<p>two of my Ds friends are in 6 person suites, with living room, etc, and her other friends and my D will be in tradtional dorms</p>
<p>each has their plusses and minus’</p>
<p>if your child chose one over the other, what was their thinking</p>
<p>to me, I like the idea of a traditional dorm so you don’t cocoon too much, but then having that living space to spread out might be nice</p>
<p>thoughts?</p>
<p>My d decided on a suite last year. She initially signed up for the regular dorm and then changed her mind. She and her roommate were able to tolerate each other, but the extra space in the common room ended up being her favorite hang out. My d ended up bonding most with one of the girls in another room. Out of all the suitemates the one she bonded with was the most unlike herself. They are still good friends.</p>
<p>She made many friends inside of the larger building in which her suite was located. They had a pool and spa in the courtyard.</p>
<p>I’ve had one child start college as a freshman in a traditional two person dorm room (though they shared a bathroom with just one other room of two (but it was not a suite) and one child start college in an apartment style suite (two bedrooms of two girls each, one common room, one kitchen, one bathroom.) </p>
<p>For my D who was in the traditional dorm room, it was a solely freshmen dorm and the dorm REALLY bonded…was considered a “Unit” at her college. Friendships were made that year in the dorm…they often ate together and so forth and these friendships carried on the rest of the years (she is now a senior). After that first year, she lived as a soph in a traditional dorm again with same roomie but the social life was NOT centered on the dorm at all and it was just a place to live. Junior year was half abroad, in an apartment with two other girls and the other half year was in a dorm that was a suite but had NO common room (not sure what was a suite about it!) and she had a single. Without a common room, it wasn’t that different than a traditional style. This year, she is moving into a house with nine girls and it has three floors. Each floor has three single bedrooms and a living room, kitchen and bath and so I guess you could say each floor is its own apartment/suite. </p>
<p>For my D who started freshman year in an apartment style dorm, it was in a very very large dorm in a city. Her social life did NOT center around the dorm and she didn’t know or care who lived on the floor. She was friends with her roomie and she has numerous friends at college through her program and other things she belongs to. The apartment was nice as they had the kitchen and private bath and also could have friends over in the common room. She had the same set up as a sophomore, though their apartment had no common room. She also is not on a meal plan. She is going to be a junior and is now living in an off campus apartment (that is unbelievable and nothing like a college kid’s apartment!!) and she has her own bedroom and own bathroom and the roomie has her own bedroom and bathroom and they have a living/dining room and kitchen, and deck. Again, her social life doesn’t revolve around where she lives. It just is not how things seem to go at her college or at least not for her friends or herself.</p>
<p>For my S, single room in a suite gave him ability to make his own hours. Lights weren’t on due to rmmate studying when he wanted to sleep, etc.</p>
<p>One thing I found funny - in the suite they had their own bathroom (shared by 3) which I saw as a plus. He saw it as a minus, because only one shower available if they all wanted to use it at the same time and no one cleaned the bathroom for them (vs the common bathroom which had cleaning service).</p>
<p>Hmmm, never thought of that. Believe me, I had no desire to see the inside of that bathroom on move-out day (it looked great on move-in day and I was even willing to use it).</p>
<p>I think that a traditional corridor dorm (regardless of whether the rooms are singles or doubles) is best for freshmen. It gives them an opportunity to make many friends and to get to know a large number of people.</p>
<p>Suites and apartments may seem to provide a higher quality of life, but I think they are better suited for upperclassmen, who already have an established group of friends.</p>
<p>My son just moved into a double in a dorm that is fresh/soph all in doubles. He seems to like his roommate–nice to only have to adjust to one? Each hall has 2 central bathrooms–one male, one female–with private toilet and shower stalls. They were very clean when we checked him in–hope they stay so, because I don’t think the kids are thinking of cleaning them.</p>
<p>In suites ususally kids have to clean the bathrooms themselves. The one advantage is that when someone throws up in the sink, everyone in the suite knows who did it. In dorm bathrooms many cleaning services will refuse to clean up after someone who vomits all over the place. This can lead to disgusting circumstances. It might be good to check on individual school policies.</p>
<p>Ewwwww I know, but just saying…</p>
<p>I lived in both suites and rooms on a hall and thought the latter was MUCH better for socializing. I didn’t mind bathrooms down the hall, but I lived in a school where some poor student had the job of cleaning suite bathrooms.</p>
<p>My daughter did not specifically request a suite, but she has been assigned to one because she is in honors housing. </p>
<p>I think she likes the fact that the bathroom is in the suite so she won’t have to go down the hall. The bad part is that they have to clean it. </p>
<p>The bad part is that four girls are in one bedroom (two sets of bunk beds with a small aisle) and it is very small. I think it might be hard to sleep if you are a light sleeper. </p>
<p>The “living room” has two long desks with room for two students at each desk. There’s also a fridge/microwave unit but not room for a futon or anything else. It doesn’t look like there will be room for guests–could be good, could be bad.</p>
<p>The good part about having three roommates is that you have a better chance of getting along well with someone. The bad part is that you have a small chance of ever being in the room by yourself. Everyone needs a little bit of “alone time.” </p>
<p>So, I guess there’s advantages/disadvantages to each. Since we don’t have any say in the matter, we’re trying to focus on the positives.</p>
<p>My S is living in a suite this year and I think he misses the dorm living he had last year. He said the kids in the suites keep more to themselves and he preferred the open door socializing of the regular dorm rooms.</p>