You must choose your off
campus roommate carefully. It is a good idea to write down a list of
questions that are important to you and interviewing several people
before making a choice. Don't worry about insulting potential
roommates. Just explain to them that you want to make sure you are
compatible so that you will be able to get along for the entire school
year. Do not choose your roommate impulsively just because you like
them. Like can quickly turn to disgust when you have different ideas
about how to live and maintain the apartment.

Find an
apartment that has bedrooms that are somewhat equal. At the least, each
bedroom needs a nice feature so that someone won't feel that they got
the short end of the stick. If one bedroom is bigger, perhaps the other
will have better windows or bigger closet. The goal is for both of you
to be equally happy with your bedrooms.

Apply for your
apartment jointly, and since you are college students, you should both
get your parents involved. This way it is clear to the landlord that
responsibility for the apartment will be split, and if there are any
issues, with parents co-signing, one roommate cannot leave the other
roommate with responsibility for unpaid rent and damages.

Before
moving into the apartment you need to set rules and regulation. You
need to agree on how many guests can be invited to stay overnight, and
how long they can stay. (You can end up living with a boyfriend or
girlfriend if you don't). You need to set rules on throwing parties and
giving notice. You need to set rules on use of the others personal
property. Most importantly set rules on division of food and living
expenses. It may sound petty, but setting rules in advance will
eliminate issues later.

After moving in, you must remember to
be clean and respectful. Remember the old motto "do unto others as you
would have them do unto you". Before leaving a mess, consider if you
would want to clean up after them. If you make a mess, clean up
immediately and always remember that you don't live by yourself.