should I let living conditions affect my decision on a school

<p>there’s a couple big schools and a couple small schools I’m interested in going to...</p>

<p>now in the big schools, students have to use community bathrooms where 35-40 or even more students share a single bathroom...</p>

<p>in the smaller ones, I would only share a bathroom with 2-3 students or maybe even get my own room with its private bathoom...</p>

<p>Seems like an easy decision, thing is that the bigger schools are better than the smaller ones when you take academics/ranking/value/satus…etc into account...</p>

<p>I’m also taking my personal preference into consideration…I’m the kinda guy that would MUCH prefer to live on his own with out a roommate. I have always had my own room and whenever I used to spend the night over at a friends house and not have my own room, I would never get a good night sleep. I mean I know its common to have a roommate in college and many of u are thinking “dude just grow up”...I just don’t like the idea of sharing my personal life with some student that was randomly chosen to live with me. What happen to the meaning of privacy...I’m sorry but my privacy to me is really important...</p>

<p>So should I just go for the better school and endure 4 years of nasty living conditions, or should I go for the smaller, less recognized school with the better quality of living?</p>

<p>Only you can answer that question. You might be surprised how little it matters to you after a few weeks if you're otherwise happy. But, if your privacy is this important, then you would probably be better off at a college which will give you a single room with a private bath.</p>

<p>I know that it might be petty, but I know that I thought about similar things when I was looking at colleges. Other somewhat stupid questions included: starbucks on campus? laundry on each floor? guys allowed to stay over? size of closets? are streets/sidewalks well cleared of snow? coed bathrooms? gyms location compared to dorms? housekeeping? nice landscaping? well lit? overall happy environment? </p>

<p>If I have to live there for four years, it better be bearable! IME, academics are so close at the schools I'm applying to and the money, reputation, location, dorms, diversity, etc are what will make my decision.</p>

<p>I agree with ANovice. Your comfort with your physical surroundings can affect your attitude and hence performance. My D felt the dorms at Smith and Wellesley, along with the food, general environment, etc., were far superior to those of Barnard...Barnard was #3 on her final scorecard. She used other factors to split Smith & Wellesley.</p>

<p>YOU need to take everything into consideration. not just the dorms. All things being equal would you be happier at the larger school. Many times you can get a single room there as a freshman with extenutaing circumstances. Also you may find you dont mind having a roommate in the dorm. It may be nice to have someone to talk to, and not be so lonely. As a freshman there are many things to get used to, Its not like having your own room at home, with parents and siblings in the room next door, and everyone meeting in the kitchen. You may find that you want your roomate for companionship. </p>

<p>You need to look at all aspects of the school, dorm life is just a small part.</p>

<p>You can grin and bear it for a year anywhere though, then move off campus. Most students do that.</p>

<p>Another thought is many colleges let you change dorms second semester. So if you are truly unhappy you can make a change in your dorm in Jan. YOu can live anywhre for 4 months. Then youll be able to make a better decision, as to yor living situation.
YOu'll know more about the school, and what is important to yo.
YOu should not make a decison on dorm alone. many schools may show you a room with a connecting bathroom (for 4 students) and then you end up in one with the bathroom in the hall. You never know. This should not ebe yor top priority in selecting a school.</p>

<p>I think it should be a consideration, I mean you're the one who has to live there. I personally can't relate too much, I live with 5 other family members and just last year I got my own room, but it's important to feel comfortable in your new home, wherever that may be</p>

<p>I must add that at my S's school, rooms with the bath down the hall are much more popular with male students than the ones with the bath shared with another dorm room or in the dorm. Students are required to clean their own bathrooms which are inspected periodically.</p>

<p>Well, look at it this way: If you are sharing a bathroom with only two or three other people, there is only one toilet, one shower and you have to clean it yourself, which can be pretty gross if you are stuck with some messy roomates (chances are that it will rarely every get cleaned). If you share a community bathroom, you can usually use it when you would like and it gets cleaned on a daily basis probably by a cleaning service.</p>

<p>I can tell you that one of my brothers shared a bathroom with two other roomates and both were slobs. He said that they would come back to the room drunk quite often, puke all over the toilet and floor and leave it.
I have another brother who goes to a much larger school with community bathrooms on every floor. He was concerned about it at first, but it was never an issue and he obivously got used to it and never minds it.</p>

<p>I am much more concerned with the rooms than the bathroom. Although I would prefer to have a single room with my own bathroom, I am unaware of a single school out there who has that available to someone without special needs. I'm anxious about it, but I also realize that people can easily adapt to living conditions and that nothing is permanent.</p>

<p>one solution would be joining the armed forces to get you broken in to a total lack of privacy. after your enlistment is up dorm life no matter what the bathroom situation is would be a piece of cake.</p>

<p>on a more serious side if your going to school for 4 years + you might as well live in the best conditions that you can. that means a decent room, good food, and an enviorment conductive to learning and social growth. </p>

<p>some colleges have single rooms with private bath rooms. if that is a high priority for you then by all means limit your list to those schools</p>