Hello, I am an incoming college freshman
I was considering to get a single room in the dorm but I heard it is better for a freshman to have a dormmate.
Because it allows he/she to adapt to the first year college social life and thus to obtain and share information good for newcomers.
They say if I choose to not to have a roommate as a freshman then I will likely to be left alone, isolated by myself without much freinds.
…The point is
Does having a dormmate as a freshman have that much of an impact?
I want to live in a single room if possible.
I personally don’t like living with other person that I do not know well and fear that I may end up with a bad roommate.
Thanks for your advice
I think it depends on the school. A school where the vast majority of freshmen live with roommates and people requesting singles are in a totally different building is probably a bad idea. Colleges that have full floors of singles for freshmen might be ok.
I had three assigned roommates in short succession during my freshman year. I learned nothing of value except that some people think it is perfectly normal to make loud phone calls at 3 AM.
If you can take the single, it might spare you some unnecessary stress. It’s not like having a roommate is the only way you can make friends.
@bodangles
I totally agree with you as I had a similar experience back in the highschool dorm.
The worst thing is that I cannot do anything with those kind of jerks.
All the school told me is to just go over with it.
@SolidKC it also depends on the school and type of dorms offered.
For MIT at least, most dorms have a high proportion of single rooms, so freshmen living in singles is not uncommon. But if one person is feeling really stressed and perhaps suicidal, it would probably be advantageous for living in a double. You can definitely make friends even if you live in a single.
I lived in a double freshman year, but I’ve been in a single since then, since I like a little privacy, and the ability to sleep whenever.
It really depends on you. If having a room mate is uncomfortable for you then live only by yourself. But if you think that having a room mate will help you adapt your college social life, then live with them.
It depends. If they are a known entity, it’s probably good but optional. If they are not known, it’s a tossup, they could be fine or terrible.
The year I had to live in a dorm (freshman year) I lived in a single in both halls I lived in, though shared a bathroom with a suite mate. Could not deal with a random other guy snooping around, especially where I go to college. I had a roommate for the 3 day orientation the summer before my first semester and while those 3 days were pretty fun, I don’t imagine that I could do that and be academically productive every day.
My advice: do a double or triple if you have one or two great friends from high school or otherwise (a close same-age cousin is another example of a good roommate choice). If you don’t know anyone particularly well, definitely go for the single room. It’ll spare you a ton of grief and ease the acclimation process.
Roommates can be somewhat helpful in socializing in school, but the magnitude of that effect really depends on both of your personalities. Honestly, I made more friends through other social means than my roommates.
I think having a roommate freshman year might help you to get exposed to more people, unless you have a specific preference not to. How many singles are available? You may end up rooming with someone in the future and sometimes its good to navigate it early on. Everyone has those fears but you also have surveys to fill out (varying by school) trying to match you up with someone compatible. My friend at Columbia says that many of her freshman friends have singles which forces them to get out and socialize with other people, but if it is a mix you might have to make the specific effort to go out and meet people.
My roommate and I got along this year, but we weren’t close friends. That’s okay too. Having a roommate can just also be neat if you want to share something like a tv, microwave, or fridge. That way you don’t have to bear everything on your own and you have someone there to talk to in case things get rough. Anyways, roommates can be good or bad for different people and it really depends what you feel most comfortable with
I personally had a great experience with my roommates. I liked them, which meant that I had people to talk to a lot of the time. And although we haven’t kept in touch, during Freshman year I got to meet some of the friends one of them had made.
That said, I’ve been in a single for the past couple of years, because I like being able to sleep whenever I want and not have to worry about someone else keeping me up.
So I’d recommend trying roommates for Freshman year, when people are looking for friends, so you can either become friends with them or others in their social circles. It forces you to have contacts.