My Experience Living In A Sorority Room With 6 Girls

Six people. Three bunk beds. One room. That is my life living in Gamma Phi Beta sorority. I joined Gamma Phi Beta my second year of college and decided that this year, for my third year at UCLA, I was going to live in the sorority house. However, due to my involvement in so many things before joining, I was not very involved in Gamma Phi and did not know as many people as I would have liked to. So, I opted to live in one of the two “porches” – 6 girl rooms – where I could be exposed to the most people. Not only was I living with so many people, but I was the only third year among my second year roommates. Initially, the whole idea could seem a bit daunting but, as I have been discovering over these past few weeks, it is an incredibly pleasant surprise that I would not trade for anything else. 

The first question I get when I tell people about my living situation is about how much space and privacy I have in my room. Considering I can stand straight up on my top bunk and not even reach the ceiling should give some perspective on the room size. On top of height, the room also has a very open center floor space that has served as a “hang out” spot for Gamma Phis living in and out of the room for years. Everyone also has their own closet and share a huge amount of wall space that could be even larger (though it would be unnecessarily so) if not for the four large windows that allow natural light to leak through in the day. The porches of Gamma Phi serve as a staple for the sorority and I am proud to live in such an iconic room.

In terms of privacy, it can be difficult to find a moment alone in my own room. There is typically always someone in there and, at many times, there are even more people in the room than the amount of people that actually live in it. However, considering my room is just one room in a house that includes a study space, a basement, living rooms and a dining room, I can always find a space for a moment alone. Do I wish I could be alone in my own room sometimes? Sure, but, in all honesty, I kind of miss when everyone else is not there.

Six people living in the room means that I have five roommates, all of whom are a year younger than myself. This was actually one of my main concerns when moving into the house. I worried, and I still sometimes do, that I would come off as the “old person” or as the “outsider” in comparison to my other roommates. I thought that because of my age difference, though small, I would be left out by my roommates who might be under the assumption that, because I was older, I already had my own friends and was merely taking up residency in the same room as them. Having that fear initially, I laid low and avoided any sort of rejection. I tried to act confident, cool, collected and unaffected. I thought that if they viewed me as the cooler older girl, they might be more inclined to want to be closer to me. However, I dropped that whole act within minutes after realizing how ridiculous the whole idea was. I am not “that girl” and I never will be. The second I owned that, I found that my roommates had the potential to be so much more than my roommates, they could be some of my lifelong friends (sorry if your lactose intolerant, I know that was cheesy). I still do have some pull as the older girl in the room. I give advice about second year, internships, relationships and anything that I wish I had as a second year. I don’t do it as a “flex” but as a favor for some friends who I wish nothing but the best for. In exchange, they keep me young (and by “young” I mean 19 instead of 20).

I do not know what I expected when moving into the six girl room. To be honest, I did not put much thought into it before I actually got there. The possible anxieties and struggles of it all are only now beginning to surface in my mind. I do not doubt that I’ll uncover more annoyances and problems with my living situation in the future, but I also have no doubt that all of those little things will fail to compare to all the great things that will also come to the surface.

• college
• friends
• Gamma Phi Beta
• greek
• house
• living
• roommates
• sisters
• sorority