I’m currently living in a dorm (I’m taking summer classes) and my suitemates seem to always be doing something in the common room. I know my roomate’s schedule, so I can avoid her but my suitmates always seem to be around. Any ideas on where I can go on campus to be sure my call is 100% private??
Completely depends on the college. Stairwell? Music practice room? Library study room?
If you have a suite and a common room, does that mean you have your own bedroom? Or one you share with one other person? If so, can’t you use that and/or ask your suitemates to vacate the bedroom (not common room) while you take a call?
I second music practice room, and also sometimes class halls are open at night, so you may be able to find an empty classroom. Usually though, I just make phone calls somewhere kind of loud on a staircase (my school has a big study building) so that no one’s just standing by listening.
D2 found that the staircase or the roof gave her privacy.
Dorm laundry room at a time when other people are in class/out/etc.
Some dorms/academic buildings have soundproof music practice rooms
In the library at around 8:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning.
Go outside
@GMTplus7 I can’t be sure there are no eavesdroppers outside
This is going to depend entirely upon your given school.
If I may, why is it so important that you have absolute, 100% privacy? You’re expressing concern about eavesdroppers outside, which honestly sounds a bit paranoid to me.
If you have a car. In your car, but definitely not anywhere in your dorm with those paper thin walls that you couldn’t make pizza crust with.
I promise, no one cares that much about your conversation to sit and eavesdrop- especially if they don’t know you. Just go outside in a less busy area.
Is this a conversation that you don’t want certain people you know to hear or is it something you don’t want anyone in the entire universe except the person you’re talking to hear? The former’s pretty easy. The latter you’ll never be able to guarantee, but it’s kind of ridiculous to be that paranoid about it.
I used to reserve a study room, which my school used to have through out the campus (usually most campus libraries have them), for my phone interviews. You can also check the community areas around your dorm building as there are sometimes secluded areas for privacy.
Once I didn’t have a secluded place to make a call for a phone interview and just ended up taking it on a bench outside and firetrucks passed by in the middle of the call. It was a terrible situation to be in and the interviewer wasn’t having any of it.
I, too, dislike having calls where I am unfiltered in a not so confidential space. You never know who is around is what I say. I go in my car or to a park or grassy area with tables and such that’s secluded.
I agree with roman, when I walk around campus, most of the time Im wearing headphones. Anyways if I’m not and I hear people talking, I could care less what they’re talking about and since I’m as popular as the E.T atari game, they’re not talking bout me.
How confidential is it? If you really cannot risk someone overhearing then walk off campus somewhere just away from where anyone is. If you’re worried because it’s about a drug deal (which is exactly what you’re making it sound like) or something, then no one cares though. If you’re worried about people finding out that you’re carrying a lot of cash the easiest solution is to not talk on the phone about anything involving cash.
Has no one ever had a conversation that they don’t want anyone to hear? Just a bit of privacy? A call about club woes, where club members could be out and about? Or school woes, where your floor mates could be around? Or emotional/mental problems? Family troubles? Emotional phone calls? Calls where SS numbers or credit card numbers are being said?
…I guess it’s just me. 
If it’s about club members or floormates, you could just go to a random part of the school where no one you know is around. I’ve made calls like that while just walking to class or work or something. If someone I know is close enough to hear, then I would see them. I don’t care about random people I don’t know hearing that call. Or you could go off campus and hang out at a coffee shop or somewhere and chat. But I guess I went to a fairly large school, so if you go to a really small school or somewhere really secluded, then maybe someone you know will always be around? You can usually be pretty invisible in a crowd, if you want to be, as long as you aren’t like shouting into your phone.
If I was talking about emotional/mental problems, I would just do it in my room when my roommate wasn’t there and talk quietly so people outside of the room couldn’t hear. Usually people have to intentionally be trying to listen in through a wall or you have to be talking pretty loudly for everyone else to hear your entire conversation. Or you could do what my friend did in college when she was complaining about her roommate while her roommate was in the room or when she was talking about a tough family situation, medical problems, and emotional problems, and just type it. We used to webcam when she wanted to talk, and she would type, while I spoke (she wore headphones so others couldn’t hear). It’s even better than the phone because you can see their actual expressions, but I suppose you could also just do it through text or email.
I’ve never told anyone my social security number or credit card number over the phone, but if I guess if I did, I would probably just do it in my room. I trusted my roommate, but if you don’t, you could just do it when they aren’t there. Unless someone is ready to right down the number right when you say it or they have a really good memory and are listening to you talking through the wall, they aren’t going to remember the number.