10 Essential Tips For A Comfortable College Dorm Life

As you get ready for college in the fall, you may be confused about how should you enjoy your dorm life and have the best college experience.

Here are 10 tips to have a comfortable college dorm life. 

1. Bring only what you need

I’m sure you have heard this many times before, but bring only necessary essentials when moving into the dorms. Don’t bring unnecessary items. During the school year, things will accumulate in your dorm room, and in the end, you will spend more time moving out than moving in. I spent 30 minutes moving all my stuff into my room, but I spent more than an hour moving everything out at the end of the school year because so much stuff had accumulated during my year living in the dorms. 

Decorating your room is an important part of making your dorm personal to you, but don’t bring too many aesthetic accessories. It’s a big hassle to bring back and forth when moving in and out of the dorms and take into consideration that the dorm room may not be like your room at home. There is not a lot of space in a typical dorm room and you may share a room with a roommate or two. If you bring too much stuff to your dorm, then you will feel suffocated by stuff in such a small space. 

One tip I have to avoid bringing too many unnecessary items is if you do not use them at home on a daily basis, then you will not use them when you move to college. Even if you think that it will be convenient if you bring it to your dorm room, you should still leave it at home. If you later find out that you need it, then you can always go home and bring it to your dorm room. 

Some necessities that I found really useful in my dorm room my freshman year are a refrigerator, microwave, and hot water boiler. Even if you’re stressed about school and homework, don’t forget to eat. Eating and maintaining your health is a very important thing to stay happy. Going to the dining commons isn't always an option if it's late at night or during the middle of the day where there isn’t usually a large number of options. Being able to make food in your room is very convenient if you are too lazy to go out of your room. 

2. Communicate with your dorm mates

Communication is very important in every situation and especially is important with your roommates whom you will be living closely with for a year. Even if you don’t become close friends with your roommates in the year that you live with them, don’t create bad blood between each other. You never know when you will meet them again on campus or in classes again. 

Communicate with your roommates at the beginning of the school year. This is one of the best ways to set initial rules, know each other’s habits, and what is acceptable for each person. Set rules for the room in the beginning when everyone moves in so there will be fewer disagreements in the future. For example, some roommates do not like your friends visiting often. Therefore, if you can come to an understanding at the beginning of the year about the likes and dislikes of each person, you can avoid getting into arguments. 

When I first moved into my dorm room, my roommates and I sat down and discussed what type of rules we would like for our dorm room. We agreed on multiple guidelines such as no boys in the room, minimal visitors, and keeping our own part of the room clean. Whenever my roommates had something they were not comfortable with we would tell each other right away. This way we did not have arguments and disagreements piling up. 

3. Set a schedule to maintain your room

Set a schedule with your roommates on how to clean the room. Keeping the room clean and tidy is a good starting point to keeping everything in your life organized. Even though living in a dorm room includes minimal chores, there are still some things that need to be done, like throwing out the trash and recycling and vacuuming or cleaning the floor. An overflowing trash can is not something that you want to see in your room every time you walk in. 

One of the skills that I learned during my time in college is organization and cleaning my room. Coming back after a day of classes to a clean room helped me feel comfortable and relaxed. If you clean your room each day and put things back after use back into their own places, then cleaning your room would not be such a hassle. 

Try to set a schedule on who throws out the trash every week or every few days. One of the things that my roommates and I decided on at the beginning of the year is the person who sees the trash can full is the one who throws it out. This plan worked out for us and our trash can was never overfilled. 

4. Don’t always eat in the dining commons 

Do you get tired of eating the same thing every day? Even though most dining commons in college try to have a variety of different types of foods every day, from my experience, the food choices are minimal and boring. I’m a picky eater, so I like eating a variety of foods and I also dislike a lot of different foods. I rarely ate in the dining commons and cooked a lot of my meals or I ate food from different places on campus and restaurants surrounding my college campus. 

Being able to choose from a variety of foods is a habit of mine to keep eating something I look forward to every day. I suggest still go eat in the dining commons sometimes since your meal plans are already paid for at the beginning of the year. Try out different types of food from surrounding restaurants. 

5. Explore, don’t always stay in your room

There’s a phrase that many of you may know, “Curiosity kills the cat,” but this does not apply if you want to fully enjoy your college dorm life. Being inside a small room can make you feel suffocated at times, so it's a good idea to go out and explore your college campus or the surrounding area. It is a good idea to explore and get used to the campus during the first year in the dorms when you are not as busy. 

Take study breaks when you feel exhausted. Studying for long periods of time is not effective and it will drain your energy. I suggest that you can use your break times away from studying to explore your surroundings. 

In my freshman year of college, on the weekends I would study in the mornings and early afternoons and spend late afternoons exploring the city surrounding my college campus. I would try out different boba shops, ice cream shops, restaurants and I explored the big garden conservatory too. I really enjoyed trying out different types of foods since I am a big foodie. 

6. College isn’t just about studying 

Don’t just stay in your room studying and going to classes. College is not just about studying and getting good grades but rather a time for you to explore and learn more about yourself. Explore your different interests and expand your horizons. One of the things I regretted the most in my freshman year was not being able to explore different things such as joining different campus clubs and volunteering on campus. 

Even though I did not join any clubs and activities during my freshman year, I spent a lot of other time exploring downtown restaurants and boba places. In my first quarter, I spent more time trying to adapt to college life than studying. 

7. Be aware of your surroundings

College campuses are larger than what you may be accustomed to. Being on a large campus one thing that is very important is to be aware of your surroundings. Even though you may be tempted to just focus on yourself, but you should be aware of what is around you. This way you can avoid running into people or get your belongings stolen. 

Being aware of your surroundings is also important because this is one method to be informed of what is happening on the college campus. There may be interesting events or guest lectures that you may want to attend. You may also find research or job opportunities just by being aware of flyers around campus. 

8. Get comfortable with loud noise 

One of the things that I had to get used to was the noise in the dorms, especially at night. The walls were very thin and I could hear footsteps from the floor above my room very often and also the noise from the rooms beside mine. Sometimes, footsteps from above felt like the whole building was shaking. Loud noise because of thin walls was something that I had to get comfortable with while living in the dorms. I had not lived in apartment-style housing before, and the noise was something that really bothered me. 

Not only exterior noises was something that I had to get comfortable with but also noises and commotion from inside the room. I cannot study with loud noises, therefore I bought headphones to block out noises with my music. Many people also suggested that you could get earplugs to block out noises but I have not personally used those yet. 

9. Clean up after yourself

Cleaning up every time a mess is made is one way to save time so you do not have to spend time, later on, to clean up a bigger mess. One of the rules I make for myself is that after I finish using something, then I have to put it back in its original place. This way it will clutter my desk and my room. 

10. Make your room feel alive

Personalize your room to make it feel more comfortable and more like your room at home. Living in a new and unfamiliar environment is a big challenge, therefore making it more like your room at home will help you adapt better. I brought many of my things from home rather than buying new things for my dorm room. I brought my blankets, plushies, and stuffed animals to my dorm room and helped me feel more comfortable and at ease. 

By enjoying your dorm life in college, you will feel like college is not as stressful as it may seem. If you follow these 10 tips, then you will be closer to be comfortable in your college dorm room.