Need advice

[AshiSMU]

Hey guys,


I will be attending SMU for Fall 04 :D . This will be my first time to ever dorm at a University....I am really confused about getting a roommate or a single room by myself.... To the students who have shared their dorms with a roommate, can you guys please give me some of the advantages and disadvantages of having a roommate?...Can you guys also share your actual experinces(good or bad) with your past roommates? Any advice will greatly be appreciated :P

Thank you :D

[AmericanIMG]

splitting a room have its advantages and disadvantages. on the positive side you will have someone to study with, someone who is in your same situation and someone who will force you to increase your people skills
(something which many actually need badly). your roomate might also get a car, which would end up being invaluable to you :wink: also your housing will be alot cheaper and you probably will be able to stave off homsickness a little bit more (having a room to yourself can be tough if you are one of those people that get lonely). now the negatives...of which there are unfortunately many. you can end up with a bad roomate that parties all the time and makes noise until the wee hours of the morning. you can end up with one that is horribly dirty and messy (a big problem because there will be only one bathroom between the both of you). you can end up with a roomate who is totally irresponsible and just wants to watch TV all the time...the list goes on and on.
my personal advice? go with a roomate...i know that this seems odd with all the negatives that i just told you, but having a roomate if you have never had one will really increase your people skills, which is a definite necessity in the world of healthcare. you will have to work with your roomate to get things done, which sometimes you may not like, but in the end will make you a stronger person. as for a roomate that makes noise and run around and stuff, you can always study in the upstairs quiet room or in the library. if your roomate is super messy, its ok, just get the more expensive double (if totally sections off the room into two little compartments...very cozy). your roomate wants to watch tV alot? buy her some headphones :wink: . you can get around nearly every problem and you have an opportunity to meet someone in your same boat that you will be forced to stay close to for at least a semester. plus, having a roomate will force you to open up, if you are a quiet, reclusive type that just studies and doesnt interact with people...which i think is the most beneficial aspect of splitting a room.
as for my experiences...i think i have had the worlds worst roomate, the worlds quietest roomate and the worlds best roomate. my freshman year in college my roomate was horrible. he would come in late every night (3-4am) and wake me up (his classes were all after 2pm, mine started everyday before 8am), he was horribly horribly messy (one time he lost a half eaten cup of chocolate pudding...for a month! when we found it we thought it was a small tennis ball...) and he loved blasting his music all the time. how did i live with this guy? simple - i used my bed for what is was supposed to be used for - sleeping. i studied at the library and kept my side of the room clean...when his coming in late became a big problem i sat down and talked to him about it and he apologized and was quiet when he came in from then on...though he seemed like a total tool he was actually a good guy, and we made it through the year without killing each other. the best part was that no matter what problems arose we worked it out, and i learned to communicate and adjust myself to work with another person. as for my quietest roomate i swear i went through a whole year talking to the guy maybe 3x (not counting when we had to pay bills). the whole year was basically me living by myself...which can be tough if you are in another country or are not stong enough to handle it. as for the best roomate...the guy was clean, was thoughtful of my schedule and we used to hang out all the time. he helped me with those ridiculously bad University of California finals weeks, respected my space and was open about any issues he had. we became great friends, and we helped push each other when we wanted to slack off.
though u never know what type of roomate you will get in the end, whether they are a good one or a bad one they will force you to interact with someone in a way that you never have before...take a shot and see how it ends up, you never know if you can find a good friend out of it, or what you will take out of it in the long run. plus...if they are a crappy roomate its only one semester :P
good luck!!!