Coed Dorm Rooms – Yay or Nay?

March 16, 2010 3:00 pm     Posted in Reality  Jessica- Delaware g+ page


By Jessica

Think the idea of living with a dude in that beloved, 2×4 box of a dorm room is out of the question? Think again! More and more schools (including Dartmouth, Cornell and Michigan…maybe they’re onto something?) are introducing gender-neutral housing which allows men and women to become roommates in dorms. I’ve always thought this should be an option because I have a lot of studly guy friends if we’re legal adults, we should be able to choose who we want to live with!

Most of the participating schools made the change because gay, bisexual and transgendered students felt more comfortable with an opposite-sex roommate, but they restricted the option to housing with “gay themes.” I applaud the universities for trying, but why not allow the same for the general population? Yes, I understand the obvious potential for sex, but does having a same-sex roommate prevent anyone from bringing someone else home to their twin-XL? I think not. Actually, I know not.

My group of friends is pretty mixed between guys and girls, and now that we’re upperclassmen and live off-campus, it seems totally normal for them to share houses. In fact, it seems quite splendid. But would it be quite the same to co-habitate with a manly man in that closet I used to affectionately consider my room?

PRO: Drama-Free Housing
Girls are brutal, and everybody knows it. It’s the reason that I refuse to move into my sorority house. It’s the reason that we go to the “library” for 12 hours in one day when we know our roommate is PMSing, or fighting with her boyfriend, or is generally a passive aggressive b*tch that won’t say what she means and gives serious ‘tude instead (not that I have any experience whatsoever in this department). Guys are straightforward and will try to clear the air right away if there’s any problems. Less time fighting and crying, more time for studying, drinking…you get the idea.

CON: Grossness
Dishes piled in the sink. Dirty clothes everywhere. And OH MY GOD…is that…a jock strap on the floor!?!? Moldy food under the bed!? I love my guy friends, but sometimes the lack of hygiene (and the resulting funky smell) makes me cringe when I visit their place. I’m more of a clean freak than most, and I don’t know if I could handle a cramped living space that reeked of boxer shorts and SBDs.

PRO: Get Dates Effortlessly!
Having a guy roommate means that his equally awesome male friends will be in the room all the time. With any luck, they’ve got dreamy blue eyes and enjoy serenading you with their guitars for hours. At the very least, you can offer to let them crash in your bed when they end up hanging in your room at 3 a.m. on a Saturday…

CON: the Worst-Case Scenario
So you decide to move in with your totally platonic, like-a-brother friend you immediately hit it off with freshman year.  Things are going well until a few weeks in when you steal a peek at his glistening 6-pack post-shower. God, has he been working out? And then you start to realize how cute it is when he laughs at your dumb jokes. And then he helps you move your mini-fridge and you catch yourself staring at his flexing biceps. And then he starts talking about how hot your sorority sister is and….oh no…are you jealous!? And then, one Sunday morning bright and early you wake up with your head pounding, open your eyes, and see your room… from the other side of it. And where is your shirt? Did you…..ohgod. Say it ain’t so.

As you can see, there are good things to living with boys, but also a lot that could go wrong. Personally, I think I’ll stick to living with my ladies for the remainder of my college career.

What about you guys?

12 Comments on "Coed Dorm Rooms – Yay or Nay?"

  1. Allana says:
    Tue, 16th Mar 20101:44 pm 

    meh, even though i went through serious drama with girls roomates my freshman and sophmore year (freshman, a very religious girl….sophmore, an OCD bitch who stole my posters and stole my stuff to laugh about it with other bitches in the hall but thankfully that ho moved out halfway through)

    i think that co-ed dorming would lead towards more of the CONS than the PROS, i'd still choose to live with girls, cuz at least then no one feels awkward about sitting in the dorm in your bra and skivvie's studying

  2. goldilocks322 says:
    Tue, 16th Mar 20102:30 pm 

    I would love to have different gneder housing. My best friend is a guy, and having him as a roommate would be great! Not that I mind living with a girl (I'm on a sorority floor, and I do love it), but I think many people would take advantage of that option. It might even be good for serious couples- it can get frustrated when you are the roommate of someone in a serious relationship and the partner is in the room as much as your roommate is. Having the option of living together elimiates that third wheel :)

  3. Liz says:
    Tue, 16th Mar 20105:18 pm 

    Right now, I live in a mod (somewhat like a condo) with both a male and a female. We all have singles, but there is also a kitchen and living room. He is cleaner than I am, and I don't think that he even owns a jockstrap. I would never, in a million years, even be kind of attracted to him. There are a lot of ways in which it works a lot. But it's not drama-free housing. Guys are people too, you see. They may not PMS, but neither do I. All of us fight with significant others, and we can all be passive aggressive. There are issues, but none of them are directly related to the gender of anyone living in the house

    The guy I live with is not my one of my closest friends, and neither is the girl. That's the very reason why it works. You should never live with any of your closest friends, unless you desperately wish to change that. One way or another, you still choose your roommates, or at least their gender. It should most definitely be an available option, especially given the rising number of genderqueer people.

  4. Jeff Gawronski says:
    Wed, 17th Mar 201011:05 am 

    Co-ed always seems to be the hot topic. In general it's just weird. I mean if you had a sister and a brother would you share a room at your house with the sibling of the same or opposite sex? Everyone would say the same. If opposite is gross… then it's not gross in college, but just weird.

    That said after Freshman year if you have guy friends/girl friends and you live in a big off campus house as a group of co-ed that is normal but pairing with a stranger of the opposite sex is a little off for freshman year.

    -Jeff Gawronski
    http://www.DormCo.com

  5. Lucy says:
    Wed, 17th Mar 20107:49 pm 

    Just because you live with a guy does NOT mean it will be drama free–trust me.

  6. Safia says:
    Sat, 10th Apr 20109:26 pm 

    I'm a high school student, and I feel it would be easier if my roomate was a male, because I can get really awkward around girls. Plus, it would drive my mom crazy (that's one of the few pleasures I get out of life, haha).

  7. steph says:
    Sun, 6th Jun 20107:11 pm 

    I think a co-ed dorm would be awesome. especially because Im married and would love to go back to school, but I cant go where I want to because of hubby. We could both go to school together and live together.

  8. Alicia says:
    Sat, 24th Jul 201012:57 pm 

    I'm studying abroad next year and am so excited about living in a co-ed room because I just don't click well with other girls. Sadly, it'll be a rough transition back when I have to either figure out how to upper-classman strong arm my way into a single or suffer through another year with girls as roommates.

  9. Shazz says:
    Fri, 5th Nov 20106:14 am 

    I'm sharing a room with a guy this year at uni. It was a bit awkward for the first few weeks – especially dressing and undressing. In other respects its just like sharing with another girl – both pros and cons. We've even discussed masterbation and agreed we'll not do it when each other is in the room, but if we walk in on one another (which has happpened a couple of times!) we'll be cool about it (he still does at night, though when he thinks I'm asleep!).

  10. anna says:
    Tue, 15th Mar 201112:08 am 

    I"m a high school student and personally, I think it would be weird. I mean you could no longer get home change into your grungies and throw your bra on the floor, and how akward would changing be? I don't think coed halls are horrible but coed rooms just sounds–weird

  11. jeremah says:
    Sat, 29th Dec 20125:11 pm 

    yeah thats what you think.

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