College dorm experiences

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My experiance with living in a dorm was vastly different from both my Freshman and Sophmore years. It depends what type of dorm you live in. Freshman dorms are normally very loud and the kids party all the time and do lots of ridiculous things. Upperclassmen dorms are more quieter because the upperclassman take there studies more seriously. If your hypersensative to noise, it might be difficult to live in a dorm even if you have a single. There can be lots of noise coming from the hallway and other peoples rooms, and noise leaking in from outside.
For example: when I was a soph, I lived in a quiet dorm with a single. Even though the dorm wasnt loud, whenever they would play music in the quad, the noise would come straight to my room, I have no idea why. I heard a lot of outside noise in general which made it difficult to sleep sometimes.

With dorms, your gonna constantly be surrounded by lots of people whether you socialize with them or just pass them in the hallway. But if you want to meet more people: living in a dorm give you that as long as you take the effort to be an initiator. And keeping your door open might help.

I'm currently a sophomore living in a singles dorm, which is fantastic. Last year I lived with a friend with high school, which is about as good of an arrangement as I could have hoped for, but still a bit stressful. I don't know if just leaving the door open is the best strategy for making friends. The type of person who just wanders into rooms to talk (hypersocial) isn't likely to be the type of person many aspies (or at least me) want to socialize with. One good thing about college is that the classes are much more specialized than in high school. So I suppose the best way to make friends is to take a class where you're likely to bump into people who share your interests.

I had a horrendous experience in my first year. The way it was set up at the place I went to was a block of 6 flats, each flat had 8 rooms with shower and toilet in each, and a shared kitchen. My AS ways drove peple up the wall and there was a certain amount of animosity there that rankled. Coupled with the fact that everyone seemed to be going out with everyone else while I remained single.

My room was on the top floor, but the oafs on the ground floor would play very loud music that was loud enough to wake the dead. Goodness knows what it must have been like for the floor below. A few months of this, and the Accommodation office got onto them and confiscated the stereo equipment. One day, a van pulled up and two blokes went in. They came out of the building with speakers that were about 4 ft tall.

In your second, third and fourth years you're expected to arrange accommodation in the city, and usually go in with friends or people you know to share the cost. I went in with 3 others, but one of them took a dislike to me and the whole year was hell. I even booked into a B&B one night to get away from it all there. Funnily enough, 12 years later, I'm still in touch with that friend and we get on really well.

I was extremely lucky in my final year to find a little place of my own. It was a garage conversion on the side of a beautiful detached house on the outskirts of the city. One big room with bed, table and chair, lots of storage space and a huge window, a separate kitchen, and a toilet/shower room, and my own entrance. Most importantly of all, it was PRIVATE. The only noise were birds. The rent was ridiculously low, and my landlord and landlady were very kind people. I can honestly say that was the best year of my life so far, I loved every minute (don't tell my wife!).

It's so true what others are saying here, having to share is mental torture. If you can afford to go it alone, you'll be much better off, less anxiety, and your grades/marks won't suffer so much.

I just joined today. I never stayed in the dorms during college. I first went to a community college, so they didn't have dorms at all. Then I transferred to a 4 year college. I would NEVER live in the dorms. Having to share a room with someone else. Sleeping in the bed that someone else slept in. YUCK! I rather have my own bed, my own bathroom, and just be by myself. I couldn't stand having to share a bathroom with so many other women in the dorms. I lived only 15 min from college so I just commuted. BEST decision I ever made!!


Anna

I lived in a dorm my freshman year of college. It turned out to be a good experience for me, my roommate and I were a perfect match for each other and we became very close friends. I have to admit though, if I didn't like my roommate I probably would have hated dorming (I commute now and like it much better). I had many sensory issues despite the fact that my roommate was very quiet, there was always noise coming from the halls, the room upstairs and the courtyard outside our window, even the built in fluorescent lights irritated me(we brought our own lamps for the room but the hallways and bathrooms were very bright). I tried leaving the door open to be social a few times but I could not take the unpredictability of having people spontaneously walk in and out or the lack of privacy.

I actually met most of my friends at college through other people. My advice would be to make as many social connections as you can in the beginning when everyone is looking for friends, and accept as many invites to hang out as you can even if you like the people you meet less as you get to know them because you may make friends with their friends.

Try to attend events and club meetings that interest you. It's not always easy, I'll admit I never seemed able to make friends this way because I sat around quietly and didn't participate in group interactions, but the fact is more you get yourself out of the room and around people the more likely you are to make friends.

Getting a job on campus where you'll be working with other people (ideally just a few since it can be harder to socialize in big groups) is also a good way to make friends.