Some students have roommates who will become lifelong acquaintances and best friends. Others are not so lucky.

When applying to college, students usually fill out a survey that assesses their personality. My application consisted of ten broad questions, including, “Do you watch TV?” These surveys help the resident living department match students with future roommates.

However, these surveys cannot accurately judge someone’s personality, and as a result, college roommate pairings can be a complete mismatch. Sometimes, a student will get lucky and be paired up with someone who becomes a good friend. However, most of the time your college roommate will be someone you live with, and leave at the end of the year.

Living with your first roommate can be a bit of a challenge. Even if you have chosen a roommate who was a friend from home, problems will likely arise. Everyone has habits or tendencies that can, for whatever reason, become annoying to those around them. Some people have strange sleeping habits that may interfere with yours, or play obnoxiously loud music when you’re trying to study.

Your future roommate might talk to his or her significant other in a ridiculously high-pitched voice all the time. He could bring home girls at night, effectively “sexiling” you, or making you leave while they become more acquainted. Maybe your future roommate will spend every weekend getting drunk and throwing up all over the room, forcing you to clean up the mess or live with the smell. In short, your roommate could do many things to infuriate you day in and day out, but the trick is dealing with them for nine months.

Unfortunately, no list of tricks or rules will make living with annoying roommates any better. However, one rule could potentially make living with your total opposite a breeze. That rule is simple: communicate with your roommate. This cannot be emphasized enough. Often times your roommate does not even know that they are annoying you. Maybe she is used to playing loud music all the time, and doesn’t even notice your annoyed face. If you do nothing to notify her of what bothers you, then she cannot possibly fix it.

Even if you are a naturally shy person, pluck up the courage to tell your roommate that you want the curtains closed because the sun shines right into your eyes when you’re trying to study. Simply tell your roommate that loud music distracts you while studying, and maybe they will use headphones to rock out from then on. Even if your roommate’s habit is something as big as coming home drunk and throwing up, or bringing home a sexual partner, a little communication can still dissolve the issues. Telling him or her to throw up in the bathroom after drinking, or ask if they could sleep in his or her sexual partner’s room every once in a while will let your roommate know you have a problem with their activities.

Some roommates even make a “contract” with each other, outlining what is and what is not acceptable. Roommate contracts are effective because rules and expectations will have been laid out, so you will not have to worry about other people using your computer or eating your leftover pizza.

Living with someone for nine months is not an easy feat. Whether your roommate is your best friend from high school or a complete stranger with a different personality, you will run into problems. Make sure to communicate with your roommate about what’s bothering you, because they are not used to living with another student either. Ask them to tell you if you have an annoying habit; this will open up the relationship between you and your roommate even more. At the end of the year, you may even decide to room with them again.