Battle of Preferences: Single room vs double?

Prep School Admissions
1

<p>Hi guys! As we draw nearer to summer, some of us progress to the final stages of the admission process. </p>

<p>And one of them, of course, is housing. I thought it would be interesting to hear about your preferences, whether you have yet to attend or already boarding. To get the comparisons going, here are a few prompter questions. </p>

<p>If you're a new student:</p>

<p>1.) Which do you prefer, or which are you hoping to get? </p>

<p>2.) What is the reason for your decision? If you've opted for a single, is it for the sake of yourself or your potential roommate?</p>

<p>3.) What are your biggest concerns?</p>

<p>If you're already boarding:</p>

<p>2.) Are you happy with your housing? Was it what you had requested, and if not, did you manage to adjust to your living conditions?</p>

<p>3.) Have you ever had any struggles or humorous disputes with your roommate? Has it always been convenient?</p>

<p>4.) Has being in single housing ever stunted your ability to socialize as a new student?</p>

<p>5.) How well do you think you've been matched up?</p>

<p>As for me, I'll be attending this fall, and I haven't the faintest! They both could be spectacular or awful. With the single, I'd either be more comfortable in my own space or have difficulty making my first friends. With the double, I could be miserable because my roomie's habits are an insult to basic hygiene or better off because i'll automatically get to know someone really well and be spending a lot of time with them.</p>

2

<p>1) Even though single dorms DO have advantages, I prefer a roommate.</p>

<p>2) The only advantages in having a single room are less ares of distraction, but I want a roommate because I feel it grants you the FULL boarding experience and will make dorm life a lot more interesting and funner.</p>

<p>3) My biggest concerns are poor hygiene habits on my roommates behalf. Also, lack of trust and theft.</p>

3

<p>1.) Which do you prefer, or which are you hoping to get?
-I’m hoping to get a roommate. I probably will, since I’m a new sophomore. </p>

<p>2.) What is the reason for your decision? If you’ve opted for a single, is it for the sake of yourself or your potential roommate?
-I’m a very social person, so I think I’d get lonely if I didn’t have someone to share a room with! Plus, in my experience, it’s easy to make friends with a roommate. Since I’ll only know a few people at Andover, I’ll need all the friends I can get!</p>

<ol>
<li>What are your biggest concerns?
-Maybe that my roommate won’t like me, or I won’t be able to fit in at my dorm. Typical worries that I’ll hopefully get over soon enough!</li>
</ol>

4

<p>1.) Which do you prefer, or which are you hoping to get? </p>

<p>SINGLES! I’m going to DA so its pretty much an automatic choice. </p>

<p>2.) What is the reason for your decision? If you’ve opted for a single, is it for the sake of yourself or your potential roommate?</p>

<p>I’m quite a messy person, and I do things my way. I’m really scared that if I get a roommate, and she doesn’t like the way I do things, I could really affect her habits. Vice versa. Living in a single dorm means you can stay up all night studying with the light on, change whenever your want, style the room to your own theme… the list goes one. I know some people really want a roommate for the authentic prep school experience, but I guess in my opinion, that really isn’t too important. Besides, I’m getting one in college either way :stuck_out_tongue:
3.) What are your biggest concerns?</p>

<p>Making friends. I guess the only pro TO ME about double dorms are having an automatic friend. Being in a single dorm definitely means that you’ll have to work a little harder to make friends at the beginning of the year.</p>

5

<p>I will be attending Exeter, and I requested a single. I want my own study space and think it would be easier to get work done. Plus, my host had a single and brought up some of the cons of roommates…like not getting along with your roommate or having totally different habits.</p>

