College and University Blog
The Disadvantages to Living in a Coed Dorm
Despite the obvious excitement of living away from home and amongst a whole new crowd of people—of both genders—to meet while away at school, sometimes such a set up is not its cracked up to be, especially for those people who aren’t used to it. Yet, at most, if not all, universities, freshmen and sophomores are required to live on campus until their third year, and coed dormitories are now the norm, which means that these poor luckless souls who move in and find that they don’t care for it have to, quite simply, live with it. Hopefully, the advantages will allow these students to gain something worthwhile from the experience despite the drawbacks.
Among the disadvantages of living in a coed dorm are: the obvious lack of privacy; loud and disruptive noises; curfews; sometimes poor quality cafeteria food; undesirable or unpleasant roommates or floor mates; thievery and destruction of private property; other severe crimes, such as rape; and, quite often, the oh-so ever dramatic engagement of gossip. These are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to such dislikes in a coed dorm that is packed with wall-to-wall strangers, but they are, indeed, the most common. Readers who have gone to college can definitely relate, and those who are planning on attending college are duly forewarned.
Loud and disruptive noises are a given with undergraduate dormitories. Young students away from home for the very first time can’t help but getting wild and whooping it up. They haven’t yet learned courtesy. Perhaps they don’t care. Still, for those who are serious and want absolute quiet, a radio blasting incessantly from across the hall late at night every night is definitely not something to tolerate.
Many university dorms have curfews for their young students. This restriction might be for the sake of maintaining a certain degree of control, but it is contradictory treatment to those who are, by law, adults and entitled to treatment as adults (even if they might not act as such much of the time). Further, this regulation is extremely unfair to some older freshmen or sophomores who have been around for a while and are used to coming and going as they please. Curfews are just as irrational as they are annoying.
Poor quality food has been a staple of many college dorms over the years. In recent times, however, food quality has become better, but the stigma will always remain. Luckily, students are able to leave the dorm and eat elsewhere, though they are likely to spend more for better meals.
Ah, the icky roommate that gets on one’s nerves can be a travesty beyond all description. Unfortunately, in packed dorms, one isn’t always able to move away from them and therefore have to put up with them. Likewise, irritating floor mates are quite often unavoidable as well.
Another uncalled-for reality that thrives in community housing is thievery and other forms of infringements in one’s space, such as destruction of private property. Living among strangers can increase the chances of having a belonging stolen or destroy by another, and the sheer number of people around makes discovering the culprit(s) virtually, sometimes literally, impossible.
Rape, too, along with other forms of physical abuse are an ugly reality of living with the whole mass of humanity. This situation can expose one to dangers day and night.
Drama is inevitable, and a part of that being gossip. People like to stick their noses into other’s business and then talk. Complaining about this to the dormitory RAs or higher-ups usually does very little good, since human nature cannot be deterred; as intolerable as it is, such behavior is, alas, unavoidable, unless one keeps to her- or himself, which is very hard to do in a dormitory.
No doubt that there are far more disadvantages to add to this list. Readers are encouraged to share their experiences, if they have any, and those without experience are welcome to share their thoughts, too.