There are many shocks in the transition from high school to college, from moving away from home (sometimes thousands of miles from where you lived previously), to the differing structure of college courses, to living on your own for the first time. One major change for many students is living in dorms for the first time, instead of with your parents. This is exciting and scary, a great change, and something hard to prepare for. Some students do get to sample this ahead of time, either through private school or through summer programs which stay on college campuses. In this article, however, we’re going to give advice on how to manage the transition to living in a dorm for the first time (whether that be for college itself, or one of the aforementioned summer programs). We’ll go over what to expect, what to bring, and the skills you will need to make sure your first time away from home goes swimmingly. Let’s jump right in!
What Dorm Living Is
In order to describe how to prepare to live in dorms, first we need to explain what dorm life is like. Note that this can vary significantly between colleges, with some having their own unique twists. In general, however, you will find the following. First, there are several different styles of dorms. Most colleges have multiple different styles, with different buildings having different kinds of units. You may prefer one style to another, based on your own preferences.
Note also that most colleges have taken to calling these buildings “residence halls” or some other similar term. These are still dormitories, or dorms; the difference in term does not change their form or function.
Single vs Double (or Triple)
In general, dorm rooms hold more than one person. This is usually limited to two, but schools with more students than space sometimes have three students per room. Many schools often have singles available as well. Dorm rooms are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis however, and current students get the first pick of rooms. This means that upper classmen tend to get all of the singles which are available, while entering freshmen always end up with a roommate (or sometimes two).
Your college roommate may be one of the best friends you ever make, or drive you up the wall, or simply be someone you cohabit with for a year. In any case, communication is key; if there is an issue, talk to them about it directly, and if it persists, be willing to escalate to your RA or housing. Most issues can be resolved by talking, but your roommate may not realize that something is an issue until you tell them.
Communal vs Suite vs Apartment Style
Beyond just sharing a bedroom, you will also end up sharing a bathroom; with how many people depends on the style of dorm. In standard dorms, bathrooms are for a whole floor. These are usually segregated by gender, but some colleges with coed dorms also have coed bathrooms. For these, you will need to take all needed supplies to and from the bathroom each time you use it, from toothbrushes to shampoo. Soap and toilet paper are provided.
Suite style dorms have a few students sharing bathrooms, usually four across two rooms sharing two bathrooms, one with a shower and one with a toilet. This means shorter lines and the ability to store your stuff there, but you are responsible for supplying your own toilet paper, and for cleaning the bathroom yourself. Suites are always single-sex for freshmen, but schools that allow coed dorms usually (but don’t always) allow for mixed gender suites for returning students, when you pick your own roommates (or suitemates).
Apartment style dorms are set up like apartments (as the name implies). This means students have their own bedrooms, a small common area, and usually a kitchenette. Dorm buildings generally have communal areas and kitchens, but only apartment style dorms have these within a private space. These generally have their own bathrooms as well. Apartment style dorms are generally set aside for upperclassmen and graduate students; freshmen rarely get to take advantage of them.
On or Off Campus
Dorms are usually located near campus, but where they are, and how near they are, can vary a lot. Some dorms are right on or adjacent to the main quad, letting students roll right out of bed and stroll into class if they so choose. Others are further afield, requiring a walk or bike ride to reach campus. Apartment style dorms are more likely to be off campus, but this is not definite. The size of a college’s campus overall can also impact this. Some schools put all of their student housing in a single area, while others spread it out, with different dorms close to different areas of the broader campus.
Coed vs Single Sex
Some dorms are coed, while others are single sex. Some colleges only offer single sex housing, while others have a single dorm (or a few floors in a dorm) set aside for single sex housing. Communal bathrooms are generally single sex, but not always. Suites and roommates are generally single-sex for freshmen, but upperclassmen can have coed dorms, depending on an individual college’s policies.
A Note on RAs
Letting a bunch of college students live completely unsupervised is perhaps not the greatest idea. Realizing this, colleges have various levels of supervision. Most commonly are Resident Assistants (or Advisors), which is then shortened to RAs. These are either upperclassmen or grad students who live in housing for free, and in return take on a mild supervisory role.
Their job is not to be your parents, but to make sure nobody sets the building on fire, that rules are obeyed (or at least not outrageously flaunted), and that quiet hours are respected. They will also help mediate between roommates, and can be your first call if something is going wrong, but it’s not a full emergency (or you just aren’t sure who exactly to call).
Some colleges also have another level of adults, usually faculty, who live in housing. They have a slight supervisory role, but also organize activities for the dorm, from dinners to group outings. How active these are, and how much colleges focus on creating a community within dorms, varies a lot by school.
Visitors and Visiting Hours
A dorm is like an apartment, but different in some ways. Most notably, the building is still owned by the university, who control access. Thai means visitors will need to sign in and out, and there may be limits on who can visit, and how long they can stay. This is especially true for single sex dorms, which often have a ban on overnight visits from the opposite sex.
Choosing a Dorm Room
Once you accept your space at a university, there are many different forms to fill out. One of these is your housing form, where you indicate your preferences for housing on campus. How this works varies slightly by school, but generally you fill out your top choices for dorm, and indicate if there is a roommate you would prefer.
