Straight A's If Your Roommate Dies?

Everyone’s always looking for shortcuts, right? Some tip or trick to make your life a little bit easier or that helps solve an everyday problem that maybe you were just too dense to ever realize. These are also called “life hacks” but I think that term’s on the way out due to overuse.

Personally, I have read so many lists of supposed hacks that would improve my day-to-day existence that I end up not being able to remember or implement any of them. The only really useful thing I learned came too late for me to use it but maybe a reader might benefit: if you have a baby and they’re wearing the vests with the envelope neck, the neck is like that so that if the baby poops and it all goes everywhere, you can pull the whole thing down over their body, rather than having to delicately try and pull the poop-covered garment over their face, head and hair. You’re welcome!

Anyway, here’s another tip that could end up saving you a whole heap of time and effort: in the US at least, there’s a rumour that in college or university, if your roommate dies, you will automatically get a 4.0 grade point average, the equivalent of straight A’s for that semester. This is a widely known thing and seems to make sense, in a way, because you’d probably be mentally distressed at the very least, but is this real or is it an urban legend? Well, who better to decode it than the urbane legend that is Simon Whistler. Sorry, couldn’t resist.

Pass By Catastrophe

There are things that you just can’t account for in life and those are usually known as “acts of God”. In insurance terms, this usually refers to some sort of natural disaster that you couldn’t do anything to prevent such as hurricanes, earthquakes etc. I think the term is used even if you don’t believe in any type of god, which is handy.

The phrase “act of God” is pretty impressive sounding which seems to be the case when big events happen. On a slightly more local level, another impressive sounding phrase is “pass by catastrophe”. This means that in an academic setting, if something catastrophic happens, affected students will automatically get a pass.

This refers to things like a professor or student dying while an exam is taking place, a natural disaster occurring during an exam or the destruction of the college campus. Also included in this category is what would happen if your roommate dies by suicide.

This seems like a good place to mention that in the US, a famously wealthy and large land mass, it’s common for university or college students to have to share a bedroom with a total stranger. Personally, I find this weird. I mean, surely if there’s enough room for 2 people there’s also enough room for a thin wall of some sort?

Leaving home and going to college is supposed to signal the start of independence, not suddenly having to regress to sharing a room with someone you may or may not get along with. I have read absolute horror stories about people’s college roommates but the most obvious thing that stands out is what are you supposed to do if you want to get intimate with someone else? How embarrassing!

Do you have to coordinate with your roommate in advance to make sure they’re not going to be there or do you just get on with it right next to someone else who is literally feet away with their fingers in their ears? If they’re not taking the opportunity to have a bit of a perv, that is. Come on, America, do better!

Anyway, if your annoying, sex-crazed roommate were to suddenly end it all, would that be your chance to take it easy for the rest of the semester with straight As for all your classes? Let’s look at some popular examples of this particular pass by catastrophe.

In The Media

While I was looking into this story, I found someone who mentioned that they’d just seen a movie called “Big Man on Campus” and had been alerted to the whole “if your roommate kills themselves, you’ll get straight A’s” thing. Well, being unfamiliar with this film, (currently rated a 6 on IMDb if you’re interested), I found the script online and spent waaaaay too long scouring it for mentions of this phenomenon and found nothing. In the end I came to the conclusion that the person who posted the comment had made a mistake and the film they were actually talking about was called “Dead Man on Campus” which makes a lot more sense. “Big Man on Campus” puts the Hunchback of Notre Dame into a modern-day US college setting where I am presuming a low level of hilarity ensues.

“Dead Man on Campus” came out in 1998 and is also rated a nice round 6 on IMDb. In this film, two college roommates are doing too much partying etc. and getting bad grades. They find a clause in their college’s rules that states that the roommate of anyone who dies by suicide will get A’s for that term.

Instead of, I don’t know, cutting back on the fun times and actually knuckling down to some studying, they decide to find someone who is already suicidal to move in with them. The plan is then to push this person over the edge so they actually kill themselves and the party bros will get a free ride on the A train. Doesn’t this sound like some really dark psychological thriller?

Apparently not, as it’s classed as a comedy. Ho ho! Sounds like great fun.

