what was your dorm like?

egpitt22 · August 2013

Question sparked by this article on Pitt's new dorm, which is a "retro-style" dorm, defined as traditional with only 2 or 3 people in a smaller room, with shared lounges and bathrooms. http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/pitts-new-dormitory-a-throwback-699616/

Their reasoning is that it's easy for students now to hide out in their rooms if they're in a suite-setting...in that type of dorm, they have all the technology they want, plus other amenities like their own bathrooms, kitchenettes, etc... This retro style dorm forces them to get out more and be more social with their peers.

Personally, I love the idea. I stayed in I guess what you would also consider "retro", if that's what you want to call Tower A at Pitt

I'm pretty shy until I get to know people, so being in a building where girls were just out in the hallway chatting, everyone left their door open, you talked to people as you were brushing your teeth, etc...put me in a position to meet a lot more people than I ever would have, if I were left to my own devices.

My sophomore year I was still on campus, but moved into a suite with 6 girls (2 bedrooms & 1 bathroom--now THAT was a learning experience!). I definitely did not know my hallmates as well as I did the girls who were on my floor freshman year. But, I did meet Brian that year (he lived down the hall from me...ahhh, dorm love!) so I guess there's something to be said for suite life as well

what was your housing situation in college? Do you think universities need to stick with throw-back dorms to encourage socialization?

kris356 · August 2013

I lived in Tower A my freshman year, in a suite in Brackenridge my sophomore year with 5 girls but we had a double and a triple bedroom, 2 bathrooms, a kitchnette and a common room. We did know the girls next door. This will age me because we were the first to live there after they remodeled. My junior and senior years I lived off campus.

I think freshman year, retro is the way to go. By your sophomore/junior year, you usually have a group of friends and I think that suites are nice.

rona118 · August 2013

kris356 said:

I lived in Tower A my freshman year, in a suite in Brackenridge my sophomore year with 5 girls but we had a double and a triple bedroom, 2 bathrooms, a kitchnette and a common room. We did know the girls next door. This will age me because we were the first to live there after they remodeled. My junior and senior years I lived off campus.

I think freshman year, retro is the way to go. By your sophomore/junior year, you usually have a group of friends and I think that suites are nice.

Ditto Kris. Only I was in Tower B. Then when I transferred to Dayton I still ended up in a retro dorm room for the first semester. My roommate didn't show up and all the other girls knew each other on the floor since all were sophmore's that didn't get a suite in other dorms. I see the fancy dorms they have for freshman now....

Luckystar2 · August 2013

Freshman year we had 2 suites that shared a bathroom. Our rooms were forced triples (double rooms that they forced 3 girls in). IDK the group of us on that side of the floor in forced triples became friends. We would chat in each others rooms. I think it was just enough socialization for my tastes.

Sophomore year was a few rooms sharing a bathroom in the hall. The rooms weren't connected like the suites so it was more isolating. Plus by sophomore year it seemed everyone had already found their "group".

After that I moved off campus to an apartment. While it had its pluses, it was very socially isolating. Really just hung out with my roommates.

justme04 · August 2013

My first year of college I stayed in a room with one girl and we shared a bathroom with two other girls. While I have no issue with public toilets, public showers freak me out. My second year of college I had a studio apartment all to myself. I was supposed to have a roomie but she flaked on me last minute.

NestCayla · August 2013

I'm totally posting on this thread -- sorry, I'm not a usual poster here -- but this post was just too fun NOT to comment on.

My first year of college I shared a dorm room with one other girl, I lived in a co-ed dorm building where every other floor was either for girls or for guys. I had the communal showers (gross) but the building was just so much fun. Whenever I was in my room, if I wasn't sleeping or changing I would have the door open. I loved that I would have so many friends drop by to say hi while I was studying. I dont' know why I didn't live in the dorms all 4 years, probably because I wanted to live off campus and have more freedom -- but I loved dorm living! My roommate and I had our computers, internet and a tv with cable. While we had those things, it was still more fun to watch movies in the common room with other friends from our floor.

lala5507 · August 2013

I don't know how much it matters. I lived in a standard "retro" style dorm on an all girl floor my freshman year at Clarion. I made almost no friends on my floor a side from my roommate and one or two others (it was very much a mean girls situation). Sophomore year at SRU, I was in a standard dorm room on a co-ed floor. We all became a pretty close knit group. Our entire floor hung out together. I would have loved being in a suite just for the bathroom. I hated sharing a bathroom with so many other people.

Meghan&Rich · August 2013

Freshman year I stayed in a traditional dorm room - which I guess is now considered retro?? Sophomore year was a suite; Junior, Senior, and Senior2 year were in off campus apartments (which was basically living on campus because the apartment buildings were all students).

