Stanford Roommate Essay- "advice from an expert"

Virtually all of Stanford's undergraduates live on campus. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate- and us- know you better.

Dear Future Roommate-
Hello, my name is Maddy, and we'll be spending a lot of time together in the time to come, so I suppose it's best that we get to know each other. You don't have to stress about how good of a roommate I'll be, because I'm a seasoned veteran: I've shared a room with my sister my entire life. While this experience has been nothing short of a struggle, I do have some nuggets of wisdom to impart upon you: once a piece of clothing is thrown on the floor, it has exactly 48 hours to be picked up before it is lost forever. Don't think I'm joking about this one, I've seen many a good shirt go to waste due to this phenomenon. Also, you should be wary of any giggly dance parties we may hold together- jumping on your bed is all fun and games until it breaks and you're left sleeping on the floor for a month. I hope that you're the kind of person who would laugh until their stomach hurt in this sort of event; I know I would. I fully expect you to laugh at all my puns (even if it is a pity laugh). I spend hours constructing them, and I consider them to be some of my finest work. In any event, I'm beyond excited to meet you and to share our freshmen year together at Stanford. Go Card!

Sincerely,
Maddy

This sounds pretty fun to me! Though the48 hour rule makes it seem like if she leaves something on the floor you'll get rid of it. Was that your intention?

Congrats on Stanford by the way! Awesome school :)

Hello Maddy,

This Stanford essay has been around for some time now. The purpose of this essay is to really get to know more about you. What are your quirks, your traits, likes and dislikes. There are a zillion ways to write this essay and you started out strong. However, towards the middle of your essay the tone changes and the reader really doesn't learn much about you other than superficial aspects. Think of this essay as actually being used to match you with a roommate (which it sometimes is). Take it that seriously. This will help you dig deeper to pull the real Maddy out. - AAO

Hope this helps.