All summer I waited for my freshman year roommate assignment. The excitement built and built leading up to August first when I would receive the name of either my newest best friend or possible worst enemy. The big day finally came and as I sat on the beach of Ocean City Maryland, I loaded the housing page and scrolled through the page to the identity of my first ever roommate... to find I had a single. Yes I am one of the few college freshmen to be randomly assigned a single room. At first I cried. Being one to appreciate rare and new experiences I quickly sucked it up and prepared for a slightly untraditional first year of college. I know you must be filled with questions, so here are some of the biggest pros and cons to a single dorm room. (With "cons" listed first because it is always best to end on a positive note)
Con: No one to get really excited about going college with.
This might seem very freshman girlish, but I did dream of texting my future roommate 24/7 as college approached. I also couldn’t wait to plan our room, we were going to coordinate bed spreads and notebooks, and have a cute rug...and then I got a room built for one...
Pro: You can decorate however you want!
Having a single means there is no other opinion that needs to be taken into account when decorating your room. You can do whatever you want with your space, possibly even more than with your room at home. The space is completely yours and you can set the mood however you want without having to be shot down by another person or cause a complete clash of colors...unless that’s what you are into.
Con: You don’t get an instant friend.
This makes your first few meals tough, I’ll be real. There is no one to roll out of bed and go to breakfast with, no one to be in the room with you during... recovery... Sundays, or gossip with while you lay in bed at night. At times the single life is as lonely as you would expect it.
Pro: You make friends in all different places
Actively looking for friends, because you don’t have someone who is obligated to be nice to you, forces you to talk to all different people all the time. When you have a single, the only way you are going to have people in your room or get invited to go out is if you interact with others. This is a blessing in disguise, because of this I have made friends in different dorms, classes, and grade levels and no can walk around campus and see friendly faces all around.
Con: You have no one to back you up when you want guests to leave.
Of course after you make friends they all want to come over because “what’s a single look like?” and then insist on hanging out. This is great because you aren’t alone but sometimes they stay late. What’s nice about a roommate is that you both can stand together and ask your guests to leave. With a single you have no back up, so when you want people to leave it’s all on you to be the party-pooper...and who wants to be that?
Pro: You can have over whoever you want, whenever you want.
Anytime I show people my room I feel like the star of an "MTV Cribs" episode. Of course the pro to this is that you can have anyone, no matter from home or school, over to your room whenever you want. You have no one to keep up when you have guests over, no roommate to dislike your friends (which could cause potential problems), and no one to be a jerk to and kick out when you want alone time with someone. If this sounds like a bachelor pad to you that’s because it kind of is.
Con: When you run out of snacks there’s no one to mooch off of.
More importantly, when you run out of milk there is no one else who is going to restock it, that all being on me means it is not usually done… you get used to dry cereal faster than you’d think.
Pro: You don’t have to share your food.
Yep, it’s all mine. All the Oreos, all the goldfish, all the food from Mom, all mine. No complaints here.
Con: You have no one to make sure you get up in the morning.
This has recently become a huge problem for me. Two days in a row I woke up ten minutes before my class started which is not the ideal start to a day (side note: made it on time both days, nbd). Having a roommate would be nice because either your classes will start at the same time and you can motivate each other to get up or there will be someone who knows when you should be up and check on you.
Pro: There is no one disturbing your sleep.
(If your neighbors are noisy then this is invalid of course…) There is no one waking you up at ungodly hours or keeping you up at night. You are also left alone during nap times, something I know I couldn’t get at home. Anytime you want some peace and quiet you just have to go in your room and close the door, most college kids would kill for such solitude.
Con: You have no one to annoy when you don’t clean up your stuff.
As my real life dorm room pictured above proves...Yes, this is a con. No roommate means no one you feel obligated to keep your room cleaned for, which for me means complete mess. *To potential future roommates, I super-duper promise with a cherry on top that I will keep my half of the room clean!*
Pro: No roommate to junk up your room
Yes my room is a mess, but at least it’s my mess. Enough said.
I could easily go for days talking about the roommate life vs. the single life, but all-in-all I can’t change what I was given, and if given the chance I wouldn’t.
