Dorm Life

As a college student, I did not realize the importance and the amount of responsibility that it takes to maintain a dorm room living on my own, in comparison to the expectations living at home under adult supervision. Back at home as a high school student, my priorities and expectations from my parents were to attend school five days out of the week, manage my time to complete all assignments and to complete all chores that were expected to be done on time. Some of these chores consisted of cleaning my room, taking out the trash, and do my own laundry. When it was time to clean and organize my room, I had a tendency to clean and organize it the way I felt most comfortable. I did not have to worry about arranging all my personal valuables with limited space or share a room with another person and their own valuables. It was easy for me to place objects where and how I wanted and not have to feel stressed out on where I could find certain items when I needed them. My ability to organize my room and remove myself from distractions as a college student is not the same as to living at home. The most challenging, and time consuming problems moving into a dorm room is trying to manage a room that has provided me limited space on what I can work with when moving into a whole new environment. Moving into a dorm room can cause problem such as organization of the room, the cleanliness of the room and dealing with distractions.

First, placing and organizing personal items in the dorm room is a common problem college students run into. Students often bring too much, which decreases their ability to fit all of their personal valuables in one room shared with another person. The rooms are so small that it forces the student or roomate to find a way for things to fit instead of where they would like for it to go. Being disorganized makes it harder on a student and roommate and can lead into complications in the future. An organized room makes it easier on a student’s ability to know where to look and refer to when they need a specific

item. Misplacing objects and other materials with a unorganized room often leads to stress and anger because materials are not where they are supposed to be or due to a lack of memory where it was placed when used in the past. Electronics, school supplies, food, hygiene materials and other accessories are examples of what should be categorized individually and placed in labeled containers. Not being organized can lead to distractions, stress, missing materials, and problems with a roommate. Having objects out affects a students ability to concentrate and increases a longer amount of time that should be spent organizing the room.

In addition to having a disorganized room, the dorm life comes with a wide range of many distractions that can cause a student to fall behind academically. Distractions may include disruptive behavior from other residents, lack of privacy, and rooming with a complete stranger that can lead to a low comfort level, affecting ones ability to focus. It impacts the study habits and can completely pull the attention away from what needs to get accomplished at that given moment. Students find themselves to be more stressed living away from home because their mind is on everything else around them but their academic goals. However distractions just don’t include noises and other residents, they can also be caused by a unorganized environment in the dorms. A messy desk, laundry left out, and objects lying on the floor has a major impact on drawing a student’s attention away from studying. A messy, loud environment leaves a student more vulnerable to put off studying and decrease the focus on what is more important. Not Eliminating distractions like music, cell phones, television, and loud obnoxious areas can result in a less affective study environment. The freedom and independence away from home can be a positive or negative outcome depending a student’s main focus and decisions he or she makes. Dealing with distractions comes with great responsibility and effort when making wise decisions on your own.

Despite the organization of an individual’s personal items and distractions that occur in the dorms, cleanliness is the key to making the dorm room more enjoyable and presentable for a student, roommates, and other guests who are in the room. Dorm rooms have a tendency of getting messy in such a small amount of time and not even realizing it. Students often feel the need that it is more important to go out more than spending time on their room. Maintaining a clean room is not easy. If the student is involved
Henning 3 with extracurricular activities after their classes, it makes it harder to make time to clean a room. Having a clean room and staying on top of chores that need to be done in the room, is a great way to learn the responsibilities and hard work that it takes maintaining a place on your own. A messy room are normally caused by trash that is forgotten to be picked up, laundry is not folded and put away neatly, and the floors that have not been swept in a while. A lack of time spent in the room can result in these actions that are forgotten about having to juggle academics and a social life. Due to the small amount of space in the dorm room, messes tend to stick out more. Simple things like making the bed, utilizing laundry baskets and emptying the trash can make a difference. Having a roommate makes it hard to maintain both individuals’ belongings when he or she is not present to help out.

In conclusion, dorm living has its difficulties and can take a major affect on academic progress. Surrounded by new people, a new environment, and a small room that is provided is a whole new way of living on your own away from home. Maintaining a room, organizing personal items, and eliminating distractions can increase ones ability to be more productive and responsible. As the year progresses when living in a dorm room you will find it a lot easier to manage living on your own. It will help you on how to obtain a clean environment for you as well as your roommate. The biggest key to succeeding in college is by eliminating as many distractions as you can. Dealing with distractions will come easier to handle when trying to study for a test or just simply completing an assignment. Getting rid of the people or removing yourself from a situation can help out in the future when it comes to studying for an exam or simply just trying to get stuff done around in the room. When trying to clean and organize the dorm room, try to stay on top of what should be taken care of first instead of getting side tracked that could potentially affect you in the future? What it all basically comes down to is that when living on your own, more responsibilities and pressure is forced upon a student than what it was like in high school. If a student can maintain these three issues most college kids run into and excel in their academics, there should be no issues when it comes to living on your own.