Most Northwestern incoming freshmen know their roommates’ bedtimes and smoking habits, but little else about their personality.

But this year, two southern universities let their students choose living arrangements through WebRoomz, an Atlanta-based company that helps incoming freshmen find roommates based on personality questionnaires.

Kevin Sessions, the company’s vice president of business development and sales, said students using WebRoomz can find roommates with similar interests and personalities.

“If you’re searching for a sophomore chemistry major who likes to jog and stays up late, you can search for all students that fit that description,” Sessions said.

But Mark D’Arienzo, associate director of university housing at NU, said while the program has potential, attempting to match roommate personalities is unrealistic.

“Trying to match personalities is like trying to match two drivers licenses and say ‘Oh, those are good personalities.'” he said. “It sounds a lot like computer dating.”

To find their perfect match, students at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Kenneshaw State University in Georgia, the two schools that use WebRoomz, can answer a series of university approved questions and write a brief personal description.

As they do for NU’s paper questionnaire, students answer basic living habits questions. But WebRoomz adds up to 60 personality questions about hobbies and social interaction.

Then users can search for personality traits they think are important. If a student contacts a prospective roommate and both think it’s a good match, they can request a room together. Students also have the option to receive a random roommate or stop other people from searching for them.

WebRoomz saves schools time and paperwork because housing officials don’t need to determine who will live with whom, Sessions said.

But one advantage of the paper application process, D’Arienzo said, is that the housing department can process all applications at the same time.

“It can’t just be first come, first serve because someone is going to feel disadvantaged,” D’Arienzo said.

Sessions said diverse pairings still exist on a campus where students choose their own roommates. WebRoomz does not ask students to list their race or religion, or include the information in their personal descriptions. He also said at the schools where WebRoomz was adopted, the number of minority students paired with non-minority students remained the same.

Between 75 and 85 percent of incoming freshmen at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga used the roommate service this year, said Shantith Crowdis, an information systems technician at Chattanooga.

The company plans to market the service to other colleges throughout the country next year.

Sessions said he thought most schools eventually will use a system like WebRoomz.

The undergraduate housing committee and the vice president for student affairs would have to make that decision for NU, D’Arienzo said.

Rabeah Sabri, a Weinberg freshman, said she would appreciate the ability to choose her own roommate rather than have housing officials match her from thousands of applications. Sabri attended a residential high school and said though the housing department there tried to match personalities, she still had trouble with her roommate.

“She said she was a witch and put curses on me,” Sabri said. “If I had been able to know her personality beforehand, I would have switched.”