each other will leave a lasting mark on your relationship as roommates and will have an effect on your future interactions.

This new person can greatly affect your college experience. In fact, your first college roommate can impact your emotional transition, your satisfaction with your new living space, and even your academics according to communication researchers, Cristen Marek and Melissa Wanzer from Canisius College and Jennifer Knapp from West Virginia University. Marek and colleagues collected data from 157 college students on the first impressions with their college roommates in order to better understand the effect they have on the college experience.

Many people know that first impressions can make or break an interaction or relationship but they can also help define your sense of self, too. Danielle Pillet-Shore, a professor at the University of New Hampshire, closely studied recorded face-to-face introductions to research what we receive from an initial introduction. Pillet-Shore found we use first introductions to help shape our idea of self along with forming our new perception of the other person.

This new time of change and transition could make anyone uncertain of their identity or want to make a major change in their appearance, but your new roommate can not only be there with you through the confusion, but also greatly influence the type of person you are becoming. This is why it is so important to make a positive first impression.

Pillet-Shore found that there are steps we take during initial introductions that shape our first impressions. She found that the two people involved in an introduction match gestures in both their body and voice, decide how the words of the introduction should go, formulate a greeting, repeat information such as their name to commit it to memory, inquire how the other person is feeling, use previously learned information to add relevancy, express their joy in how great it is to meet the other, and have some variance of physical touch such as a hug or handshake.

This list seems too long to be done within the first few seconds of meeting someone, but if you think back to your first introduction to your roommate or a new friend, you probably checked everything off the list whether you knew you were doing it at the time or not. This structure of initial introduction helps us gauge and evaluate the first impressions we give off and receive.

Pillet-Shore also noted that when involved in an introduction sequence, we all will try to give a form of a smile, in order to seem more welcoming and to give off the impression that we are glad to be meeting this new person, so definitely let your mom check your teeth!

Usually, these initial roommate meetings aren’t random or spontaneous. When we are brought up to our new dorm rooms on move-in day, we are often accompanied by a third party, such as a Residence Assistant. If that accompanying third party initiates the introduction, we are much more responsive and feel better about the new person according to Pillet-Shore because it takes some of the work in sequencing the introduction off of ourselves. So, maybe we should all thank our RAs for helping us make that roommate connection.

Actually, we can! Marek and colleagues found that after scoring their first impressions of their first roommates, college students who had a higher rating of their roommate’s first impression also had a higher rate of living with them again. Not only did the positive first impression make them want to continue living together after the year was over, it also helped shape the dynamic of conversation for the remainder of the year.

The researchers found that this is because roommates who reported a better first impression of each other went on to use more efficient conflict management strategies that worked towards clear communication and solution-based discussions.

When you are nervous on move-in day and your mother bothers you about looking presentable and acting polite, you should probably listen to her because the first impression you have on your roommate can shape your first few years at your college and determine your living arrangements for years to come!