How to Write About College

Dorms

Not all dorms are like apartments. I'll go through a range of dorms with how living in them works.
-Communal Dorm. The dorm I lived in my first year of college was communal. Each dorm had 2 people and the price for each person was about $2,500 or you could have a "single dorm" which was around $3,500 and was the exact same dorm but there was no roommate (you still had an extra bed and all the extra furniture). The bathroom and showers are communal, you don't clean them or pay for your toilet paper. There are multiple floors, usually each a different gender. For example, my floor was 6 and full of women but floor 5 and 7 were men.  There are "lounges" on each floor, usually with free condoms and they have couches and a TV that anyone from any floor could use. The basement has vending machines, computers, printers, the laundry room (7 washers and 10 dryers), and the exit to get to the dumpsters. There was a "kitchen" on the 11th floor but it was just a stove in a room the size of a walk in closet. You ate in the dining hall.

-Own bathroom Dorms. These dorms usually have 4 people in them, 2 on each side with a sliding door separating the room. The bathroom was put in the middle of the rooms and you have to clean and purchase your own toilet paper. Each roommate pays $2,500 a semester. There is no kitchen, you eat in the dining hall. The basement is virtually the same as the above dorms.

-Living Learning Communities. These are "apartment" dorms. Each dorm has 4-5 rooms, usually one of these rooms are meant for 2 people but they are meant for single people. There is a small living room, a full size fridge, a bathroom, a shower room, and a sink. These are the most independent dorms. The first floor of these buildings usually have an entire kitchen, pots and pans included, as well as entertainment (TV, the game pool, air hockey, foosball), as well as the laundry rooms and individual study rooms. You usually have to be at least in your second year before moving into the LLC's. You don't eat in the dining hall, though it is an option. Each person living in these dorms pays roughly $4,500 a semester.

-Most dorms are not customizable. You are stuck with the furniture in the dorm, you can bring furniture in but you cannot take the furniture belonging to the dorm out. You are very limited with decorations.
-EVERY floor has an RA. They make sure you're not breaking campus code and that you're safe. They are very very annoying and constantly in your business. They are students as well, usually only about a year older than you. My RA now is actually younger than I am, which is weird because he acts like my parent. RA's have the ability to kick you out of the dorms and get you expelled.