dorm vs apartment - opinions?

In My Humble Opinion
1

After several months of nail-biting, I’ve just received an acceptance letter from the University of Chicago (MA in Humanities). Very exciting for me, and not just for the obvious reasons - it’s been ten years since I moved here, and I cannot wait to wipe the dust of Seoul off my feet. Never really forgiven my parents for making me move here in the middle of my most traumatic (i.e., puberty) years.

Anyway, I was considering housing options. Initially I was considering moving into the International House, which is basically a dorm. However, I was told by my American friends that only dorky grad students live in dorms. :dubious: The student apartments at UChicago are reasonably priced and seem to be nice enough, but I’m paranoid that I’ll never make any friends if I live in my own apartment. The MA program is only a year, so there’s no option of living my first year in a dorm and moving out later.

I’ve never lived in a dorm (my college was an hour away from home). Is it impossible to get any sleep and/or studying done in the dorms, as American TV dramas seem to imply? Is it true that only dorky grad students live in dorms, and cool ones have their own apartment?

2

well, it depends on you.
if you’re the type that makes friends very easily, then you may wanna do the apartment thing.

dorm life isn’t THAT odd…especially if you’re living around fellow grad students. it might get a bit noisy the friday before a break in classes or such.

i’d take the dorms, personally. less responsibility on your part.

3

All of the factors you mention seem to vary widely based on location. Someone who has experience with your particular situation would be ideal, but you know that.

Getting an apartment on one’s own can be expensive and lonely. Sometimes very expensive, and very lonely.

Grad dorms can be dorky, but there’s not a lot wrong with that. You could be the studious, yet socially-minded element in the dorm. I was “that guy” when a friend of mine got an apartment with a few of his flight-team buddies. They were really by-the-book, but they are appreciative of the experiences years later.

Either way, it’s only a year right?

4

Actually grad dorms are fine. You’ll be close to campus and if there’s a meal plan available you don’t have to worry about preparing meals. You’re going to be plenty busy in your grad program. You will learn more in that first year than you ever did as an undergrad. So living in the dorms will probably mean less stress from finance and upkeep. If things get noisy at the dorm, go study in the library or at your department facilities. After a year, move out to an apartment. Just my opinion.

5

When I was in grad school, I lived in a dorm for the first year, and an apartment after that. It worked well, since I made lots of friends outside my department (most of whom moved into apartments also) and it let me have time to find a good one.

6

Is there some kind of lease, or contract on the dorm, or can you move out at any time if it’s not working out?

I’d take the dorm, simply because if it doesn’t work out it may be easier to leave, as most apartments require leases.

Also, if your dorm-mates do act up, you can report them to the college, whereas, if your neighbours act up in an apartment, your only recourse is the police or their landlord- and it might not work out as neatly.

Think about whether you’d mind coming home to an empty apartment, always having to do all the cleaning/shopping/cooking, and alternatively, whether you could handle coming home to other people’s mess, noise, guests.

It’s not about generalities, it’s about what would suit you as an individual.

7

True, true. I just wanted some idea of dorm life, as I’ve never lived in a dorm myself. I’m pretty flexible and don’t mind living with other people as long as I have my own space amid the chaos. I was just wondering if American dorm life was as exciting as the movies make it out to be. Also, I was curious as to whether the “dorms are for dorks” mentality was a common one.

Funnily enough, my friends mentioned D&D geeks as an example of such dorks.

  • Hazel, who was a D&D geek in her freshman year
8

Dorky people live in apartments and dorms. I lived in a regular dorm my first year of college and moved into a campus dorm/apartment the next two years. I definitely enjoyed the dorm/apartment more than the regular dormitory. It was less cramped and I had room to entertain friends. Plus, it was still on-campus and we had a great hall association, which meant there was always an option for socializing.

The regular dorm was cramped and I shared a bathroom with three or four other dudes. The space issue isn’t bad if you clearly define each person’s area on the front end. Another advantage of the dorm is that you only have to clean your little area. Someone else is taking care of the bathroom, the t.p., the shower, etc. Just get a broom or a little hand-vacuum for your space and you’re set!

And, for the record, I very rarely experienced what I would call ‘chaos’ in the dorm or the apartments. There was one time (just once!) that an inebriated freshman wandered into our dorm room from across the hall and decided to sit and hang out for a while. There was sometimes racket/loud music/general ruckus, but nothing terrible.