6

<p>I’m a current boarder, here’s my input :slight_smile:
2.) Are you happy with your housing? Was it what you had requested, and if not, did you manage to adjust to your living conditions?
All sophomores have to have a roommate, so there wasn’t much of a request for me. Next year for sure I’m requesting a single.
3.) Have you ever had any struggles or humorous disputes with your roommate? Has it always been convenient?
YES to the struggle thing. Haven’t seen a roommate pair that didn’t. One thing that irks me is my roommate ALWAYS has sleepovers on the weekend. And her friends arn’t quiet. And I’m a super light sleeper. So this results in it being very complicated when trying to go to sleep on the weekends. She has to have friends in the room ALL THE TIME. Even when I’m trying to sleep, ect. </p>

<p>But then on the other side we get along really well, for the most part. We have a lot of fun sometimes.
4.) Has being in single housing ever stunted your ability to socialize as a new student?
Never been in single housing, this is my first year, but from what I’ve seen it doesn’t really stunt anything.
5.) How well do you think you’ve been matched up?
Pretty decently. On the roommate form I said i wanted someone who shared my sense of humor. They definitely succeeded in that. I don’t think it’d be much different with any other roommate, so it’s fine.</p>

7

<p>Hahahaha I love how this has turned out - all the new students are talking about their high hopes for their roommates, while the only one whose actually had one is going to try to get a single. </p>

<p>I think I’m going to say double housing is fine, though I don’t have preferences, because I’m a new Upper at andover I think I’d be able to make use of that social benefit factor. I’m excited!</p>

<p>Although we should all probably try to learn from Samantha’s experiences, haha.</p>

8

<p>It honestly might just have been my expirience! I’ve seen other pairs work out just fine, though most tend to have at least one minor dispute. I love my roommate like I would a younger sibling. Great when you get along, but they can definitely get annoying! Most juniors at my school don’t have roommates, so I’m looking forward to that, but I know my roommate and I will still be friends next year regardless!</p>

<p>I don’t want to like scare anyone out of it or anything, it’s an expirience I’m glad I had. Just keep in mind that little fairytale of the “perfect” roommate isn’t very realistic. You’re going to get frustrated with each other at times, that’s practically inveitable when being in that close corters. It does work though!</p>

9

<p>2.) Are you happy with your housing? Was it what you had requested, and if not, did you manage to adjust to your living conditions?</p>

<p>Definitely not what I was initially anticipating. I went to Choate for summer school a couple years back and I was in an entirely different dorm on a different part of campus. In fact, I’d never even heard about the dorm I was given before my orientation day. I requested a double and sure enough, I got one. I have to say, the first couple of days were quite nerve-wracking, as it is in any new environment. On each of our doors, the prefects had posted the names of everyone who lived in each room and my roommate had a completely foreign name that I didn’t recognize and I immediately froze up and wanted to go back home. I live in one of the smallest dorms on campus, and my dorm has a reputation of being the “lax bro” dorm and in really bad condition. This is true to a certain extent, but I can tell you now that I honestly wouldn’t exchange my current dorm for any other dorm on campus. Each dorm has its own atmosphere and there’s something about this dorm that has allowed me to make friends that I most likely would never have made otherwise. The kids in the dorm are all great friends despite the different “groups” that we all hang out in. I have had my hardships, however, including there not being enough hot water for showers in the morning, inefficient heating systems, and thin walls, but it’s all part of the experience and I would never ask for anything more than that. </p>

<p>3.) Have you ever had any struggles or humorous disputes with your roommate? Has it always been convenient?</p>

<p>Choate did a spectacular job for pairing me up with a roommate. During the summer, they sent out a questionnaire via email about sleeping preferences/music taste/neatness/etc. We don’t argue at all and our personalities fit each other so well that it just astounds me sometimes how well we get along. Some of you probably won’t end up that lucky though, I know a lot of roommate couples who do not get along well at all. </p>

<p>4.) Has being in single housing ever stunted your ability to socialize as a new student?</p>

<p>I don’t have a single, but I think it would definitely have limited my ability to make new friends, ESPECIALLY as a new student who is still trying to get acclimated to the environment. My roommate was one of my first good friends here, and I’m sure we’ll continue to talk far into the future because we have grown so close. </p>

