Got some college questions? Unsure of a decision? Not sure how to balance school and fun? Just wanna chat it up with some really awesome chics?

Question:
I’m leaving for college in like 4 weeks and I’m so excited. (But that might be because my summer job is so boring haha.) I am living in a single next year and I couldn’t be happier. I didn’t want to live with someone random and my friends aren’t going to school with me so I went with a single instead.  Now that school is getting closer I’m getting worried that might have been a bad idea. Without a roommate how will I meet people? Was a single a bad idea? Not that I can change it….. Do you have any advice for meeting people?

Busy Bee:
First off, getting a single was not a bad idea. You will meet tons of people on your floor, through classes, and my favorite…by joining clubs! I can’t stress this enough. People are always concerned about having friends, but what they often forget is that 1) You will always be your own best friend, and 2) You gotta put yourself out there to have friends. One of my life philosophies is that what you put out into the world, you will receive back. If you want friends, then be charismatic. That’s all it takes – people are attracted to positive energy. Anyway, you’ll be fine – just don’t be shy. Start by friending someone who does have a roommate. That way, you’ll have automatic invite whenever a group of people go out. Just put yourself out there and most importantly, HAVE FUN!

Party Girl:
I’m not going to lie to you, having roommates definitely makes the meet-and-greet first weeks of college a lot easier.  The good news is that your social life doesn’t necessarily have to suffer because of your solitary status. You just gotta get creative.  Go out of your way to get to know the other students on your hall.  Go door to door and introduce yourself, keep the door open, play a little music, and don’t be afraid to hang your head in someone’s room if you see their door is open, too.  Also, everyone loves a party (and sharing some illegally procured beers bonds people together like nothing else can), so have a little pre-game in your room before heading out to those Welcome Week frat parties, then have them back in your room for some late night pizza when you stumble home. Whatever you do, do not shut that door (unless you’re changing….or getting busy); the more available you make yourself, the more friends you’ll make.

GPA Girl:
Girl, trust me, this is not a problem at all. You are going to be sooooo happy you have a single once the school year gets started and you want to throw parties in your room or take guys back to your digs. Plus, you can throw your stuff anywhere anytime you want and no one will yell at you, and you can listen to your own music all day long, have total silence when you need it… can you tell I live by myself?! OK, but seriously. First of all, you can definitely and easily meet new people without having a roommate. In most cases, your roomie’s new friends don’t end up being your new friends anyway. Second, potential new friends almost drop into your lap at college. Go to student orientation, go to new activity sign-ups, join intramural sports teams, try to attend club meetings that interest you, go to study groups, etc. Basically, get out there. If you’re willing to smile and say “Hi” to people you see, you’ll have bucketloads of friends before you know it. After all, everybody is in the same boat as you and is also trying to navigate their own college experience, so it’s helpful to have shipmates along for the ride! OK, that’s enough metaphors for one day. Good luck!

So… it’s April of your senior year, and you’re meticulously filling out forms about your sleeping habits (why yes, you do tend to sleep at 2 AM and think 12 PM is ‘early’) and cleanliness habits to send to your future home for the next four years. Or, you’re a college freshman re-applying for housing with your dorm BFF/sorority sister/random classmate from English 101. Come June, you receive that nice envelope or automated email from Residential Life, hoping to get for what you asked for (please no early-bird neat freak!) And in that nice little slot, lies ROOMMATE: NONE. And your address happens to have an S by it.

Yup, you’re in a single. Obviously, a single room isn’t the image most conjure up when thinking about college dorms (and most freshmen aren’t lucky enough to get one), but they’re out there.

Nervous? Excited? Don’t really know what you’re getting into/how you’ll fit all your stuff into a 120 square foot box? Don’t worry; here are the pros and cons of life in a single.

PRO: You Can Decorate However You Want

Double rooms, although slightly larger than singles, have two of everything but the same amount of wall space. In a double, you just have to hope that your roommate doesn’t have orange sheets to clash with your purple pillows. In a single, you get to decorate it however you’d like (as long as the tape you’re using won’t ruin the walls, thank you ResLife.) You’re more likely to feel at home here because you’ve provided all of the decoration yourself. Plus, you don’t need to fight with your roommate when your Hannah Montana poster looks out of place next to their Metallica one.

