At Grockit, we’re all about education and getting you ready to move on to the next stage in your life. But we’re not just teachers; we’re all former and/or current students, too, and we’ve got more than just test preparation tips to share with you! There’s no avoiding the fact that you’ll make mistakes in college—just like you will in other parts of your life. But that’s no reason to go in blind. Here are the five things I wish someone had told me about housing when I started college. Or maybe someone actually did tell me, and I just didn’t listen; that’s totally possible. But hopefully you can learn from some of the things I did wrong and at least make some different mistakes.
1. If you have the opportunity, live in the dorms for your first year. Being a freshman is really overwhelming, and I can’t imagine how I would have managed to stay on top of all the changes in my life if I’d had to worry about making sure the electric bill got paid on time and cooking my own food. Besides, living in a dorm allows you to get to know a much wider variety of people than you would meet otherwise; that broader perspective is invaluable to your intellectual growth.
2. Often, you have to choose between living in a “party” environment and living in a “study” environment. When faced with that choice, no matter how fun-loving you are, there’s a lot to be said for the “study” environment. You can always go somewhere else to party, and you’ll be glad to have a quiet place to come home to.
3. Most people find themselves in cramped living quarters in college, and the best way to prepare for that is to get organized. Even if you’re a lifelong slob, you’ll make your transition to college life much smoother if you take a trip to the Container Store to stock up on clear plastic storage bins for everything from toiletries to extra blankets. Your roommate will thank you for the preemptive efforts at tidiness.
4. Find a home away from home. There are going to be times when your living situation—whether that’s a dorm, an apartment, or a co-op—feels intolerable. That’s one of the unfortunate side effects of living in cramped quarters with lots of people. You’ll be much better at coping with it if you can escape to a coffee shop, a quiet corner of the library stacks, or your fraternity/sorority house.
5. Becoming best friends with your roommate is amazing if it happens, but becoming roommates with your best friend is generally not. You may have known and loved your buddy since the second grade, but that friendship might not survive the fights about dirty dishes, mismatched sleep schedules, and loud music that plague many college roommates. Live with a stranger; you’ll get to know someone new, and you’ll have nothing to lose if you end up being nothing more than polite acquaintances.
What do you wish you’d known in the past about housing, that you know now? Share it in the comments!
About Grockit: Grockit is a fun and engaging learning community that encourages students to learn from group study, game play, expert tutorials and solo study. Students that prepare with Grockit have proven to achieve higher scores on college admissions tests.
About the author: Andrea Alexander is a current graduate student in the School of Information at the University of Michigan. She's been teaching test prep for about eight years and have picked up lots of helpful knowledge along the way. She specializes in the verbal aspects of test prep, since her education and career experience as an attorney, freelance writer, and editor have given her the background for that.
Yeah, college life and housing, especially when you're still just a freshman, can be a bit shocking and really hectic. It's something that you get used to with experience, like riding a car. You can prepare by studying about it, but you wouldn't get the genuine feel of it unless you try it sooner or later.
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