<p>My daughter was in a dorm that was practically all singles, and about 2/3 freshmen. It was exactly as mootmom descibes her son’s situation. (I forget where her son goes – maybe it WAS her son’s situation.) The hall was a short pod with 6 or 7 rooms and a (men’s) bathroom, with another 6 or 7 rooms and (women’s) bathroom just across a central hall. The woman with the room across from hers left after a couple of weeks, and a woman she had befriended moved into that room. They were effectively roommates – if they left their doors open, they might as well have been in the same room, but each had the option for privacy. I wasn’t there that often, but whenever I was there were many people hanging out in the hallways and lounge areas. It was very social, just like college.</p>
<p>Her assignment wasn’t unexpected because her college puts about 15% of the freshmen in singles, and she had asked for one. That was her choice; I shared the OP’s concerns. But none of them were valid. She made tons of friends in her dorm, had a very close relationship with her sorta-roommate (including sleeping over on each other’s floor sometimes), and didn’t miss class because no one reminded her to get out of bed. (When she missed class, it was on purpose.) She got interrupted all the time, productively and not. She never ate alone unless she chose to. She got her fill of other people’s drama. And having some space that she alone could control was really a good thing. She would have done fine with any reasonably compatible roommate, but what she had was better.</p>