by Team Vico

Created on: August 16, 2010   Last Updated: August 17, 2010

First year at college can mean first year away from home in a number of cases. If you are not used to sharing your space, it can prove a challenge to learn how to live in a small space with another person, particularly a stranger.

I have drawn up the following points to consider in favour of sharing a room in college:

•  Loneliness: if this is your first ever long term venture outside of your family home, it can be a great comfort to have roommate.

•  Diversity: as your roommate may be allocated by your college, you have the chance to get to know someone that you may not get an opportunity to meet otherwise. It is a great exercise in getting along with other people that you will not only use in college, but in other areas of your life including the workplace.

• Comfort zone: modern living supports isolation, particularly in areas of greater economic power. We have so much available that sharing is usually either unnecessary or would be without any consideration. Stepping out of our comfort zones provides room for growth of our personalities and can be character building.

•  Expenses; having a roommate cuts down on the cost of having your own place. This money can be reinvested into other ventures during your time at college. Let's face it, the more funds available during this time the better!

•  Friendship: if you are lucky enough to have common interests or better yet, to get along well with your roommate, this can open avenues to new friends, social events etc.

I have listed a few of many benefits to sharing a room. There are, of course, disadvantages that can be considered too. I think the main point here it that along with the benefits, it is an exercise in developing your character, conflicts handling ability setting up skills to use in real world scenarios which there will be plenty of opportunities in the future to use.   

It could also be argued that you could reach a point in your life whereby letting out a room in your house or sharing an apartment, for example, may be something that you have to do for financial or other reasons. Leaning these skills earlier in your life in a smaller environment can provide you with the ground work for picking suitable flatmates to share with.

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