For AU students looking for places to live and people to live with during the summer, the key is to plan ahead and talk to people you know.
"You basically find out which of your friends are staying and which of your friends you can tolerate for three months," junior Rachel Treffeissen said.
It is important to think about summer plans before final exams start and see what is available, senior Tom Hyre said.
"You probably shouldn't sit around and do nothing and expect to fall into a sweet arrangement two days before the summer," Hyre said.
Sophomore Christina Clapp advised allowing enough time to get to know potential roommates.
"You definitely need to make sure to test personalities to make sure you mesh," said Clapp, who plans to share an apartment with three others this summer.
"We know each other well enough that we know each other, but we're not so close that we'll kill each other," she said.
If one talks to enough other students, chances are it will be easy to find roommates, said sophomore Dan Pozzie.
"Most of the time there will be someone who needs the same thing you do," Pozzie said.
Sophomore Samii Khalid said she will not have trouble finding a roommate because "most of the people that I hang around with have kind of the same agenda as me," she said.
"Just ask around and see who's getting internships," Khalid said.
As for finding an actual place to live, neighborhood apartment complexes are among the popular places for AU students during the summer. Both Clapp and sophomore Takeo Nishii said they planned to live in the Berkshire apartment building at 4201 Massachusetts Ave. NW.
"If you bunch with a couple of people, the price automatically goes down," said Clapp, who said her two-bedroom apartment would cost each of its four residents $500 each month.
It is best to have one person in charge of finding and leasing a place, Treffeissen said.
"If everyone's a coordinator, then lots of things fall through the cracks," she said.
Finding a Roommate
If you need to live somewhere this summer, and you're like a lot of students, you can't afford it all by yourself.
Maybe you haven't had luck finding the necessary housing, or roommate, by talking to your friends. Maybe you're spending the summer in a city where you don't know anyone. What can you do now?
Fortunately, there are a variety of Web sites that can help you out. Here are a few:
Craig's List (craigslist.org)
Unlike most other Web sites, this one only has listings in major metropolitan areas. It is essentially an online bulletin which is very easy to use.
Users post messages saying they need someone to share an apartment with, need a place to live, or any number of other things. Each profile shows an e-mail address.
Use of this site is completely free.
RoommateAccess.com
On this site, you fill out a profile indicating whether you have a room or are looking for one, along with other key information such as your age and sexual orientation.
Based on this, you can see profiles or other users who have a room if you are looking for one, or need a room if you have one. Whenever new users post profiles that fit yours, you will get an e-mail.
Posting a profile is free, but if you want to see contact information for potential roommates you have to pay $29.99 for three months. Sometimes creative users slip contact information into their profiles without site administrators noticing.
RoommateNation.com
This one works much like RoommateAccess.com, except that contacting potential roommates is free.
Roommates.com
This site requires you to fill out a profile, much like the others. It will also send you e-mails with profiles of users who match yours.
However, it is free to send an e-mail to users
you are interested in. However, to read e-mails from other users, you have to pay a membership fee
of at least $5.99. This fee will also allow you
to see maps of potential apartments and users' complete profiles.
