Author Barbara Dana once said, “A good roommate may be the single most important thing to have when one is away at school.” While she was completely correct in saying this, she would even have to agree that the measures taken to insure a good roommate have gotten out of control. Maureen Dowd, an Award Winning Columnist, in her article, Don’t Send In The Clones, she expounds on this statement and reveals some negative changes that up and coming college students are making. The way one learns to live with the stranger that we have been thrown into the same room with is one of the most important years of our lives teaching us valuable life lessons. Your roommate exposes you to different kinds of people and personalities that may not be familiar and prepares you for dealing with these people. Now a days students are using the Internet to match themselves to roommates with similar personalities and we are seeing how this can be harmful to ones development.
When you choose to be randomly paired with someone you go into the situation with an open mind. It can be guaranteed that the person you are roomed with will be different than you in some way, and that you will have to adapt in order to cope with those differences. For example, in Dalton Conley’s article on college roommates, which is almost parallel to that of Dowd’s, he mentions a survey by a sociologist at Cornell that found, in 2002, the white students who were assigned to a roommate of a different race, ended up more open minded about race. Being exposed to differences that may be new and unfamiliar, and learning how to cope with them, is an experience one would miss out on if they had matched themselves to the ‘perfect’ roommate.
Dowd stated that, “Choosing roommates w...
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... a different manner saying that the Internet divides the world into niches, keeping those who are the same together. While this is a great tool to finds people who share your interests and beliefs, it restricts our ability to expose ourselves to new people and experiences. Basically it keeps us from living life to the fullest.
Between the articles of Dowd and Conley one can clearly see the benefits that go along with entering college with a randomly selected roommate. Whether it is preparing for marriage, or simply preparing for the stubborn people who you will meet in life, and you will meet plenty of those, that first year of college is key in ones preparation for those situations. So forget the ‘perfect roommate’ dream, it is an unattainable and frankly foolish one to have. It is the imperfection and serendipity that seamlessly makes the experience perfect.
... can provide, as well as what it can be to any user. This online environment known as the Internet can allow for an astounding amount of exploration on the romantic level as well as the more personal level; exploration in a generality. Not only does it provide a rich environment for exploration, but also a breeding ground for positive encounters and realizations through the virtual worlds it provides. The Internet can be many things to many people; it’s just a matter of how we want to use it.
Our literature review consisted of six scholarly articles that were studies done on students who were going into college. The first article that we found focused on how important communication is when it comes to making friends. McEwan & Guerrero (2010) talked about the benefits of communication before getting to know someone. We based our questions off of this article regarding communication in order to find out about roommate interactions.
In Jennie Capo Crucet 's essay, “Taking My Parents To College,” Crucet describes her own experience as a freshman college student who was faced with many challenges that were unknown to her, as well as the cluelessness of what the beginning of her freshman year would look like. I felt like the biggest impression Crucet left on me while I was reading her essay, was the fact that I can relate to her idea of the unknown of college life. Throughout her essay, she described her personal experiences, and the factors one might face as a freshman college student which involved the unknown and/or uncertainty of what this new chapter would bring starting freshman year of college. Crucet’s essay relates to what most of us
In Jennine Crucet’s story, “Taking My Parents to College” she really explains to the reader how challenging it was leaving home and starting a new chapter in her life. When the author and her family first arrived to Cornell University, they were sitting there when the dean ended his speech with: “Now, parents, please: Go!” Being a first generation college student Crucet nor her family had any idea that they were not supposed to stay for orientation and had to leave her as soon as they got her settled in. They did not even have all the right materials and supplies that she needed to begin with by stating, “Every afternoon that week, we had to go back to the only department store we could find, the now-defunct Ames, for some stupid thing we hadn’t known was a necessity, something not in our budget: shower shoes, extra-long twin sheets, mesh laundry bags.” Both Crucet and I suffered from similar issues during our first few weeks on our new journey in college and we both had no idea what was ahead of us.
As I thought of this article, many of the issues I have faced as a single Hmong woman in her mid-twenties came to mind. Should I discuss the functional reasons why marriage is so important in the Hmong culture, especially for women? Or do I talk about the lack of eligible, older Hmong men? Better yet, should I complain about the attempts by my relatives to find me a good husband as if it were an unfortunate circumstance that I was single instead of a conscious choice? Thinking it over, though, I decided that all those questions boiled down to one fundamental truth – the Hmong community is still trying to learn how to treat the increasing number of Hmong women who, like me, are making the choice to stay single in their mid-twenties.
