There are quite a few decisions that students must make when they decide to go away to college. Of course, there is the decision of which college to go to in the first place. Then they must decide what course of study they would like to pursue, which is a whole other can of worms. After that, students must decide where they want to live and, finally, with whom they would like to live.

Most students enrolled in their freshman year of college will choose to live in a dormitory. A dormitory is basically a large structure on campus where students live, usually two to a room. In most cases people are randomly assigned to each other as roommates, which is a source of anxiety for a lot of students. What if you get assigned to a roommate you do not like? What if you have nothing in common? Even worse, what if you just hate each other? An option which is far more attractive to a lot of people is picking your own roommate.

Most schools do no guarantee that you will actually be able to live with the person you choose, but it is still something a lot of students pursue because that way they can avoid the possibility of trouble with a randomly selected roommate. However, even though one choice might seem like a clear winner, there are definitely advantages and disadvantages to each choice. So the question remains–who should you choose to live with your first year of college?

Deciding who you want to live with when you are in your first year of college can be just plain tricky. Attending college for most people means moving to a new city and living away from your parents for the first time, so often students have an impulse to try to live with someone they already know. It might not seems like it, but this is usually a mistake, for two reasons. On the one hand, there is a big difference between being someone\’s friend and living with that person. Very often people who choose to live with friends have a rude awakening about that person shortly after making that decision. You will probably start to irritate each other in one way or another, and it will be hard to talk about it because you do not want to impact the friendship.

It might sound like an exaggeration, but many friends who choose to live together are not such good friends by the time they leave school. Another reason that living with a friend can be a bad idea is that college is all about expanding your horizons. If you live with a new person, you will be more likely to meet more people and make more friends, whereas sticking just with your existing circle of friends will probably mean just that–you will not meet many new people.

College is a whole new experience. You should get off on the right foot by taking a step toward the unknown, instead of sticking with what is familiar and comfortable. You\’ll be glad you did.

Author Bio: Susan Appleby writes often about school, education, and test preparation. She also likes to get the word out about the SAT course that she really believes in. Susan has other interests as well, outside of test prep and education, and she enjoys writing about those.

Category: Advice
Keywords: college dorm,college experience,university,school,education,dormitory