Clearly I have not watched this film but there were an absolute ton of crappy college movies that came out in the 90s so I’m assuming this is just one of those using a throwaway idea as opposed to something a bit more sinister. This film introduced the “straight A’s if your roommate dies” idea to a huge tranche of American youth who may have been previously unaware of the concept. And it’s presented as some sort of “hidden” clause buried deep in the annals of rules and regulations, like the secret menus at fast food restaurants so it appears that many people assumed it was true as how many of us ever read policy handbooks, or any type of small print?

If you’ve been ruminating that this concept of suicide to benefit a basic stranger seems a little off, now’s your time to shine. If this clause in a school’s rules is true, what’s to stop people from just offing their roommates and staging it to look like a suicide? I suppose you might need a bit more of a murderous personality than your average person but wouldn’t it suddenly make a college dorm room an incredibly dangerous place to be?

Especially if your roommate was a bit lazy or just not that academically gifted? This is where another college-based movie from 1998 steps in. This one was called “Dead Man’s Curve” but as it came out the same year as “Dead Man on Campus” and is kind of about the same thing, it got changed to “The Curve” to avoid confusion.

Currently hovering at 5.8 on IMDb, this one tells the story of two roommates, ganging up on a third to kill him and make it look like suicide after they find out they can score perfect grades due to stress incurred by such an event. Just how many people per room are we talking here? Is it like a bloody youth hostel or something? Anyway, at least this one wasn’t written as a comedy. So yeah, this film explores the flip side of this supposed clause.

There are a few more allusions to this mysterious policy in the world of entertainment, including in an episode of The Simpsons and Law & Order: Criminal Intent and there’s also a 2007 episode of CSI: New York about it but where has this even come from? Is it true or not?

Decoding the Legend

You have probably already guessed, but no, this theory that if your roommate kills themselves you get a pass or high marks as compensation is not true. So shelve those plans for faking a suicide scene, quick. Even if your roommate is one of the worst people to walk the earth, the only thing you’ll get for killing them is a trip to the slammer. Actually, an offshoot to this theory is that in the event of the suicide you would get free tuition.

This is also not true but if you kill your roommate you will at least get free accommodation. In the slammer. I did look into how people got degrees while incarcerated and while there are a few grants and things, most of the time you still have to pay for it yourself so again, not a great way to save money.

And there are even more versions of the legend involving death other than suicide. People have heard you can get straight A’s if your roommate dies via homicide, presumably by someone other than the roommate, has a drawn out death such as from cancer, a violent or sudden death or an accidental death. As no-one expects people in their late teens and early 20s to die of natural causes, I think this covers pretty much every type of death.

According to Snopes.com, there were even more granular levels to some of these supposed regulations, such as “A student who does not witness his roommate’s death receives only a 3.4 average; survivors each receive a 3.5 average if the deceased had more than one roommate.” The very fact that there are so many variations of this apparent clause definitely points to it not being real. As does the fact that it definitely is not real.

There is no school, in the States at least, that has any sort of rule or regulation, hidden or otherwise, that a student will benefit monetarily or academically from the death of a roommate. This urban legend has always just hung in the air like smoke at a party, easily waved off but impossible to get rid of completely.

Where did it start? There’s no definitive genesis point I could find but it seems to have been around since the 70s as something that people have maybe heard of but never investigated very far.

I did find a newspaper article in The Michigan Daily from February 12th 1987 with the title “Suicide Policy Myth Dispelled” which laid out the myth exactly as we still hear about it today. There are quotes such as this one from student Eric Meyer: “Something like they give you a 3.5 if your roommate commits suicide. Something ridiculous like that. My roommate used to threaten me with that.” Yikes, Eric, may be time to report that roommate to your college principal.

Another student, Lisa Hack, is quoted as saying: “If you see them do it, you get a 4 point. If you don’t see them, you just get a 3.4.” Wow, hardly seems worth the bother if you ask me. Don’t worry, the purpose of the article is to say that this is not university policy and never has been but basically, if you’re in college and you hear this rumour more than once from different people, maybe you’ll just file it away as true.

I decided to ask a group of Americans about this so turned to ye olde neighbourhood Facebook group to see if anyone had heard about it when they were in college. I got 11 responses which is not a massive pool but hey, it’s first hand evidence. One person who, judging by his profile pic, was probably there in the late 90s replied that it was “common knowledge”.