I think the set up to encourage students to socialize, at least in their freshman year, is a good one - especially now when people seem to be more focused on socializing on their phones vs. in person.

egpitt22 · August 2013

I actually thought it was easier to share a communal bathroom with 30+ girls my freshman year than it was to share it with 6 others my sophomore year! Probably because at least in the communal one, you had a bunch of stalls, showers & sinks. the bathroom in the suite had 1 tiny shower stall, 1 toilet, and 2 sinks in a very narrow space. we quickly adapted and the scene on a friday night getting ready to go out was normally 3 people crammed in front of the mirror, one taking a shower, and the other 2 girls with hair appliances plugged in other places in the suite waiting for their turn in the bathroom!

kris356 · August 2013

I will add that I am old and if you wanted to watch cable my freshman year, you had to watch in the common room. My sophmore year, we had cable in our room but only because it was recently remodeled. The phone was probably the biggest issue to share. We still had phone plans and had to type in a code to call off campus.

We also had to go to the computer lab if we needed to use a computer or check our email if one actually used email.

rona118 · August 2013

kris356 said:

I will add that I am old and if you wanted to watch cable my freshman year, you had to watch in the common room. My sophmore year, we had cable in our room but only because it was recently remodeled. The phone was probably the biggest issue to share. We still had phone plans and had to type in a code to call off campus.

We also had to go to the computer lab if we needed to use a computer or check our email if one actually used email.

Ditto again...... My freshman year they had too many in Tower B and some had to live in our community room.

waltsgirl102503 · August 2013

I lived in a retro dorm before it was retro! It was just a dorm.

I do think it is a good thing to force the socialization. Like Kris, we had to watch cable in the common area - I met a lot of friends because we all watched Guiding Light together. Ours were suites, so two rooms connected by a bathroom. Freshman year we were tripled, but there were 2 sophomores on the other side. It was nice getting to know upper classmen as well so they could give us the low down on everything.

Going away to college and being forced to meet people I didn't know was so good for me, I was terribly shy. So if I could have hid in my room and only talked to people I knew (online or whatever - although this wasn't even a possibility back then!!), I don't think I'd have had the great college experience that I did, and it definitely wouldn't have forced me out of my shell. (Which besides the education was something that college gave to me that is invaluable).

Meghan&Rich · August 2013

kris356 said:

I will add that I am old and if you wanted to watch cable my freshman year, you had to watch in the common room. My sophmore year, we had cable in our room but only because it was recently remodeled. The phone was probably the biggest issue to share. We still had phone plans and had to type in a code to call off campus.

We also had to go to the computer lab if we needed to use a computer or check our email if one actually used email.

The only way I could call my parents from my dorm room was by using my calling card. My very first email address was during sophomore year, but I never used it because I didn't get the point of emailing someone. I mean, why email someone when you could call them from your landline on your rotary phone using your calling card?!?! LOL!!

egpitt22 · August 2013

Amber--like you guys watched Guiding Light, there were a group of us who would get together to watch Beverly Hills 90210 every week. And sometimes marathons of the reruns when they would show them. I remember many rainy or snowy afternoons curled up in my PJs all day with a bunch of girls, piled on the bed, either watching 90210 marathons, or watching a movie we'd probably all seen a million times anyway.

waltsgirl102503 · August 2013

I got email my senior year of college. But you could really only use it to mail with other people at Pitt. But, oh, boy was it exciting to contact my friends on main campus in Oakland from all the way in Johnstown. Craziness!

We also had to use a calling card. And only the REALLY rich kids brought their own computers.

lishie · August 2013

I don't mind suites for upper level students, as by then people have generally met their friends, etc. But for freshmen I think "retro" dorms are the way to go. My first year I was in a first year hall, but my hall had two room sharing a bathroom, but that was it for "amenities." and looking back, I wish I would have been placed in a first year dorm that had a community bathroom.

We were the "most wired campus in the US" at the time, and I was one of the few kids who didn't have a computer freshman year, so I had no choice but to venture out to the computer labs to do all my work

lishie · August 2013

Oh, and we didn't get cable on campus until my senior year, and there was one common room for all 1000 people in the dorm. I watched almost no tv as a result.

lala5507 · August 2013

Oh calling cards! Do they still make those? I remember saying to my boyfriend freshman year (he was at home in Pittsburgh) , "I'm not going to use my calling card on you if we are just going to fight!" lol, good times....

sarahandtim · August 2013

I just can't believe traditional dorms are 'retro' now. Ha ha! I thought the dorms were lame, but that's probably because we got stuck in the all girls dorm and no one was really interested in hanging out. It seemed to be a lot of upper classmen who never moved off campus and didn't feel like hanging out with freshmen.

lala5507 · August 2013

How about Robert Morris? They have students living in the Holiday Inn this year.

what was your dorm like?

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