It will probably come down to the kind of roommate you get (if you get one at all). If you have a night-owl who plays annoying eurotrash-techno music all the time, or someone who decides to have their anime-obsessed friends over constantly (speaking terrible Japanese, giggling frequently in high registers, making random and disgusting microwave food, leaving their unwashed purple hair on the floor, or bragging about how much they shelled out for faux Japanese swords), it can be a pain. Someone who actually studies and can hold a conversation is an excellent roommate.

If the dorm has a meal plan, go for it. If you crave independence, go apartment. Generally, you’ll have less hassle in the dorm. And it won’t be much like the t.v. says.

9

Another vote for the graduate dorm. You get the best of both worlds.

10

I would recommend you live in the dorm, at least for your first semester or two. I LOVED living in my dorm (other than the heater and air conditioner never working properly – YMMV), it really helped me get involved in the college community and meet new friends. When you commute, which I’ve also done, college feels more like a job and less like an experience. For what it’s worth, I’ve never heard anything about dorm-dwellers being dorky, but why do you care what some dumb people may or may not say, anyhow?

I lived in an all-female Honors dorm, very quiet and safe, no loud parties, no boys allowed in the dorm at all, so you could study with no problem. Granted, I went to a school deep in the heart of the conservative South, so U of Chicago will probably have other options as far as co-ed or party dorms. Living in an all-female dorm wasn’t the fantasy men think, though – no, we didn’t bathe one another or have pillow fights in our underwear. I made a lot of good friends though, some of whom I’m still in touch with years later.

11

I say live in dorm or in a private (not University) apartment with roommates. You would still have your own room for private study time but have a few buds to hang with and make connections through.

I signed up for housing long-distance and the University assigned me an apartment. It was easier to have it all set up when I got there, but it was more expensive to live on my own, and lonelier. Definitely if you go the Uni housing route just get a studio or efficiency. The one-bedrooms I got assigned were huge for one person.

And congratulations!

12

Congrats, HazelNutCoffee! I went to UChicago for undergrad, and the dorms were wonderful. I stayed in them all four years. (Shoreland and Blackstone, if you’re curious.) I’m not quite as sure about the grad student dorms, but I know that the people who live in International House seem to love it. Since you’re moving from so far away and won’t know anyone (I assume), the dorms are also a great way to meet people. In my experience, a whole lot of dorks live in apartments too. It’s a pretty dorky school. If you do get an apartment, there is a huge possibility that you will be extremely isolated, unless you’re really proactive.

Best wishes, and enjoy Chicago…I miss it all the time!

13

Your mileage is probably going to vary, but I found that I liked apartment life a lot better than a dorm.

No need to sign in guests and deal with security guards (some of whom made rude comments about my male guests) exists in an apartment building, or to get permission to have said guest stay over night if I so wished.

There was also the fact that I didn’t have to share a bathroom with 30 people in an apartment - sure the dorm bathrooms were cleaned by someone else, but they were terribly disgusting in between those cleanings. Something about having to shower with my flip flops on and being grossed out by touching the shower curtain because of all the nasty stuff living on it bothered me. Some other stuff that doesn’t apply to you bugged me about the dorms, like not being able to have my pistol there (I’m a pretty avid target shooter and often took classes n stuff), and all that ‘we have to make it safe’ security was a big pain in the ass to me. Having to wait for a guard to look away from the TV to buzz the door open after I had already swiped my card and verified that I lived there was a bit much, especially considering that even with all this top-notch security, some homeless guy got in and was found in the shower on my floor with all his clothes on.

The dorm rooms at Pitt were very cramped, and barely had enough room for a bed, chair, dresser and desk. They were also noisy, prone to 3 am fire alarms, dingy and poorly lit for any kind of studying unless you had your own lamp. Can’t speak for the dorms at U Chicago, but I recommend checking out any place you’re going to live. Go into it, see it, make sure it’s not going to be uncomfortable (dorm or apartment).

Also, I wasn’t a big fan of the ‘residence life’ kind of things where the RA wanted everybody on the floor to be friends and go to dinner together and stuff. You might be into that, your RA might do that or might not, it varies. For someone who values a lot of personal space, dorms can be rough.