Another neighbour said they’d heard it was straight A’s AND the rest of the semester off. Someone else said they were in college in 1988 and the rumour was alive and kicking then. There were a couple of people who had never heard it, but according to my extremely in-depth and scientific research, over 63% of Americans were aware of this rumour while at college, even if they didn’t necessarily believe it.

Two people pointed me towards the “Dead Man on Campus” movie but hadn’t heard about the legend themselves while at college. Even though I’d pitched my question at Americans, I had someone who went to St. Andrews in Scotland say they were also aware of a rumour like this and another English friend who hadn’t heard of anything but apparently loved the “Dead Man on Campus” film.

I suppose that hearing mentions of some weird supposed “hidden” or “secret” rule and films like “Dead Man on Campus” and “Dead Man’s Curve” keep the thought in the public consciousness until graduation and then you think no more about it. But presumably there’s some sort of kernel of truth there, right?

What’s the Truth About Pass by Catastrophe?

As far as I can tell, “pass by catastrophe” is not a real thing either. There are, of course, compensations given to students who do experience traumatic events, most schools are not monstrous. If you suffer a family bereavement or something like a roommate dying, while it depends on the individual institution, if you let them know what’s going on then you can get some time away from classes, extensions on papers and maybe can take a test at a later date if you happen to miss one. But other than that, ya just gotta keep going.

If you witnessed something horrible you will probably get some counseling sessions and might be allowed to change rooms but what you are not going to get is a 100% mark for the semester or free tuition. Sorry about that.

In other circumstances such as a roomful of people taking a test being interrupted by something, again, they’re not all going to get amazing grades for not having finished the test. The test will just be rescheduled. The only time where this might be a bit different happened quite recently during the COVID-19 pandemic where at the end of 2019 and going into 2020, due to the disruption to education, some US and Canadian colleges changed their marking system to just a pass or fail as opposed to A’s, B’s etc.

Even after the horrific shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007, students still weren’t all given A’s or anything. As the year was ending in a couple of weeks anyway, students could choose to end it early with the grades they were currently carrying if they wanted to.

Another branch of this “pass by catastrophe” legend is that you get free tuition if you’re hit by a bus while on campus. Let us just put this out there for the record — this is not true! God knows if people have tried getting knocked over to earn a free degree but let me tell you that this is a foolish idea!

Number one, this is not a regulation at any school. Number two, if you do get hit by a bus, you might actually die. Number three, if you are injured and decide to sue, it can get verrrry complicated, depending on who owns the bus company and the various laws in that particular state.

You will also have to prove you were 100% not at fault so you can’t be looking at your phone or anything. If you do win some money, it likely won’t be enough to cover your tuition fees. Apparently it’s based on your medical bills so if you were only hurt a little bit, you won’t get very much and if you were hurt badly enough for a big payout, you likely will have bigger problems and are unlikely to be returning to college in good shape, if at all.

So yeah, don’t try that one either.

This seems like a good time to insert a PSA. While we’ve been joking about this topic, many people do find themselves under huge amounts of stress while at college and may feel suicidal. The age group of 18-24 is when young people are more likely to experiment with drugs and alcohol which can be a factor in suicides and being thrust into an unfamiliar situation and having to deal with potentially messy relationships while trying to navigate your new life and also studying can sometimes feel like too much.

According to a 2013 study of 157 US colleges, suicide was the second leading cause of student deaths after accidental injuries which encompassed things like driving while intoxicated. These two causes were many times higher than the next listed causes of illness and homicide, with men being much more likely to die by suicide than women. If you or your roommate are suffering from depression, anxiety, feelings of isolation or loneliness or feelings of being overwhelmed, seek some counseling or take some time to work on your mental health.

Many colleges offer access to mental health counseling and there are free 24/7 crisis lines you can call if you need advice or help. Don’t be ashamed of how you’re feeling and don’t forget that you are never truly alone.

OK, back to the urban legend.

Of course I tried researching whether anyone had actually tried to kill their roommate for grade gains but nothing really came up with that as a motive. Or if it did, it was further down on google than I could be bothered to look. Most of the results were just referring back to this urban legend with related questions being things like “if a roommate dies, who gets to keep their stuff?” which is pretty disturbing.

