By Lauren Kate Drewry
At the end of my senior year of high school, my roommate and I were faced with the life-changing, dreaded, END OF THE WORLD QUESTION: What kind of dorm should we live in? While we talked it over with each other, we finally decided we wanted to live in a contemporary dorm. Okay. I know what you’re thinking. What’s the difference? There are actually many pros and cons to living in a traditional or a contemporary dorm, but both still make for a great Freshman year experience.
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One of the main reasons we chose a contemporary dorm was that they have their own bathrooms. We are both kind of private people who aren’t big on sharing things, like a bathroom, that are very personal to us with strangers. Of course, public bathrooms are fine, but a bathroom that you have to walk to just to brush your teeth in the morning with 30 other girls was not our scene. Another reason we chose to live in a contemporary dorm was the size of the room. We agreed that we would like to have as much space as possible to ourselves, although either way living in one room with someone is going to be a big change.
One main thing that we feel like we are missing out on by living in a contemporary dorm is the social scene. In the traditional dorms, there are a lot more girls on one hall, and they all have to share a bathroom. These girls seem to make friends on their hall a lot quicker. Also, many girls that live in the traditional dorms go greek, so there will be a lot of girls in the same sorority on their hall. There is still a lot of socialization in contemporary dorms, but just at a smaller scale than the traditional dorms. A lot of girls in my hall went greek, but there are very few in the same sorority as my roommate and I.
A lot of girls have said living in a traditional dorm is like one giant sleepover every night. Many girls leave their doors open for friends to come in and out at any time. Contemporary dorms are a little more private and a lot quieter. It is all a matter of deciding where you think you fit be most comfortable and happy, but either way, you will get the best Freshman college experience.