Top bunk or loft

If you had to choose between one of the two, which one would you select and why? I’m in a triple and already know I don’t want the bottom bunk. I hate people sitting on my bed so it’s a definite no.

My DD18 is also in a triple this year. Her room seems pretty big so we’re hoping all three beds can be lofted. She’s shared a room with 2 sisters for 10 years and as the youngest has always had the bottom bunk. She’s over bunk beds. So she’d choose the loft.

Any suggestions on how to nicely and subtly convince roommate to take the top bunk?

Remember that whatever you choose/get stuck with doesn’t have to stay that way the entire year. Be willing and flexible to switch off/switch it up during the year.

This post and your follow up is confusing. You say you don’t want the bottom bunk, but you ask how to convince roommate to take top bunk. Which is it?

ETA: If you are saying that there is a bunk bed and one loft, and you want the loft, you can ask for it but be prepared to compromise, i.e., everyone switches beds at some point in the year so it’s fair to all, assuming that everyone will prefer the loft.

If there isn’t room to unbunk the beds, I would ask if the roommate has a preference. If not, no big deal. If yes, then put names in bowl and switch off second semester.

It often depends on who gets there first.
But if you discuss it, say that you would like the (top/bottom/other loft) and what do they think.
If they want the same thing, then flip a coin.
or switch after the semester.
Or you may be assigned.

I would never let my kid choose a bed just because they got there first. I think the roommates need to agree together on who goes where.

This statement may be true for some students or for some colleges, but cannot be universally applied. At my own college, the choice of beds/lofting vs unlofting, etc must be made by all students as a group as noted in the move-in procedures. The student who tries to pull a buttfoonery move by claiming a bed by being the first to arrive will not only incur the ire of the roommate(s) but also a call from the residential dean to explain the rules.

In theory, roommates will rotate beds at semester break, but may, as a group, decide to keep the status quo.

There are plenty of people who’d rather have the bottom bunk so they don’t have to climb around in the middle of the night. This problem might resolve itself before it even becomes a problem.

I agree that this is a roommate conversation. My daughter is in a triple that was converted to a quad so it will be tight. She and her roommates have been chatting regularly and already worked out how they are going to arrange everything so the two that are on the “single” side wont have any extra furniture in there to maximize the space and make it more equitable. All four beds are able to be lofted which they are doing to allow for more floor space.

I lived in a room with bunks…no choice and no way to change them. Roommate and I agreed we would switch beds each term…because really, neither of us wanted the top. And that’s what we did.

D had the bottom bunk because she tended to have early classes and didn’t want to wake her roommates. Not they held similar beliefs about not waking roommates. The first roommate there was an international and was at school early, so she took the top bunk over the desks. That would have D’s vote had she had first dibs.

My DD lived in a triple last year. None of the rooms in the dorm had railings for the lofted/top bunk beds, so she ended up being very happy about her bottom bunk. She even told me stories about friends who ended up falling off their beds a few times! Also, despite being the bottom bunk, her bed wasn’t really low enough for people to sit on. She used a stepstool to climb into bed (though taller people likely wouldn’t have any issues with that). Top bunk and loft access was through climbing up the end of the bed, and the ladders that some of her friends eventually requested came with no attachment, so they sometimes fell over!

My kid wanted a bottom bunk so I am with @Hanna on this one - don’t assume your first choice is everyone else’s.

And here’s another idea – the closets may not all be the same. Desk locations might vary. If there are 3 things which are different, each of you gets first choice on one, second on another and third on the last.

DS’ roommate who picked the big closet got the bed nobody wanted and second choice desk. The kid who chose the loft got the desk in the corner and second choice closet. And DS got the desk with the sunlight bUT the closet near the door with 2nd choice bed. They all felt it was fair and that they could live with it for the year.

My daughter has had both bunked (one room quad, two bunkbeds) and a lofted bed over desk in a double. She has had it with making her bed in the stratosphere, head close to the ceiling, and climbing to get in and out of bed. With the bunk bed she wanted the top so visitors or roommates wouldn’t sit on her bed, and she and the girl on the bottom bunk had to split the underbed storage space. With the lofted bed she had a huge desk, but less underbed storage space. Thankfully both had rails as are required at her school. She’s happy to be moving to a regular dorm bed this coming school year.

My daughter signed up for a triple, which would have meant no lofts (school only allows w/permission) or bunk beds. However due to overenrollment, her triple was made into a quad. With all extra bed, desk and dresser, there wouldnt have been room without bunking or lofting. We did not find out until we got there (or maybe it was when we got the letter announcing the overenrollment which was at the end of July), that beds were actually assigned based on when you made your housing deposit! Funny thing is, I don’t know how the determinations were made as to which beds were considering a better choice. We showed up and there were two lofted beds and a bunk bed. My D had the top bunk. Girls had no idea who had made deposits when so no idea which beds were considered “better” in the school’s eyes.

In the end, I think the top bunk was better then either of the lofted beds b/c it wasn’t as high so she could sit up completely, while the lofted beds were closer to the ceiling and if you tried to sit up fully, head would be touching the ceiling. The girls never swapped. The bottom bunk girl did offer for my D to have the dresser immediately next to the bed so she could easily place things on top of it from her bed w/o D having to climb down. Fortunately, the room was good sized, they had a big walk in closet and their own bathroom that had a huge floor to ceiling cabinet that provided a lot of storage so even with four girls, the room wasn’t too claustrophobic.

Had the beds not been assigned, I would hope that the kids would wait until everyone got there to decide how to choose beds. When I was in college, my senior year I ended up in an on campus 2 BR with five girls. The triple room had a bunk bed. We decided ahead of time that at semester break, the we would swap-girls in the bunk bed moved to the other BR and those two girls moved to the bunk bed. The one who had a regular bed both semesters stayed in the triple. It all worked out b/c we agreed ahead to do it that way. Of course we were all friends, so that helped, might be harder with freshmen meeting for the first time and some being more selfish than others.

I forgot to add, we made sure that ALL raised beds in D’s room had the safety rail. Fortunately her school does not allow bunks or lofts unless absolutely necessary and they provide safety rails for all beds as a result. If you have a lofted bed or bunk bed, make sure they provide a safety rail.

My freshman year I had a triple. We had two lofts and a single bed on the floor. I would have chosen a loft but as the last one there I had the bed on the floor. We only had two desks and two closets. I was given a desk to myself since 1 the other two had the top of the closets to put stuff on and 2 they were music majors and assumed they wouldn’t have as much work in terms of papers etc.
One of the roommates decided to move off campus within weeks but never told the university. After she took all her stuff out of the room I took over the loft and we requested to have the bed removed.

A little off the original topic, but PLEASE do make sure to have safety rails if you have a lofted or bunk bed…

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1911839-bunk-and-loft-bed-dangers-p1.html