I read one question on quora.com that was “If someone dies in an AP test, do all the students pass?” An AP test, by the way, is some college-level test that smart people can take when they’re at high school. All the answers given were some variation of “no” or “maybe the test would be rescheduled” with various examples given of weird or disturbing things happening in the responders’ tests with no leniency being given. There were 2 exceptions out of 17 answers though, the first being:

Yes, I believe if a student dies in the testing room, all other students will receive a 5 for that test. I vaguely recall reading it on the college board website because I didn’t believe everyone who made that claim. It’s now a joke at my school that someone has to take one for the team and die.

The second was:

In fact, I’ve heard that all the other students in the room taking the exam get 5s if someone dies… of course, that’s just a rumor and I can’t find any official website confirming it. Who’s willing to take one for the team?

5 is the highest mark on the AP test. So two people were carrying on the legend but kind of admitting at the same time that they had nothing to back their belief up.

Going back to the death of a roommate thread, I suppose if anyone did do away with their roommate and got away with it, we’d never know, but at least they wouldn’t have reaped the ill-gotten rewards they were after anyway. In fact, many US colleges grant posthumous degrees if students meet certain criteria, meaning that it’s possible that if you did kill someone in a vain attempt to pass something you were failing at, you could still fail and they would still graduate. So there you go.

It really makes you wonder why anyone would ever believe this but as we’ve seen, many people had heard of it, assumed it was true but just never thought about it again, which I suppose is something to be thankful for. Let’s mark this one as “debunked” and get back to studying the old-fashioned way: by not murdering people.

I’ll give the last word to Ed Loyer, the registrar of the college in the Michigan Daily article from 1987. He’d never heard of this rumor and when asked about it by the paper, he is quoted as simply saying: “That makes no sense at all.”

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it true that if your roommate dies, you will automatically get straight A’s for the semester?

No, this is not true. There is no school in the US that has a rule or regulation stating that a student will benefit academically from the death of a roommate.

What is the ‘pass by catastrophe’ policy?

The ‘pass by catastrophe’ policy is a myth. It suggests that if a catastrophic event occurs, such as a professor or student dying during an exam, students will automatically get a pass. However, this is not a real policy.

What kind of support do colleges typically offer if a student experiences a traumatic event?

Colleges usually offer support such as time away from classes, extensions on papers, and the ability to take tests at a later date if a student experiences a traumatic event like the death of a roommate.

Is there any truth to the rumor that you can get free tuition if you are hit by a bus on campus?

No, this is not true. There is no regulation at any school that offers free tuition if a student is hit by a bus. Additionally, attempting this is dangerous and not advisable.

What are some of the common misconceptions about the ‘straight A’s if your roommate dies’ rumor?

Some common misconceptions include variations where the student gets different GPA outcomes based on whether they witnessed the death, or different types of death (suicide, homicide, accidental death, etc.) qualifying for the benefit.

How did the ‘straight A’s if your roommate dies’ rumor gain popularity?

The rumor gained popularity through movies like ‘Dead Man on Campus’ and ‘The Curve,’ as well as through word of mouth among college students. It has been around since at least the 1970s.

What should students do if they are feeling suicidal or overwhelmed while in college?

Students should seek counseling or take time to work on their mental health. Many colleges offer access to mental health counseling, and there are free 24/7 crisis lines available for support.

What is the origin of the ‘straight A’s if your roommate dies’ rumor?

The exact origin is unknown, but it has been around since at least the 1970s. A newspaper article from 1987 in The Michigan Daily discussed the myth and confirmed it was not university policy.

Do colleges grant posthumous degrees?

Yes, many US colleges grant posthumous degrees if students meet certain criteria. This means that even if a student dies, they can still graduate if they have met the necessary requirements.

What is the ‘act of God’ term in insurance?

In insurance terms, an ‘act of God’ refers to a natural disaster that is beyond human control, such as hurricanes or earthquakes. The term is used regardless of personal beliefs in a higher power.

Sources

• Original Decoding the Unknown video: Straight A’s If Your Roommate Dies?
• Hero image source by Brandon Zhang / openverse, cc0.