College can be a scarce transition for individuals, especially for the ones who have lived at home their whole lives. While college is said to be one of the best experiences, there are negative factors that eventually add up. Students who live under their parents roofs or attend high school, usually have their day-to-days lives planned. A typical day in the life of a student may be going to school for eight hours, participating in an activity after school, coming home to a home-cooked meal, and going to bed. Where, college is the first year a student may experience more independence and a non-planned agenda. Most individuals know when going to college they’re going to miss the familiar feeling of their hometown, home-made meals, and their own
... the same factors explored in this essay. Prejudices and ignorance play enormous roles with interactions. It’s not our goal to fix these issues but rather understand why they happen. College campuses are great for seeing how certain backgrounds can influence a relationship. Many of the relationships of the students where doomed from the beginning, because they were simply too different and they were not used to it. The only way a difference in factors such as race and class would be fine were those where both roomies had backgrounds that included previous interactions with those of different races and classes allowing for them to adjust easily.
I was in 1st grade when I found out that I had a learning disability. I still
It is not as easy as people say and think it is. It is more fun than how some people describe. The experience is beneficial for everyone to have. It has the potential to be a new start and the beginning of a bright future. It can bring a new career to an individual. Being a college student is what I’m talking about. There are a number of varying points of view on college.
A very common concern that faces many high school students today in the world is whether they go to college or not. There are many factors in whether a student is eligible to attend a college or not. They have to have enough money to cover the cost, prepare early, and choosing what they want to attend college for. These are some of the many issues that might occur when a student starts to think or plan on going to a college.
When we are young, we all have our own unique dreams and aspirations for what we wish to do when we are “older.” As we grow older, we begin to realize that some of our dreams are unattainable, while others are able to achieve their dreams. Whether one is the first person or the latter, we are spoon-fed the idea of attending college. We all hear how college is our “gateway to success,” and how “our entire lives depend on college.” Pressures bear down on high school students, telling them that they must attend college to be capable of anything in life. But people do not realize the detriments that are also associated with attending college. Students should not be pushed to attend colleges as there could be several factors that play in a student’s
College is a new setting for most students, especially the ones no longer living at home. The transition can be easy and worry-free, or a challenging and stressful time. Brougham states, “Growth and change were often accompanied by the experience of stress. The cause of stress varies from person to person. Overall there can be similarities such as ’academics, social relationships, finances, daily hassles and family relationships’ (Brougham, 2009, pg 86). As student, academics is the reason why we are in school; we are aiming to get educated and to learn. Family relationships vary from student to student depending on how close the family is. My immediate family and extended family have such a close bond that when I am needed at home, I drop everything for them. Social relationships are smaller support systems individuals can count on. Finances all come down to economic status and a person’s unique financial aid package. Daily hassles range from what I should wear today to not having enough time in a day.
Most students are introduced to a whole new world when coming to college. For many, it is the first time they are on their own. College is a very different culture than high school. It takes time for most students to get acclimated to the college lifestyle. During a college student’s years at college they will partake in situations they never dealt with before. Most have never been to parties that last till about 4am with all the alcohol they can drink. A lot are also not used to having to share a bedroom with one or more persons, the heavy work load in the classrooms, and for some actually paying school tuition. The day to day college life is different for majority of first time college students.
Having a job made me fear starting college because I knew it was going to be a lot of weight on my shoulders. Though, I knew if I wanted a better life that meant I would have to go back to school. Meaning I had to do both school and work because of my car payment and other bills. After a year of being out from high school, I decided to take a chance and start college. Getting an education has always caused stressed upon me. School did not come easily to me, like how it does for most others. College is not easy to handle when you are having to juggle time, work, and other responsibilities.
College is an exhilarating time, especially for the students at the University of Iowa. Young adults are finally out of the house and given the freedom to do whatever, whenever. They have the option of going to new places and staying out late, all without the need of parental consent. This is the time for discovering new interests, meeting new people, learning, and finding oneself. College may sound like the perfect place, however, not everyone is excited for this change. Many students struggle adapting to this new environment full of choices. Not only are they having to leave their families that they have lived with for the past eighteen years, but they are also having to leave behind their homes, pets, schools, and friends. To top it all