<p>Hey CC, I'm deciding on what to mark down for my housing preferences at San Jose State, and I have two options, each with their pros and cons. I have to secure housing soon so I need to make a decision, but I'm having a really hard time.</p>
<p>Options 1: 8 student suite, 4 rooms (2 per), 2 bathrooms, 2 showers, small common area, basic kitchen without stove. SJSU has a program called CELL which places engineering students in the same suite, which I feel might be able to help me succeed, but I don't know if the 7 other people will be too much.</p>
<p>Options 2: Basic single dorm, communal showers, communal bathrooms. The idea of a single sounds attractive, but I feel I might be a bit lonely/isolated, and the communal amenities don't sound very appealing. There's also an option for a double which might be better than a single.</p>
<p>If you can tell me about your experiences of opinions, I would really love to hear what you say, because I have to make a decision quick!</p>
<p>tl;dr: less luxurious single room with communal showers/bathroom or nicer 8 student suite with 2 showers + bathrooms and a basic kitchen and common area, plus the ability to be with students from the same major.</p>
<p>The luxurious advantages (shower + common area + kitchen) and the practical advantages (built-in community + same majors) seems to outweigh needing to share your room. Unless you REALLYY need your own space, if they’re the same price, I’d go for the suite!</p>
<p>I would probably go with the suite if those were my only options because I hate the idea of public showers/bathrooms and having all people from your major sounds kind of cool but could get really competitive I would imagine(which could be a good thing). Studying together, having a built in community are perks. I would like my own room at the very least for some time a lone because the suite sounds like you’d never be alone unless you leave. I guess it depends on your personality.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies! Unfortunately, I just found out that my major, Computer Science, doesn’t qualify for the CELL program and therefore I won’t really be able to have that all engineering student suite I was hoping for. Should I still go for it?</p>
<p>We have suites here for upperclass students and they actually tend to be pretty chill. Except here, the students select in together, so nearly everyone in a suite knows each other pretty well.</p>
<p>Personally, I’d go with the suite. Rather share a room and have nicer amenities - and a kitchen/common area, and only share a bathroom with 3 other people!</p>
<p>This is such a personal decision and it will totally depend on how you are as a person. First of all if you have never shared a room before, it is hard to contemplate. Maybe you had a sibling that you shared with when you were younger, you can relate a bit to the experience. As a child living at home though you had parents to make rules to live by. That won’t be present at school. </p>
<p>Can you cope with another persons mess in your bedroom? Do you like being surrounded by people all the time? Do you need space to be alone every day? The people that don’t understand how hard it can be to share a room are those that have never had to do it before.</p>
<p>If you choose the suite you will have to share your room and basically have 7 roommates. You will have to share the duty of keeping the bathroom clean and the rest of the house tidy as well. Unless someone takes charge of designating tasks or ALL of your housemates are responsible and tidy, there could be a lot of tension about keeping the common areas clean.</p>
<p>With a single you will be around people everywhere except for your room. There will be janitorial staff to clean the bathrooms and any other common areas. There are always places that you can go to hang around people if you want to, so you won’t be lonely.</p>
<p>I see no advantage to the suit: you are sharing your bedroom, you are sharing your bathroom, you don’t have a kitchen (a fridge and a microwave don’t count as kitchen in my book; you can have those in a dorm room too, and I suspect that the dorms would actually have a shared kitchen area with a microwave for you to use as well), and you are sharing a place with strangers you may not even like. </p>
<p>I had no idea how precious peace and quiet was until I had to survive on 4-6 hours of sleep every night because of noisy roommates and neighbors. Never again.</p>