6 Things Students Should Know About College Dorm Living

By Victoria Robertson on August 15, 2017

Staying in a dorm is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced before, I can promise you that. However, it’ll also provide you with experiences that you truly can’t get anywhere else, and you will learn a lot in terms of patience and understanding.

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If you asked 10 college students what they thought about dorming, you would get 10 different answers. Some love it, some hate it, and some are completely indifferent to the experience. But I’ll tell you one thing, there’s a lot of information that you’ll need to know before dorming. And I don’t mean information by means of what to pack, but rather, how to enter into the experience.

If you’re dorming for the first time, you have a lot to learn, and the more open and prepared you are for the experience, the better off you will be.

So, to help better prepare you for your first dorm room experience, here are six things you need to know about college dorm living.

1. You’re going to feel cramped

Dorm rooms are not known for being spacious. In fact, more often than not, you’re in too tight of quarters with a person you barely (or don’t) even know. So to prepare, you’ll want to pack light and go in with the mindset that you’re sharing a small space. This is not your own room, and it shouldn’t be treated as such.

So long as you respect your roommate and their space, they should respect you and yours.

2. You’ll live with a stranger

Almost all dorm experiences are with people that you don’t know. Unless you and a friend are planning on dorming together (which is often suggested against), you’ll either be going with a random roommate or choosing an individual based on common interests, but that you still don’t really know.

To prepare for this experience, you’ll want to go in open to meeting new people. College is the perfect time to make new friends, so don’t close yourself off to that experience.

3. Food is not gourmet

While not all dorm food is bad, you shouldn’t go in expecting to eat at a five star restaurant every night. Make the best of what you’re given and try to eat healthy as much as possible (since it’s very easy to forget about health when unhealthy options are all around you).

Also, don’t avoid eating in the cafeteria, as this is another great way to meet new people that you may not have met otherwise.

4. Open door policy

Many RAs will tell you that leaving your door open is a great way to meet new people, and they’re absolutely right. When your door is closed, people either assume you aren’t in, or you aren’t interested in seeing anyone. With an open door, you’re inviting people to stop by and say hello, and you’ll find really quickly that there are plenty of people worth getting to know.

5. This isn’t the place for homework

While occasionally doing homework in your dorm isn’t a problem, most dorms are noisy and crowded and you’ll have very few opportunities to do homework without your roommate or others stopping by and distracting you. The best place to do homework when dorming is in a quiet section of your dorm or in the library.

Sometimes, it’s good to stay in (and you just ask to be left alone), but don’t force your roommate to be silent very often. If you have a lot of homework to complete, be courteous and visit the library.

6. Be open

I really can’t stress this enough, but the more open you are to meeting new people and to new experiences, the more successful your dorming experience will be. Staying in a dorm requires a certain amount of patience and cooperation, especially between roommates, and the sooner you’re able to obtain these skills, the better. Going into the experience with a completely open mind is your best bet, and you’ll walk out of the experience much happier for it.

Again, staying in a dorm for the first time can be scary, intimidating, and overwhelming. At the same time, however, it can be exciting and invigorating. This is the first time (in most cases) that you’ll be living on your own, and there’s a lot to be said for that. So, to say you aren’t sure what to expect is an understatement.

Keep these tips in mind as you move forward in your dorming experience, and you’ll find really quickly that the experiences you encounter during this year will be some of the most important in terms of the bigger picture.

So keep an open mind, be courteous to your roommate, prepare yourself as best you can, and step forward into your future. Good luck!

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