In some cases, such as honors colleges, you have a special dorm assigned to you. Other colleges have specific dorms set aside for freshmen, while some schools allow different classes to commingle. Unless you are in an honors dorm or similar, you are not guaranteed a space in any specific dorm. Rooms are generally allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. This does mean that students who apply early tend to get the first pick of available rooms, so long as they fill out the paperwork on time.
You should research the dorms on campus carefully, to see which best suits your needs. Colleges often offer a mix of room styles and living conditions, and things like proximity to the quad, dining halls, or having your own bathroom can impact where you want to live. You are not guaranteed a spot in your top choice dorm, but you should at least know what your options are.
In terms of picking a roommate, some students choose a friend from high school, but we generally advise against this. What makes somebody a good friend does not necessarily make them good to live with. Generally, luck of the draw is your best bet. An exception is student athletes, many of whom will have met each other on recruitment trips to the college. While they do not need to live together, having a roommate who also needs to get up before dawn for morning practice can be more convenient for everyone involved.
What to Bring to Live in a Dorm Room
There are myriad guides for what to bring with you when you move into a dorm room, so we’ll just cover the basics. First, dorm rooms do generally come with furniture; bed, desk, chair, dresser; so you won’t need to supply this yourself. Everything else, however, is up to you.
This does vary by college, as do policies on what you can have in a room, and what counts as a fire hazard. Check first with your own school’s policies and suggestions; they know best what they provide, and what students will need. Generally, these fall into two categories; personal items, and room items.
Personal items are the things you need for you. Your clothes, computer, books, shoes; all of the things you need to function. In addition, there are things you need to supply personally, such as sheets, pillows, towels; all of the sundry supplies needed to live in a space. A dorm is not a hotel room; you need to bring your own towel and toiletries.
In addition, there are things you will need to bring for the room as a whole, especially if you are living in a room with its own bathroom. Soap, toilet paper, cleaning supplies; if you have a communal bathroom these are provided, but you will want a shower caddy; you won’t be able to leave your shampoo or toothbrush in a communal bathroom.
Finally, there are items you can bring that will be shared communally in the room. It is best to connect with future roommates on this; you don’t want three TVs and three minifridges. Figure out who can and wants to bring what, and be cognizant of how limited space is in these rooms. You can’t bring everything, and you will have to share this space.
Skills for Living in Dorms
Living on your own for the first time is something of a right of passage for young people. As with all rights of passage, it can be fraught with missteps; if you lack certain needed skills or are unaware of what awaits you, it can be far more difficult than is necessary. These skills are not magic, nor are they terribly hard to learn. Like all skills, however, they are not innate. They must be taught and learned, and the time to do so is before you need them.
To help you out, we have compiled a list of the skills all high school students should have before moving into housing and living on their own for the first time. Here are those skills, and notes on why they are necessary:
Cooking. You don’t need to be a gourmand, nor a trained chef, but you should understand the basics of nutrition, and be able to move around a kitchen without getting stabbed or burned. Being able to boil water for pasta or cook an egg will take you a long way. Don’t be like the guy I met who we all thought would get scurvy; he tried to live off mac and cheese and instant ramen for a month. Yes, you will be able to take advantage of the dining halls, but if you want to move off campus (as many students do), there is cooking in your future.
Laundry. Clothes are worn, then they are washed. This is not a terribly complex process, but you still need to learn how to do it. How often you need to do it depends on how many clothes you brought to college. Sure you can rewear that shirt again, but people will know. Just wash it.
Cleaning. There is nothing that will teach you the concept of the tragedy of the commons faster than sharing a kitchen. Being able to clean up after yourself, from washing the dishes to cleaning a toilet, will prevent you from living in filth. How much cleaning happens varies room to room; I knew one suite with a chart for each week of who did what, and another which never cleaned throughout the entire year save for emergencies. It is up to you and your roommates to create a workable and livable framework for your room, but you need to do your part by having an understanding of how to wash a dish or turn a vacuum cleaner on.
Scheduling. When you are living on your own, there is nobody to wake you up, or make sure you go to class, or to remind you to do your homework. Depending on your high school experience, this may be something you are broadly familiar with, or a monumental shift. The amount of personal responsibility needed to succeed in college is high. Your professors often won’t even take attendance; if you miss class, or a test, that’s your choice, and your responsibility to deal with. Learning to manage your own time, and set your own schedule, is key.
Final Thoughts
Living on your own for the first time is exciting and new, and perhaps a bit nerve-wracking. This is an experience students have been going through for generations, and will continue to do for the foreseeable future. There will be unforeseen hiccups, and issues you did not think to prepare for, but knowing what you are expected to do, and having a plan to do it, will go a long way to making sure you have a smooth experience in college.
We hope that this article has given you a good understanding of what living in a dorm will entail, and what you should do to make sure you’re ready for it, whether you’re headed off to college or preparing for your first summer program on a college campus. Of course, the first and hardest step is getting into college in the first place. For advice on that, or any aspect of the admissions process, schedule a free consultation today. We have a long experience helping students get into the best college for them, and we’re always happy to hear from you.