<p>5.) How well do you think you’ve been matched up?</p>

<p>Like I said, Choate did an absolutely amazing job for me. Maybe I was lucky, but you never know with these kinds of things.</p>

10

<p>To my own shock, I don’t know how to answer these questions… I always thought double, but now I’m re-thinking single. I’m really neutral about it now… anyone else feel the same?</p>

11

<p>Yeah, I’m in the same boat… I think I’ll stick with double though</p>

12

<p>Now that you guys have spent some time with your roommates what do you think?
Single or double?</p>

<p>and hi(: im new.</p>

13

<p>Hahaha, I have a single now (Junior year). I LOVE IT SO MUCH I CAN’T EVEN EXPLAIN. And I think I’ve actually become CLOSER with my roommate from last year because we no longer live in the same room. She still lives on the same hall, which is nice. I like having the ability to go to sleep whenever I want and not having to worry about anyone else. I love having the privacy I need. Singles are better for me because I crave privacy sometimes. </p>

<p>I’m interested in seeing how everyone else experiences have turned out.</p>

14

<p>Definitely ask for a single if possible. Sure you get a fast friend, but soon enough you’ll be friends with a lot of people in your dorm. Personally, I have a double and sometimes when two roommates aren’t completely compatible it might become a problem. For example, if you are a morning person and your roommate isn’t and hates noise and disturbance until like 12 in the afternoons… you’ll find yourselves having to adjust a bit. When you have a single, you don’t have to tailor some things to the other person. Does that make sense? Some schools also have emergency doubles, where two students are squeezed into a single room so the school can admit more students. In situations like that, well… there’s like barely any pros, but the cons list go on and on. Take the closet for instance. Imagine having to share a small closet with another person. That’s pretty annoying. With a single you just end up getting more privacy and the space you need if you ever want alone time. Some roommates aren’t as receptive to knowing when you might want “alone” time and can definitely get you annoyed. I hope I didn’t make that a huge unreadable, nonsense of a paragraph. XD So basically if you can get a SINGLE! because i know i can’t for next year so i can have a room to my self. Good luck to you guys!</p>

15

<p>Having a double builds character. It’s good to learn to live with another person and without much privacy. You’ll probably need to have a roommate in college anyway.</p>

16

<p>2.) Are you happy with your housing? Was it what you had requested, and if not, did you manage to adjust to your living conditions?</p>

<p>I got exactly what I requested, down to the dorm XD (I’m a sophomore)</p>

<p>3.) Have you ever had any struggles or humorous disputes with your roommate? Has it always been convenient?</p>

<p>In my two years I’ve had two different roommates. At the start I got along with them really well and as the year goes we grow apart. You spend so much time with someone that you can see them too much. Don’t get me wrong, a double does have its benefits but for the people who want one so they have an immediate friend, it hasn’t worked like that for me. Well we were friends, and still are, but not to the same degree. </p>

<p>4.) Has being in single housing ever stunted your ability to socialize as a new student?</p>

<p>5.) How well do you think you’ve been matched up?</p>

<p>Well enough, similar interests. </p>

<p>Next year however I’m definitely getting a single. When my current roommate was away from school for a few days I was shocked by how much better I could focus and how well I worked. And now with junior year next year it’s definitely something I’d like. And for socializing you can always go into the room next to yours.</p>

17

<p>I guess I didn’t answer all of the questions.</p>

<p>2) I initially wished that I could have been placed in a bigger dorm. I think I would still be happy in a bigger dorm. A small dorm can be nice, though, as it is more peaceful and there are fewer problems. Downside: There are fewer resident faculty to turn to in case of an issue.</p>

<p>3,5) My roommate last year always thought that I made too much noise, mostly because I always woke up earlier than her. Our battles were minor. We both got annoyed at times when we wanted to have personal conversations with our parents and had to worry about the other person being around. We had a lot in common, though, including some sports and many viewpoints, so we were a pretty good match. We are better friends now that we are not roommates, but we still live in the same dorm.</p>