1. Communal bathrooms are a nightmare: Fiction
a. I admit, the bathroom situation in college was something that everyone warned me about; however, it was not as bad as what I had imagined. There is an amazing cleaning staff that come to clean the bathrooms every day, so the bathrooms are always fairly clean. In addition, not all the freshman residential halls have communal bathrooms; there are some with single bathrooms (which are also cleaned every day), so adjusting to sharing a bathroom in college is not bad at all.
2. Residence halls are always loud: Fiction
a. While there are going to be times when the hall is loud, this is not the norm. I would say that weekend nights are the time when the residence hall will be at its loudest, especially in the freshman buildings, but that is just because students are hanging out with one another. During the week, everyone has things to do, so the dorms are generally on the quieter side. That being said, no matter the day of the week, students are understanding (and respectful), so it is not hard to just ask the people around you to quiet down, especially if you are trying to get some sleep.
3. Residence halls are small: Fact and Fiction
a. I am not going to lie, some rooms are smaller than others. That being said, every room has a lot of storage for the student, so you will have place to store all your belongings. In addition, you can rearrange and decorate your room however you would like, so you can always create a nice (personalized) space for yourself. I was in a triple in my freshman year, so my room was definitely on the smaller side. Despite that, my roommates and I were able to decorate the room and make it a welcoming space, so the size of the room was not a huge deal.
4. Residence halls will be the place where I meet a lot of friends: Fact
a. You meet so many people in your first few weeks of college, and your room is one of those places where you are constantly going to meet new people. Throughout the year, you will get to know the people in your hall well, and it can be such a good community. In addition, hanging out in the common room is such a good way to get to know your fellow classmates since there is always someone there. In addition, your FYA (First Year Advisor) is always there to help you with anything you need.
5. Residential buildings are just outdated and gross: Fiction
a. This year, most of the freshman residence halls have either already been renovated or are currently being renovated, so you will be living in brand-new buildings. Hence, they are really nice and are maintained well, so I would take advantage of the spaces in your buildings.
6. Students spend a lot of time in their residential halls: Fact and Fiction
a. Well, this depends on the student. Residential halls are a great place to socialize and hangout, so there are a lot of students that spend a lot of time in their dorms, either doing homework, hanging out with friends, or just relaxing. At the same time, however, there are a lot of students who do not spend as much time in their halls. Personally, I was not able to focus in my room since I get distracted easily, so I liked to work outside of the dorm. Also, a lot of my friends were in different buildings, so I spent a lot of time hanging out all over campus. Every student has a different preference, so you will find out what works best for you!
7. Doing laundry in residential halls is easy: Fact
a. Doing laundry in the buildings is quite simple. Most residential buildings will have a laundry room on the first floor or basement level, and the size of the building (i.e how many students are living there) will determine how many washing machines and dryers there are. I lived in one of the smaller residential halls in my freshman year, so the laundry room in my building had four washers and four dryers.
b. Bonus tip: Try not to do laundry on Sundays because that is the day that most students tend to do laundry. Instead, find a chunk of time during the week and do it then. For me, I had no classes till noon on Wednesdays, so I would just grab breakfast in the morning and then come back to the dorm to do laundry. During this time, I always had the laundry room to myself.