Others have mentioned the down sides to apartments, like having to clean and cook for yourself and dealing with neighbors and landlords.

Just consider what kind of environment you want, and then go looking for an option that offers it, dorm, campus/university apartment, or off-campus apartment.

14

I don’t know about Chicago, but I can’t imagine living in a dorm as a grad student where I went to school. The dorms I lived in (for two years) was filled with 18-20 year olds, many of whom were revelling in their new-found independence. It was a great experience when I was 18, but got tiresome after a couple of years. I’d much rather live in an apartment, alone or with a small number of roommates.

If there are dorms set aside for grad students only, it would probably be a different experience.

15

I lived in a grad dorm. It was just like a furnished apartment. It was a three bedroom. Each person had their own room and we shared a bathroom. The nice part was that you didn’t have to worry about utilities. You could get a meal plan but most people cooked for themselves. It was also much more convenient to classes.

16

I found that it’s much easier to meet people and to get involved if you’re on campus. However, dorms can be much lower in quality than apartments in the area (although you do have to watch out for crappy apartments around colleges/universities too). If you can get to Chicago to check out the dorms and apartments, see how nice they look, what kind of condition the appliances are in (if they’re on-campus apartments instead of dorm rooms), things like that.

I found it very hard to meet people in grad school living off campus. However, I loved my apartment and having my own space. So it depends on what’s important to you - social life or privacy/having your own space.

17

My impression of grad dorms at Chicago is that they are much like brujo describes. Grad and undergrad dorms are separate (so you won’t be with a bunch of kids), and Chicago is known for good dorms anyway. I had my own bathroom, shared with only one roommate (or none) all four years, and that was in undergrad dorms. You should be able to find out the specifics in the “Housing” section of UChicago’s website, so I doubt you’ll get stuck with communal showers unless you want them.

And if you do go with an apartment, avoid K&G Management at all costs. You’ll be much better off in a dorm than in a K&G. At least the college housing people will fix a leaky ceiling or a broken window in January!

18

I’ve never lived in a dorm, but I’ve spent time in one. I would recommend an apartment all the way. Especially if it is within walking distance of campus. They are cheaper, you have more freedom, more square footage and they are more comfortable (the dorm here at IU was just concrete, like a prison cell).

19

First, congratulations on the acceptance letter, HazelNutCoffee!

A few things about the dorm would make a big difference to me:

  1. Do you get your own bedroom or not? You don’t in some dorms, even in grad student housing. You’re much more likely to be able to get sleep and studying done if you have your own bedroom than if you don’t.

  2. Is the dorm an apartment-style dorm (an apartment with a few bedrooms and one or two shared bathrooms) or is it a traditional-style dorm with essentially a public bathroom? I remember all too well having to wear flip-flops in the shower in the public bathroom in my dorm when I was an undergrad. And if they had had communal showers (an open shower area instead of stalls) I don’t think I would have showered for four years. I can’t believe that those are considered acceptable in this day and age, but some dorms do have them.

  3. Are you in an apartment with a shared kitchen, or do you get a meal plan (you probably won’t have both)? This one would be a toss-up for me- it is cheaper and healthier to cook your own food, but a meal plan saves time and hassle, especially if you don’t have a car.

  4. Does the dorm close during some school holidays or during the summer? My undergrad dorm did, and it was very annoying- I had to go home when I would rather have stayed in the dorm and done work. And I was only ~20 miles from home- I can’t imagine what it would be like to have to go from Chicago to Seoul. I could leave my stuff in the dorm during winter and spring breaks, but I had to move out at the end of each school year and back in at the beginning of the next one, even when I was keeping the same room.

20

In Spain, many students spend their first year in a dorm, then move to an apartment. I stayed in a dorm, but that’s common for students in “hard” majors like mine (my friends in Business, Law or Biology had time to go to parties 11 months in a year - us engineebabies went to a party per year).

When I went to graduate school in Miami, I knew that things would be very different from what I was used to. I didn’t know the local housing market, didn’t know anybody there, Spanish universities don’t have a campus, the structure for classes was going to be very different from what I was used to. UM doesn’t offer dorm space for graduate students, only graduate apartments. I got into one of those for the first couple of months (enough to get over the strange feeling of having somehow stepped into my TV) and then moved off-campus.