The Atlantic Spotlights Roommate-matching Process at Davidson
September 2, 2019
- Author
- Jay Pfeifer
As Davidson first years were moving into their dorm rooms last week, The Atlantic was spotlighting Davidson’s success in pairing roommates.
The piece surveyed the challenges all colleges and universities face in building community among strangers.
One not-so-secret tool that the Residence Life Office (RLO) staff uses to ensure first-year students get off to a great start: The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.
Davidson has used the well-known personality test to assess roommate compatibility since the 1980s. (Archival documents indicate it was phased in around 1986.)
The Myers-Briggs assesses four characteristics of personality, but Davidson RLO staff members pay most attention to, “where the individual falls on the extroversion-introversion scale.”
The long-standing practice has helped Davidson build cohesive roommate pairs and even entire halls.
As The Atlantic writes, “At Davidson, the majority of students go on to live with their freshmen roommates as upperclassmen, according to Jason Shaffer, the college’s associate dean of students.”
