Coed Dorm Rooms

[yolland]

this would have made an interesting discussion back in the 50s

Perhaps where you live, but the fact that only 20 colleges in the entire US even offer this option suggests otherwise.

And I agree with redhotswami about comparing dorms to apartments or shared houses...in the US at least, a fairly typical college dorm room for 2 people consists of one room, with a bunkbed, a washbasin, two desks, a chest-of-drawers, and that's it. Pretty much zero privacy, and no personal space to speak of. That's a very different sort of situation from the average off-campus apartment. Now maybe all the colleges that offer this option provide two-bedroom dorm rooms for the students who choose it, but I don't know. If so, then I'm surprised more students don't spring for it lol, because you'd effectively be getting preferential placement if that's the case.

I lived in a mixed-sex rental house as a grad student and certainly had no problems with that, nor am I personally opposed to coed dorm rooms, however, I'm not surprised that so few colleges offer them at this point. A lot of students where I went to college had great difficulty adjusting to the lack of privacy in sharing a bedroom with anyone, because they'd never had to do it at home. And I don't just mean where sex was concerned.

 

[Liesje]

A lot of students where I went to college had great difficulty adjusting to the lack of privacy in sharing a bedroom with anyone, because they'd never had to do it at home. And I don't just mean where sex was concerned.

Yeah I gotta say I was NOT prepared for the drama that began to unfold the second I moved into my dorm! Living in the dorm cell was actually the first time since I was 4 that I had my own bed. Like yolland said we had bunk beds and also shared a bathroom as suites, so 4 girls per bathroom. When I lived at home I shared a bedroom and bed with my little sister since...forever. The dorm cell was a step up for me, but there were a lot of girls at each other's throats! Luckily, Ellen and I are both into routines and schedules, so we never had fights for the shower and usually went to sleep at the same time.

 

[shart1780]

I wouldn't do it. I don't really like the idea of accidentally butting into a girl's more private issues. Heh heh.

And vice versa of course.

 

[Mr. Green Eyes]

I have been going to boarding school since freshman year, and I now a senior. I have had some bad experiences with roommates. My freshman roommate was a jerk, he would lock me in the room with me still in it. I had a total of three roomamtes for shophmore year, the first last 3 months, then he wanted to room with his friend, the second lasted 2 days, he got caught using crack, and I had to move into the third's room;witch was smaller then mine, and he last until the middle of May. My junior year was good, I kept that roommate for this year to.

But about the orginal question, I don't know. I think it all depends on what the people think about being in a room with the opposite gender. Oh and by the way, the rooms are very tiny. There's only room for 2 desks, 2 twin beds, 2 chairs, and 2 little dressers. Oh, and sometimes 2 little closets. And there's no room for anything, you can't even put up posters without them falling down on your faces while sleep. That's something nice to wake up to, Kramer literally in your face. Anyway that's about it, but the good thing about going to boarding school is that it prepares you for college, the whole leaving home, and being on your own kind of thing.

 

[verte76]

My mom freaked out when she found out that I was living on the same floor as boys

What, does she think we all just have wild orgies?

The closest thing I've come to this is sharing a dorm-type living arrangement at medieval re-enactment society meetings. We have men and women sleeping in the same room, and, needless to say, some of the married couples--hell, some of the couples who aren't even married--get it on. Yes, folks, this goes on in archconservative Alabama.

 

[U2Girl416]

I'm used to co-ed dorms in general, as every one I lived in through college was that way. And that was pretty fun. We were just separated by the ends of the hallways. Girls on one end, guys on the opposite. But co-ed rooms...that's interesting. I think it could be great but it could also be weird. I had a female roommate for my first 2 years, then lived in a suite with 4 other girls one year, then a townhouse with 3 others another year. My last year I had a single room. The only time I lived with guys was for one semester in a house off campus, and there were 2 girls and 2 guys. But not that close proximity and I had my own room. Personally, I think I would miss some female bonding if I shared a dorm room with a guy, no matter how cool my guy friends are.

 

[A_Wanderer]

On field trips we cabins and bunks were mixed and short of leaving the toilet seat up and a few consensual occurances it didn't seem problematic. Of course there is a big difference between a fortnight and a year.

 

[Liesje]

Oh and by the way, the rooms are very tiny. There's only room for 2 desks, 2 twin beds, 2 chairs, and 2 little dressers. Oh, and sometimes 2 little closets. And there's no room for anything, you can't even put up posters without them falling down on your faces while sleep.