CON: You have to bring everything yourself

At my school, rooms are allowed one TV, one microwave, one fridge, one toaster… You get the picture. If you’re living in a double, you can coordinate who brings what. If you’re in a single, you get to bring all of that yourself. College close to home? You’re in luck there. For some people, coming by plane from 2000 miles away, it isn’t possible to bring all of those. It can be a problem if you want to store certain liquids, but you don’t have a fridge to put them in. Better make friends with the girl across the hall with the 40-inch plasma screen for your homesick Sex and The City marathons….

PRO: You get your own space

I can’t stress this enough. YOU. GET. YOUR. OWN. SPACE. You can do whatever you want! Are you a fan of Skyping at 3 AM? No problem. Like to take 3 hour naps in the middle of the day? Go ahead.  You don’t need to share your space with anyone, thus you don’t need to make any rules, like ‘Lights off by 12 AM’ or ‘No Boys Overnight’ with your roommate. Oh did I mention that you can do WHATEVER you want? So, it would come in handy when you’re entertaining a caller of the opposite sex at strange hours of the night. You’re not going to have to worry about keeping it down for your roommate. If you time it right, it’s like she/he was never even there.

CON: Muy Expensivo

You get your own space… at a cost. Dorms are extremely expensive, and singles just follow that path. Last year, my single cost approximately $6200, compare to the $4900 of that of the double. For some families, this can mean less furnishings/trips home. In the end, it’s up to you to decide if that little bit of privacy is worth the extra money.

PRO: No Roommate

You’ve probably heard stories of roommates walking in on each other, sexiling each other or all-out hating each other. No matter how much people love their roommate, their subtleties and tics can eventually gnaw on the relationship. There’s also the more common path (in my experience) of being apathetic or disliking their roommate. I’ve had friends who weren’t comfortable hanging out in their own room out of sheer dislike for their co-habitators. Living in a single you NEVER have to deal with that. Be grateful you can study in your room when that girl down the hall has to trek to the library to study out of fear for what her roommate would do.

CON: No Roommate

Yes, having no roommate has its downsides. If you’re going to a school where you don’t know anyone, your roommate can be the first friend. She can also be your source for free clothes, homework help, and a connector to new people you’d never have met on your own. Plus, for every two stories I hear about roommates hating each other, I hear one about roommates that absolutely love each other and are now best friends for life.

VERDICT: Having lived with a roommate that I loved dearly and in a single, I much preferred the privacy/freedom that the single offered me. If you have a single, embrace it! If you don’t… embrace your roommate (and all her quirks) and hope/pray for a better housing assignment next fall!

And it couldn’t be further from reality for many others, which is why many students opt for the sweet, glorious single.

At Princeton, singles are rarely occupied by freshmen, but they’re the absolute hottest real estate for older, wiser sophomores, juniors, and seniors. I’m surprised by how many freshmen claim they would never want a single and then end up wishing they had one by the end of the year. Here are a few reasons why you should consider the sweet single life for next year.

Odds are your roommate will not be your BFF.

While my roommate and I didn’t have any major clashes, we were from different worlds and ended up parting ways at the end of the year without staying in touch. And this was the case for most of my friends. Don’t worry about missing out on a close friend by gettin’ your own place; your closest friends will be the people who share your interests and activities, not your sleeping space. And there’s no chance of having those worst-case scenario roommates you so often hear about. You know the ones: the guys and gals who leave moldy food under the bed, get in crying fits on the phone at 3am, want to hold wild room parties every weekend, or leave their alarms set for five in the morning and just. keep. hitting. the snooze. for hours.

Sleep and wake up on your own schedule.

Sleep at college is very important. You’ll be working furiously hard most of the time, and when you’re not, you’ll want to sleep. With a single, you can go to bed at 4am without having to work with a flashlight under the sheets because roomie wants to get to bed at nine, and you don’t have to wake up at 5am to the sound of your early-rising roomie’s alarm. Yay for your own sleep schedule!

Work without distractions.

I’ll look for any excuse not to work, and if someone else is there, I have someone to talk to and a reason to stop my Psych reading. Having a single means I have fewer ways to procrastinate. Freshman year, I had to make the long cold trek to the library; with a single, my room is always a cozy study space with all of my creature comforts around me.

You can do…private stuff.

Having a single is obviously hugely advantageous if you have a boy/girlfriend and you’d like a little private time. If you are both feeling suddenly amorous, you don’t need an elaborate system of ties on doors and the like to get the time you want. Besides that, it’s just nice to come back to a room that’s all your own. You can do all those things you wouldn’t do in front of other people (like, say, testing out one of these), with no fear of someone bursting in on you. And that’s the sweetest thing of all.