Contemplation of Dorm Life

Advantages and Disadvantages of Dorm Life

Having the full college experience is living in a dormitory for the next four years of your academic career. Even though resident life is a fun experience, with many advantages there are also disadvantages.

So, is living in a dormitory right for you? Or is an alternative option better, for example living at home and commuting to and back from your school of choice, or renting an off campus apartment? These are all choices in which vary according to financial expenses which differ from campus to campus

‘To Dorm or Not to Dorm’

When applying to college or a university each student decides whether they are candidates to live in dormitories with a roommate or varies roommates. Once you make that decision the students are required to fill out a survey questionnaire that narrows down a search for roommates that share similar qualities. Of course, living in a dormitory has its advantages and disadvantages like any situation. These are the disadvantages and advantage in making such a life changing decision to dorm.

Advantages of Residence Life

• Having company. Often when living in a dorm. There are hardly any chances of you being lonely. Friendships begin to form starting with your roommate, others dorm mates living down the hall, and classmates you encounter yourself when starting school. College is an environment of making friendships that will help you along the way. Whom find it tough being so far away from home. The companionship and friendship you gain through your college experience is one that will help you with the good, the bad, and the ugly of being a student. This makes student transition from home much easier.
• Having freedom. Some students are comfortable with the idea of living away from home. While others don’t feel the same. When living in a dorm your parents have less of a say of your everyday life’s dos or don’ts. Which most students find it to be GREAT!
• Having the simple life. When living in a dorm theirs less responsibilities than living in an off-campus apartment. For example, there aren’t monthly bills, cooking meals for yourself, and having a large space to clean.  Except for just paying for your cell phone bill and cable there aren’t any other expenses or responsibilities.
• Having easy access. Students have the ability to sleep later because they don’t have to go through the hassles of dealing with traffic and the difficulty of finding a parking space.
• Having free access. Some colleges give free access to internet, laptops and cable. So students don’t go through the hassles of always being in the library and waiting for an available computer.
• Having social skills. When living in a dorm you have to overcome any dreading social skills. You have to overcome any anti-social skills to deal with your roommate or other college students down the hall. These are situations that may help you in the long run with your social life.
• Having the full college experience. When living in a dorm you have other perks that come along. Such as living the full college experience with joining sorority and fraternity clubs and parties, activities and events, and friendships that last a lifetime. And campus life is overall the most best experience

Disadvantages of Resident Life

• Having no privacy. When living in a dorm you’re often never given any privacy your mostly accompanied by your roommate. It can go both ways you either feel very lonely or also feel that you are often bothered because you’re never given any privacy.
• Having roommate Issues. A dorm is such a small area that is shared with a stranger at first can at times cause conflicts with one another. This is either turn out to be a great experience or just turn out to be the worst case scenario.
• Having it be too noisy. If you are a person that likes their sleep then this can be a serious issue for you. Campus life is basically rebelling over any kind of rules that your parents ever gave you. So for some it’s staying up until past midnight during the week days or ends.
• Having students that freak you out. Although you may enjoy your roommate you may encounter yourself with a person that freaks you out or just plain annoying. You’re not going to like everyone but you also have to follow a fine line of respect.
• Having to deal with drama. Oh boy, it’s high school all over again or maybe even worse. Your friend may have been dating someone that was betrayed by their close friend or even a friend of a friend. Even though college could be small or big it’s a small world and drama arises.
• Having a meal plan. This seems Great! at first that you don’t have to cook you have everything handed to you. Then you have cafeteria food every single day three times a day, which your college may or may not require to be purchased. After having cafeteria food for a long period of time it gets tiring to have the same food. It’s not healthy and awful for that matter.
• Having mandatory breaks. Many colleges require students to leave campus during break periods. This may be tiresome when you don’t live in state.

Having too much freedom. Being parent-free is found to be a great experience, but it can also be too much for some students. That being said it can result to bad behavior. Meaning that you may not be able to handle it.