How To Make The Most Of Dorm Life

Dorm life can be a great or miserable experience depending on how realistic your expectations are and how well you manage to make the best of your space. Staying in a dorm presents a significant savings over renting your own apartment and all the bills and necessities that go along with it, but you have to have the right attitude if you want it to be a pleasant stay.
Don't Anticipate Getting The Perfect Roommate-In the vast majority of dorms you are not going to be allowed the luxury of selecting your own roommate. Which means you will need to learn how to live calmly with someone who's company you may never have had any desire to seek out in other situations. You will be much better of however, if you don't look at this as an inconvenience. Alternatively look at it as a chance to build a skill that will serve you well when you are successfully done with college and have to land yourself a job. After all what do you think the probabilities are of you liking every single coworker in your working future?
Focus On The Extras-Rather than lamenting over everything a dorm doesn't supply, like privacy or expansive space, focus on what you do get that you wouldn't if you were living off campus. In many dorms your power, heating, internet, and other utilities are all bundled into the lump sum you pay at the beginning of the year. This is one of the things that make living in a dorm so much more economical than living off campus.
You also don't have to foot the cost of commuting to campus or furnishing an apartment and if you need help with something college related there is always an RA around to assist you. Plus in a dorm the only thing you have to worry about cleaning is your room because all the common areas like bathrooms, kitchens, and living room spaces are handled by dorm employees.
Make The Most of Your Space-Unless you're one of the lucky few with a roommate who's busy social life means that they are virtually nonexistent in your room, you are only going to have half of a small room as personal space. That doesn't mean you can't fashion a comfortable and functional area out of your little cubby of space though. Try to pick items that work double duty like a loft bed with a desk underneath. Any time you consider purchasing something for your dorm space ask yourself if you can get something that does more for you.