Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Molly Malino: Dorms=Freedom, House=Responsibilities


Molly Malino is a sophomore at the University of Colorado. She lives off campus and loves her new housing situation her second year at CU, but misses the dorm life she experienced last year. She’s going to continue living off campus, but has her reasons for suggesting staying on campus as long as you can.

House v.s. Dorms:

How would you compare your living experience from last year to this year? Better or worse?

"I would say that last year was probably better for the fact that it’s more, like, community, so it’s a lot more fun to be able to run down the halls and have people there, and you don’t have to buy food. There’s no bills, no money needs to be spent if you don’t want it to – that’s better."

Would you rather be in the dorms or a house?

"Well, I don’t know. I like having my own room, which is definitely a bonus of being in the house, but in the dorms, its like, a little more social, so I get a lot more work done here – So I don’t know."

If you had to list an advantage and disadvantage for each, what would be your top points?

"The advantage of the dorm is the 'freeness' of it – the fact that you have all your friends around. But then the advantages of the house is that you get to have your own room and you get to kind of have your own time and you get a lot more homework done. Disadvantages of the dorms: you never get any work done, but another advantage – it’s a lot easier to get to class. And then a disadvantage about the house is that it’s really hard to get to class, and you don’t see people as much."

Freshmen Advice:

What advice would you give to freshmen considering staying in the dorms another year versus looking for a house?

"If you took advantage of the dorms your first year, I would definitely say do it again because its kind of more fun, and its, like, the one time you can get away with living on your dad’s buck, and like, run around acting like a little college kid, but at the same time, like, a house is nice to grow up a little bit, so it kind of just depends on what you’re looking for. If you’re looking for responsibilities and mature ness, probably get a house, but if you’re looking to like, have fun and like, be a little immature freshman then it’s good to stay in the dorms."

Roommates:

What is your opinion on living with a roommate you know versus someone you don’t? Advantages/disadvantages?

"The disadvantages of going to the dorms the first time is that you don’t know who you’re getting roomed with, so, it could really be, like, really bad because if you don’t get along with you’re roommate then that’s a year of… not fun. And you’re stuck in a room with them, so if you don’t get along then that really is a bummer. But the problem with choosing your friends to live with is that, you can be friends with someone, but you don’t know what they’re like when you live with them, so they’re usually completely different. It’s a big problem. You can, like, love how they are when you hang out with them, but when you actually start living with someone, it completely changes the friendship. So, I think its probably better, freshman year, to live with someone you don’t know then to pick a friend, but then sophomore year, I wouldn’t pick your best friend, but I would definitely pick people that you know have similar habits to you. It’s one thing to have your best friend, and you’ll always have your best friend, but it’s another thing to have to see that person every single day and have to share a bathroom with them."

An example of off-campus living.


Interview:

  • The methods for my interview included recording each of my two interviews and later transcribing them word for word in order to get direct quotes.
  • Molly was my roommate in the dorms, as well as my current roommate in our house.
  • The interview went very well and Molly had a very strong opinion on how the dorms were better than living in a house for social reasons. However, as far as keeping up with academics, she agrees houses are better for studying.
  • What I have learned from this is experience is that next time, I should ask different follow-up questions in order to gain more of an insight.
By: Sabra Potter

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