Pros & Cons: Rooming with someone vs living alone!?!?

[beef curtains]

So in the 3 years I've spent in apartments, I've always had at least 2 roommates and its always worked out well.
I initially had been thinking about getting my own place once I moved to Houston, but my school suggested that we live with other people in the program. I called the other 2 girls, one said no, and one said maybe but probably no.
I'd been vaguely excited to live by myself, then was thinking it would be nice to room with someone who'd be a built in study partner, but have now been rejected pretty much. Unless I start calling the guys (keep in mind these are all total strangers), I'm going to be by myself.
For those of you who've lived in both situations, which do you liek better?
I think I'd be pretty lonely by myself, but it might be better than rooming with someone who I didn't end up getting along with.

Thoughts?

[Affectation]

I prefer solo.

I've never had a roommate, so I'm quite biased.

If you are going to be busy 60-70 hours a week you ought to live alone, even if the people you'd be living with are in the same program. You gotta have some alone time. You'll make friends with the people in the program and perhaps find someone you want to live with, but I definetely wouldn't do it potluck style.

Moving 2,500 miles away will be hard enough without living with a random stranger.

[beef curtains]

Originally posted by The Ace of Aces
If you are going to be busy 60-70 hours a week you ought to live alone, even if the people you'd be living with are in the same program. You gotta have some alone time. You'll make friends with the people in the program and perhaps find someone you want to live with, but I definetely wouldn't do it potluck style.

Moving 2,500 miles away will be hard enough without living with a random stranger.

that was my initial thought and what my mom told me, but i get really lonely and bored easily, and i feel like i might not socialize without a roommate? not that i'll have that much time, but i don't want to spend every friday night in my solo apt crying b/c i don't have any friends. i think i'm a bit paranoid about all this.
although i'd def rather be alone than be with someone i hate, i guess i just wish one of the girls i'd spoken with was a bit like me and interested in a roomie. meh

Originally posted by So very sad about me


that was my initial thought and what my mom told me, but i get really lonely and bored easily, and i feel like i might not socialize without a roommate? not that i'll have that much time, but i don't want to spend every friday night in my solo apt crying b/c i don't have any friends. i think i'm a bit paranoid about all this.
although i'd def rather be alone than be with someone i hate, i guess i just wish one of the girls i'd spoken with was a bit like me and interested in a roomie. meh

the way you made it sound in that other thread, it didn't sound like you'll have much time to get bored and lonely.

just cuz you have a rooomate doesn't mean you'll make friends with them. they may end up being the last person you want to do stuff with. i'm being pessimistic but if you've had any sort of roommate you probably know how you end up seeing all their negative qualities.

anyway, i wouldn't make the roomate decision based on the desire to make friends. i'm socially challenged, but when i moved from atlanta to milwaukee and lived alone i was albe to find friends cuz i met so many other people doing the same program i was doing. i lived alone for two years there and despite fits of boredom and loneliness, i enjoyed it.

[mirrar]

i'd say with a roommate. last year she was a bit of a bitch but it's still comforting to have someone around.. this year i ended up with a random girl after putting an ad online and i love her to death, she's like my sister and we get along incredibly well and lean on each other a whole lot...

[Ihaman]

I'm never doing the roomate thing, again.

[Orchestra]

Originally posted by Mirror_Untrue

Need another?=D

[mirrar]

Originally posted by Orchestra

Need another?=D

yes!

[sppunk]

I say alone. Houston people like to murder, so you're chance of being killed is dramatically cut down if you can limit the number of people you come into contact with.












Just kidding. But I still say alone, simply for alone time and the like.

[meow]

Its easier to try it alone first than to have a roommate and kick them out.

You will be super busy anyways, so i would try it alone for a bit.. If you prefer the company, then you can always keep your ears open around campus.

its better than rooming with someone and bailing on them because they are a shitty roommate!

[scouse_dave]

roomie all the wayy....

even if your roomie is an arsehole, they might have some non-arsehole friends...

[meow]

i want a big texas hamburger.

[pink_ribbon_scars]

If your roommate is in your program, she's going to be incredibly busy, too, so odds are you'd still be able to have home alone time if you want it. I had a roommate who was in the Economics PhD program at the U of Chicago (which is obscenely difficult) and he was out all day studying and classing it up from 8am to 11pm. So he wasn't really in the way.

I don't know what I would do if I was you. I've never lived alone but I'm afraid if I did I would be lonely, too.

I posted this in your LJ but I'll repost it here. Although I do enjoy living alone, I can't wait till the spring when I get a roommate...

re's my $0.02, for what it's worth.
I've lived alone for a year and a half in a small bachlor pad. By small, I mean I have four walls and a bathroom. I can sit on my bed and stir my spaghetti sauce on the oven.