Yeah, ours too. There was this closet, which wasn't really a closet but a bar for hanging clothes and a shelf (no door, not very deep, just along the wall) and most people did not keep their little dressers in there and therefore you have no choice but to stack both beds on top of both dressers in order to have room. My roommate and I didn't have much clothes so we kept our dressers in the "closet" and made an L bunk with our beds and some extra shelving units. The room was so small there wasn't even enough room to lay on the floor and do sit-ups. My freshman year, three girls upstairs made a triple bunk bed. The girl on top fell one night and suffered massive head trauma. She was in the hospital for months.

 

[anitram]

Wow that's terrible.

But I think things are changing with respect to dorms these days. It seems to me they are building more suite-style residences than anything (usually 4 bedrooms sharing a kitchen and living area) and frankly not that many people are into sharing bedrooms. I sure as hell wasn't going to go to school where I'd have to have a roommate, and I'm finding that more and more universities are realizing that people have a need for privacy.

 

[Liesje]

Yeah we had suites, but all that meant was a tiny bathroom between two rooms. We were allowed to "power suite" which means we can put all four beds in one room and use the other room for something else. Each floor had a tiny lounge with like two tables, a sink, a fridge, and a tiny stove. The basements have larger lounge/study areas, a small computer lab, a music room, and a laundry room on each side.

Our school also has apartment buildings, but those are two bedrooms, one for two people and one for three people, a slightly larger bathroom, a living area, and a small kitchen area (no dishwasher or microwave).

There's no space left or money for people to get their own rooms. On-campus housing is already 2-3 times MORE expensive than renting a room in a college house or crappy apartment.

Luckily, I never had any problems since just having my own bed was more personal privacy than I'd ever had before (I shared a double bed w/ my sis since we were little), but I could never live in one of those cells with a guy, even my own husband!

 

[anitram]

But you went to a school that forced you into rez for a year or two, right? Most schools don't do that, and I actually don't believe any university in Canada does. Therefore, there are less students to accomodate which usually means they can afford to build really nice, new facilities with more space. I actually knew very few people who were even in dorms and even less who shared a bedroom.

 

[Liesje]

But you went to a school that forced you into rez for a year or two, right? Most schools don't do that, and I actually don't believe any university in Canada does. Therefore, there are less students to accomodate which usually means they can afford to build really nice, new facilities with more space. I actually knew very few people who were even in dorms and even less who shared a bedroom.

Yes, the first two years are required unless:

1) You're living at home (with parents)

2) You're over 21 (I guess in Canada you have an extra year of HS so most of our Canadian students only do one year on-campus b/c then they are 21)

Many kids are still 17 (minors) when they start college here, plus it's a private school so they have to monitor our behavior to the extent that the big name donors will start pulling out if houses full of 17 year old freshmen are constantly getting busted by the police for parties. Also, our drinking age here is 21 and I think that's a big factor. For a public school, if a kid gets busted for drinking underage it's not that big of a deal but for us, the old money gets pissed and there goes our scholarships and grants for better technology, etc. There have also been tons of instances where kids are getting in trouble for breaking zoning laws. In city limits, you cannot have more than four unrelated persons in a single household. About 2/3 of the college houses I know of are breaking this rule, it's just a matter of the police finding out. There have been tons of good kids who got kicked out with nowhere to live b/c of the zoning law, so the school tries to avoid this by having other options and catching us before it happens. Now, in our side of the duplex we had five girls, one that lived in a "bedroom" without a C.O (no windows), but we were careful and only had three cars for five people so no one found out.

I'm really glad I lived on-campus my first two years. It helped make a lot of new friends and learn to put up with a lot of shit, so things went really smoothly once I moved off in June of 2004. Plus, it's really nice to have the convenience of being so close to all the academic buildings. I think you can try and get a room all to yourself, but it depends on if they have enough rooms once all the new kids are enrolled. The RAs always get their own room and get to chose their suite mates.

 

[anitram]

No, we have the same high school (4 yrs) as you. In the past Ontario had 5, but I think the other provinces didn't. And our drinking age is 19 (18 in Quebec), so you're right that makes a difference.

 

[Liesje]

Ah, that would do it then, the difference for Ontario. That's where a large chunk of our student body is from, the majority of our Canadian students.