There are a lot of extra headaches with an apartment you don't want to deal with while also trying to actually go to school...
BNe careful about putting "Size/Quality of Room(s)" too high on yorur priority list. Remember your job is to go to school, so if you have to deal with a smaller room for a few years to do a better job etc then you should.
Posts: 409 | Registered: Apr 2002
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If you're just starting college, definitely a dorm. It's not just about all the things you mentioned above, but it's also where the social pulse of early college life is. Where I went to college, juniors usually left the dorms and moved out (I did), but by then a lot had changed. In the meantime, let me address each of these poitns:
Security -- six of one, half dozen of the other
Price -- Depends. All you can do on this is price check. I can tell you that the house I rented when I moved off campus was dirt cheap, but that's because I split the cost with 3 other girls. Wow, that place was dirt cheap...four of us split the $400 a month cost! But I had to go to the dorms to meet these girlfriends first.
Size/Quality of Room(s) -- student housing sucks regardless of whether it is in a dorm or off-campus apartment.
Time to transport to College -- This is where the dorm is solidly in the lead.
Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
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Security is likely better in the dorms. Price is likely higher in the dormsbut you do get a lot of extras such as utilities, meals, academic support, and on campus programming with the dorms. I would think size/quality of room would vary a lot based on the school, the particular dorm you pick and the apartment you are considering. In my experience, an apartment generally offered more space but about the same quality. However, you don't really need a kitchen/dining room if you eat in the cafeteria. There also tend to be lots of common areas for when you would need more room. Certainly there is sufficient room for a college student in the dorms. Time to transport to college is almost certain to be low in the dorms. I really enjoyed living in the dorms. The downside for me was that the price was higher than what I would have payed for an apartment but it was worth it because I never had to worry about cooking. Didn't need a car to get around and had very little space to be responsible for cleaning. It was pretty ideal for my lifestyle at the time.
Posts: 416 | Registered: May 2005
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If you stayed in an apartment, would it be alone, with people you know (and get along with) or with someone unknown?
I stayed in an apartment in my last year of university, but it was very close to the campus, otherwise I would have stayed in the dorm. It cost much more though, but I also had much more space than in the dorms. Security was better than in the campus; dorms are easy targets compared to apartments. But when I did live in the dorms I didn't have anything of value. Even my computer was pretty old.
So: - security: apartment - price: dorm - size/quality of rooms: apartment - transport: dorm (unless the apartment is really close) - company: if you know the people well the apartment can be cool; if you're also close to the campus you can meet others easily; if not, the dorm is better.
Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Christine: If you're just starting college, definitely a dorm.
Good point. I thought he was asking whether to change or not. If he's just starting, staying in a dorm is indeed much better.
Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Just one other note about moving off-campus with friends: Don't necessarily expect to STAY friends after you figure out which of you is content to leave the dishes growing mold on the counter and which of you ends up cleaning it up. Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
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Price will likely be more in a dorm if you have to buy a food plan, but it will be super much easier to eat better when you have food available.
Socially, it's miles better. However, you might have to share a room, especially in your first year. I had a good roommate. Some people have incredibly anti-social people. If they have a questionnaire, I would aim for quieter, sleepier people, because it's easier for you to control your own behavior than trying to control someone else's. That is, if you have to go to bed slightly earlier it's better than having an idiot who won't do the same for you. Imo.
In a dorm, security varies hugely on the room you're in. Is it a walk-in dorm or do you have to sign people in? Is your door often open when you're not in your room (whether it's you or your roommate?). I didn't have anything stolen when I lived in residence.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Christine: Just one other note about moving off-campus with friends: Don't necessarily expect to STAY friends after you figure out which of you is content to leave the dishes growing mold on the counter and which of you ends up cleaning it up.
Very true. I knew the people beforehand and we managed to get along well. Two of us did most of the shopping, the third was cooking. I was the one doing most of the dish washing, the other two did most of the cleaning in the common areas. And we split all the food costs, never bothered to figure out exactly who ate what and how much. That way you don't have to wonder whose stuff is in the fridge, or if you can "borrow" some milk. If it's in there, you can use it. If it's not, go buy some more.
Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Corwin, that works great except when one roommate is a pig or another roommate finishes off the last of the milk in the morning, leaving you with dry cereal for breakfast. CRUNCH.
Posts: 1099 | Registered: Apr 2005
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True, if someone tends to slack then either everyone suffers or the rest of the people have to work more at getting things done. I guess we were lucky to have similar mentalities when it came to getting things done. Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Or if you prefer skim milk, your first roommate is lactose intolerant and drinks no milk, your second roommate drinks whole milk or milk his family brings straight from the cow from their dairy farm, and your third roommate (who is not lactose intolerant) drinks soy milk.
We had similar divisions between meat/vegetable/sweet consumption. It was all very complicated.
Posts: 1711 | Registered: Jun 2004
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We ended up basically just all buying all of our own food. When we shared meals we tended to alternate who paid, and all in all I think everything was fair. We didn't really keep track all that closely, because I think it would have detracted from our studies if we tried to analyze and optimize payments.
It did, however, provide a good opportunity for me to look at dairy consumption and dioxin ingestion for a Human Exposure Analysis class I took. Bottom line: dioxin consumption through everyday eating is not something you should put at the top of your worry list.
Posts: 1711 | Registered: Jun 2004
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