That out of the way, I have to say for the most part I've really enjoyed living alone. I learned a lot about myself in the process: that I'm a good cook, that my cleanliness habits leave a lot to be desired, that toilets are in fact not self cleaning, but actually disgusting. I've also learned that it sure has come in handy when I was balancing a full time job and going to school full time. I'd come home, eat something quick, and basically pass out wherever I damn well pleased. And clothes? Those are a thing you wear when you're not at home...

My advice is that if you find an apartment by yourself, you need it to be bigger then a bachlor pad. You need to be able to get up and move to another room, even if it is just from the kitchen to the bedroom. Otherwise, those same four walls start to close in on you, until you want to scream at the top of your lungs.
When do roommates come in handy the most? In rotating cleaning / cooking schedules, in sharing bill payments, in having someone around to talk to... But if you don't know the person or don't like them, then this is a moot point. However, on days when I've got a cold and my stomach is having a congo party, I'd wish there was nothing more on earth then a person who could go buy me some ginger ale and kleenex and microwave me some soup.

Get a pet that requires low maintenance. Oh, you said you have two cats. Yeah. Keep those cats. I wish I had pets around to talk to sometimes. My stuffed animals just can't carry on a good conversation...

[Nimrod's Son]

Solo is better, but you just need to weigh privacy vs. cost. It depends on what the cost is where you are. Here, living alone would cost me an arm and a leg. In college, I did it without a problem.

[beef curtains]

YAAAAAY!!!

The girl who'd originally said "no" then "maybe" called me this morning to say she'd be my roomie.
She said she doesn't mind cats, so I think we're set.

It really is going to be the best way for me to go I think. I'll be saving about $100 - 200 per month just by having a 2 bed 2 bath instead of a 1 bed apartment, just in rent alone. Then comes in the fact that we'll be sharing utilities. That and we're in the same program, and its extremely expensive to park at the hospital, so hopefully we can carpool.
Between the 60 hr work weeks, and barely being at home, its hard to tell myself I should buy cable, and pay $600 for somewhere to sleep if I'm never there...
Also, it means my cats will get a bit more social interaction. At least they won't be alone all the time (we'll be on rotating call schedules).

My roomie's from south dakota though. :erm

Edit: and considering I have to take out a $20,000 private loan (can't get govt funding for this program), and can't work at all for the next year, saving money's going to be my biggest issue...

You should have a roommate, actually.

Move out on your own AFTER the program.

[jczeroman]

Originally posted by Affectation
I prefer solo.

I've never had a roommate, so I'm quite biased.

[Nimrod's Son]

Originally posted by So very sad about me
Edit: and considering I have to take out a $20,000 private loan (can't get govt funding for this program), and can't work at all for the next year, saving money's going to be my biggest issue...

Why can't you work for a year?

[beef curtains]

Originally posted by Nimrod's Son
Why can't you work for a year?

because i'll be working 60 hrs at the hospital and taking call as part of my schooling....

[Nimrod's Son]

Originally posted by So very sad about me


because i'll be working 60 hrs at the hospital and taking call as part of my schooling....

60+ hours working for free? An internship?

I have never heard of a 60 hour/wk internship.

[beef curtains]

Originally posted by Nimrod's Son
60+ hours working for free? An internship?

I have never heard of a 60 hour/wk internship.

Its a graduate certification program. As part of it, I attend lectures. As the other part, I gain clinical experience in the operating room. And it isn't free. I'm paying them $15,000 for it.

[I_was_aborted]

Originally posted by pink_ribbon_scars
If your roommate is in your program, she's going to be incredibly busy, too, so odds are you'd still be able to have home alone time if you want it. I had a roommate who was in the Economics PhD program at the U of Chicago (which is obscenely difficult) and he was out all day studying and classing it up from 8am to 11pm. So he wasn't really in the way.

I don't know what I would do if I was you. I've never lived alone but I'm afraid if I did I would be lonely, too.

I lived with the same roomate she did and we had big problems. Sure he wasn't home except to eat(make dishes) and play my xbox (take up the living room).....but those were the two things that really got on my nerves. I enjoy a somewhat clean kitchen and also being able to relax in the living room. Oh did I mention he bitched anytime we listened to music at night? The other roomate we had was so fucking uptight I didn't really leave my room when I was home with her, good thing that was only 3 months. I hated having a roomate. The only people I've lived with that I enjoyed were my girlfriend and one of my guy friends that I have known forever. Otherwise people just make messes and get in the way. If I ever move out from living with Liz I will either live alone or only with my friends I am in a band with(have know these guys forever). Roomates suck.

[pink_ribbon_scars]

Originally posted by I_was_aborted

I lived with the same roomate she did and we had big problems. Sure he wasn't home except to eat(make dishes) and play my xbox (take up the living room).....but those were the two things that really got on my nerves. I enjoy a somewhat clean kitchen and also being able to relax in the living room. Oh did I mention he bitched anytime we listened to music at night?

Excellent points. Grad students make all kinds of excuses because "they're so busy". But if you're going to be a grad student, too, then you might have a little more leverage.