Where Should You Live Next Year?
Having trouble deciding whether to stay in the dorms or move to your Greek chapter house? Live at home or get your first apartment? We asked students about the pros and cons of different types of housing. This will hopefully help you decide.
Dorms
All dorms
Pros:
- Easy to make friends
– Jennifer Livschitz, second-year biology student - You don’t have to cook
– Livschitz - Dorm food
– Dori Edwards, fourth-year communications student - Close to fraternities
– Jessica Freed, fourth-year history student - Having random roommates
– Jacquie Medeiros, third-year English and religious studies student - B-Plate, B-Caf and De Neve Late Night - Medeiros
- You are surrounded by new people every day which gives you a chance to branch out
– Kelvin Campbell, second-year math and economics student
Cons:
- Far from class
– Livschitz - Hills
– Livschitz - Dictated meal times (you can’t eat between 3-5 p.m.)
– Livschitz - Annoying RAs
– Livschitz - Expensive – Livschitz
- Barely any space – Edwards
- Far from sororities – Freed
- Lots of rules
– Jessie Gold, third-year global studies and French student
Halls
Cons:
- Little privacy – Edwards
- Noisy
–Shannon Nolte, third-year molecular, cell and developmental biology student
Suites
Pros:
- Really spacious – Freed
Cons:
- Super antisocial – Freed
Apartments
Pros:
- You get to cook (oven = cookies) – Livschitz
- It can be closer to class - Livschitz
- You have more space - Livschitz
- It’s cheaper – Livschitz
- No alcohol policies – Livschitz
- Can drink and have friends over without being nervous – Edwards
- Can do your own grocery shopping – Edwards
- More freedom to decorate how you like – Edwards
- Choose who you live with/room with – Edwards
- Feels more homey and feels more like your own space since you are responsible for it through the rent, cleaning, etc. – Edwards
- You can make your own food – Gold
Cons:
- Adult life (you have to buy groceries and deal with issues like bugs and utilities) – Livschitz
- There are mean landlords – Livschitz
- Can be a bit more expensive
– Cynthia Ceja, fourth-year political science student - Utilities are not always included in rent so that cost varies every month – Ceja
- Often no air-conditioning or heating – Ceja
- Elevators can be slow – Ceja
- Parking is limited – Ceja
- Most antisocial – Freed
- You have to make your own food – Freed
- You have to pay bills – Gold
- Can be noisy – Gold
University apartments
Pros:
- You have a contract with UCLA housing – Ceja
- You don’t have to worry about your other roommates not paying rent – Ceja
- All utilities and Internet are included – Ceja
- There is plenty of parking that just costs a bit extra – Ceja
- The rooms are pretty spacious – Ceja
- All the furniture and appliances are included – Ceja
Cons:
- The hallways smell – Ceja
- The Internet is super slow – Ceja
- You can’t pick roommates (but can request certain roommates) – Ceja
- All roommates have to be the same gender – Ceja
- Mail is always getting stolen – Ceja
Greek housing
Sororities
Pros:
- You live with all your best friends – Freed
- You get to know everyone in the house super well – Freed
- You have a chef and a housekeeper – Freed
- Really close to campus – Nolte
- You become very close with your roommates – Medeiros
- Minimal fighting – Medeiros
- The food is really good – Medeiros
- Single rooms have privacy – Medeiros
- If I feel lonely I can head downstairs and see all my friends that are watching TV on the couch or doing a workout vid in the living room – Medeiros
Cons:
- Sometimes difficult to get alone time – Nolte
- Not close to Hill swipes – Nolte
- Far from frat side/parties – Nolte
- Bigger shared rooms are constantly cluttered with clothes and hair dryers and costumes and books – Medeiros
- We all basically had to share everything because we didn’t know what was whose – Medeiros
- There is much less selection for food – Medeiros
- Enforced meal times – Medeiros
- Friends/boyfriends can’t visit as much as you want them to – Medeiros
Fraternities
Pros:
- Close to campus
– Jake Benowitz, third-year microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics student - Relatively cheaper – Benowitz
- FUN – Benowitz
- You have a chef/food service – Benowitz
- You are surrounded by people who already know and love you – Campbell
Cons:
- Dirty all the time – Benowitz
- No peace/quiet – Benowitz
- Hard to study – Benowitz
- Inevitably you will have to clean up other people’s messes, whether it be brothers’ or random people’s – Campbell
Home
Pros:
- I get to see my family every day – Kristine Azatyan, first-year psychobiology student
- Homemade food – Azatyan
- More space at home than in the dorms – Azatyan
- No communal bathrooms – Azatyan
- Saves money – Azatyan
Cons:
- Ridiculous traffic – Azatyan
- I don’t spend as much time peer studying and making connections with others – Azatyan
- I don’t participate in a lot of school events and clubs – Azatyan
- I spend a lot of money on gas and buying food – Azatyan
Where are you living next year? Tweet us @dbmojo or tell us in the comments!
