It is no surprise that college is the number one thing on any senior’s mind. When the acceptances start rolling in, it is finally the student’s turn to turn the tables. They can now decide which college to choose from; one that would best fit their lives for the next four years of undergraduate school. There are many ways to get a feel for a college, including visiting the actual campus and seeing the real-life buildings. However, if one of your options is a road trip away, joining the college’s class Facebook page is a feasible way of learning about the school.

My fellow senior and future St. Louis University student Casey Pluchino introduced me to this exciting virtual word. She was telling me about her search for a roommate. Casey was messaging a girl that she met through the SLU Class of 2018 Page and was considering asking her to be roommates. This blew my mind, mostly because I had not even begun thinking about the roommate search. Following Casey’s advice, I decided to find my university’s class page and join it.

After two days of waiting to be approved, I was finally able to see the various posts of my future classmates. Thankfully, I joined in late January, about a month after the first round of acceptances were released. I had missed a couple of posts at the time, but sitting in my house alone with nothing else better to do, I scrolled down and read through all of the posts.

There were multiple posts from the Welcome Board of the university and they frequently posted information for their future students, information that I honestly would have forgotten about if they had not explicitly stated it as a post. They reminded the students in the group about upcoming deadlines, forms that were due, and deposits that should be paid off.

The other posts on the page come directly from the admitted students. Usually, a student will have one post that describes who they are, where they come from, their major, and their likes and dislikes. These mini biographies not only let you learn about him or her, but it assures you that many others are also on the hunt for a roommate. The purpose for these posts is so that you can find someone who you might be able to relate to and room with. Once you find someone that you could potentially, maybe, possibly be friends with, you can Facebook stalk them. Just click on their profile, add them as a friend, and just learn as much as they will let you know. I’m not going to lie, I’ve done this at least ten times on my search to learn about my future class.

The thing that most people might not know, though, is that this process constantly happens. Many girls that have added me or that I have added end up talking to me about random stuff, just to see if we might be a good fit as roommates. It’s also just pure fun to try and get to know someone from across the country – or even in a different country, like one student, whom I talked to earlier this week from Bolivia, just like me!

Although this was my experience from one specific college class page, there is no doubt in my mind that this can apply to every other university of college. Even though bigger schools, like University of Florida, can have a hectic Facebook page with constant updating, it will not hinder the search for important school information, a roommate, or even a friend.