Being in a triple dorm room has several problems, but for starters, it’s even smaller than it sounds. For me, it means I have to live an entire two semesters without my own closet because I was unlucky enough to be given the latest move-in time slot available. Whoever had to or is currently suffering through this experience: I feel your pain. Fortunately, I’m here to assure you that living in a triple dorm isn’t too bad.

Pros 

There’s more food available

Some might consider this a negative, as an extra person means a more stuffed fridge — but I don’t see it that way. For one, the fridge in our suite is never empty, meaning there will always be something delicious to munch on when you don’t feel like combing the exhaustion out of your hair in order to look presentable in the outside world. If your roommates are as friendly as mine are, they’ll happily let you share their food! 

Just remember that you can only expect to be treated a certain way if you reciprocate. Unfortunately, I’ve had to part ways with a fair share of my beloved pizza Hot Pockets over the course of the semester, but it meant nearly unlimited access to ramen and macaroni and cheese, which I think is more than fair. As long as you can offer something to them, you’ll never be hungry yourself.

It’s more difficult to get locked out of your room

Some might consider this one a reach, but if you do the math (and I know most of you can do math), it’s actually pretty simple. The more people in your room, the greater the likelihood someone’s there when you neglect to take your key with you on that late-night Chipotle run. Also, there’s an added bonus! Because there are more people in your room than it was designed to reasonably hold, this also means you never actually have to remember to take your key with you every time you leave the room.

There are more friends to go around.

OK, so we’ve already established that most of you can do basic math, so let’s apply it one more time. Imagine a bubble consisting of everyone you consider part of your friend group. Now imagine another bubble constituting the friend group of your roommates’. A third roommate only means more friends to meet and more options when finding something to do on a weekend or free afternoon. You can make your room the centralization of kickbacks or even hang out with your roommates’ friends when you want to meet more people. Any expansion of your social network is certainly a good thing! 

Cons

There’s less space

This one’s pretty self-explanatory, and unfortunately, unavoidable. As I previously mentioned, I no longer have a closet to myself, meaning all of my clothes have found residency sandwiched among each other in the little dresser space I do have. Fortunately, this allows for you and your respective roommates to enhance your critical thinking skills and become personal architects. Upon moving in, I had the brilliant idea to stack the two shelves horizontally on top of the five-drawer dresser. However, be warned: Everyday activities involving our prized sculpture have become a life-size game of Jenga; one wrong movement and the whole thing collapses, causing all of our possessions to cascade to the ground. Also, whoever has the top bunk should hone their climbing skills; we didn’t have space to put the ladder anywhere, so my brave roommate (pray for him) has to literally climb into and out of bed each day.

Alone time is virtually nonexistent

Say goodbye to private phone calls and silence in your living space. Having alone time in your room will become a privilege of the past and extremely hard to come by. Luckily for you, the stairwells in your dorm definitely have better Wi-Fi anyway, so my recommendation is that you get comfortable making FaceTime calls to friends and loved ones from the comfort of cold metal steps. If you’re someone who cherishes their peace and quiet as much as I do, this might be a difficult adjustment, especially considering it will rarely be quiet in your room. I’d recommend investing in a nice pair of AirPods and/or earplugs if you’re a light sleeper. Odds are, one of your roommates snores, so don’t be surprised when you wake up from a beautiful dream about being finished with assignments in the middle of the night by unwelcoming sounds. 

If you’re like me, you try not to dwell on things you can’t control. Luckily, you have virtually no control over your housing contract, so leave those worries behind! Living in a triple dorm is certainly a major adjustment, but hopefully, the bright side has become just a little bit clearer.