Living alone or with roommate(s)?

[CBclone]

Hopefully will be living alone. I've priced 1-bd vs 2-bd where I'm moving and per person, per month, they're about equal with the 1-bds being slightly higher. The places I have my eye on are all "all-inclusive" so no varying utility bills month to month. Most of the 2-bds, once utilities are included (and I went off averages given by landlords), they're as much if not more than the 1-bds. And I've lived alone for almost two years, plus one other stint of about 8 months in undergrad, and it. is. glorious. I'm also a bit of an introvert and love my personal space and place. I'm excited to have a quiet place to study and relax away from campus.

 

I'll go out if I want to socialize and living alone, there's not nearly as much pressure to go out when you don't want to. 

[Guest]

I'm going to my destination next month (Washington DC) in order to go apartment hunting. However, as of now, I'm the opposite of many people. I lived all of my four year of undergrad alone in an off campus studio. No regrets, I guess. But, I guess that having a roommate might have helped me make a bit more 'long-lasting' friends now since I am about finished with undergrad.

 

At the moment, I know that DC is expensive as hell. But aside from family and extended relatives, I've also never lived with any stranger. I come  from a cultured,over-sheltered, and private household. And no, I do not know ANYONE in DC at the moment and am no where close to DC at the moment. If I was to ever get a roommate, I would prefer for them to also be a grad student..along with having separate rooms/baths. I'm probably going to be in DC for the long run, even after grad school. So, I am thinking about that as well.

Edited April 6, 2015 by Guest

[emibrz300]

Is it weird that I would want to live with roommates during my first year? I just feel like if I lived completely alone, I would be so antisocial all the time. I need to socialize once in a while, but I retreat back to my room during most of my little time at home. Maybe I'll be able to explore places with them? I wouldn't know anyone else there.

 

Then again, I've never lived alone before. So maybe I could like it better. I actually spent most of my undergrad years sharing a room because rent is so expensive in CA. So having my own room would already make me feel like I have a lot of space to myself. 

 

I don't think it's weird at all. Maybe I've just had really good room mates the past couple of years, because it seems totally normal to have them to me. I'm starting grad school in the fall and it didn't even occur to me to live alone... As soon as I pick my school I'm going to start reaching out for room mates!

[scarvesandcardigans]

Is it weird that I would want to live with roommates during my first year? I just feel like if I lived completely alone, I would be so antisocial all the time. I need to socialize once in a while, but I retreat back to my room during most of my little time at home. Maybe I'll be able to explore places with them? I wouldn't know anyone else there.

 

Then again, I've never lived alone before. So maybe I could like it better. I actually spent most of my undergrad years sharing a room because rent is so expensive in CA. So having my own room would already make me feel like I have a lot of space to myself. 

 

I'm kind of in the same boat about living with someone during grad school. My last 2 years in undergrad I lived alone in an efficiency, and it was hard to socialize because I was always the one having to go out since you can't really entertain guests in an oversized closet. I want that private space, but I also want to make friends and have a social circle since I will know absolutely no one. The only difference is that almost all of the other years that I had a roommate, something went wrong. It was probably because we lived in cramped rooms and my roommates usually had boyfriends over 24/7 or didn't clean/respect the space, which caused tension, and I am incredibly introverted.

 

One of my boyfriend's friends will be in her senior year at the university that I am going to, and she is quiet and clean, I guess pretty introverted like me, and has offered me a pretty good deal about living 2 people to a 4-bed, 4-bath apartment for around $600 each, all-inclusive. The only "problem" is having to commute every day, and then what happens when she graduates, but otherwise it's a pretty good offer. If I don't live with her I'd probably live in a studio apartment by myself. I reached out for roommates in the local housing Facebook group but got anxious when I started getting a bunch of offers. It might be nice to live with multiple people to diffuse tension though....

 

Thoughts?

[MathCat]

I'd like to be living alone, but the housing where I'm going is extremely expensive. The only way I'll be able to afford it is if I can get into the university subsidized 1 bedroom apartments... that have a 2 year waiting list. So I'm on the waitlist for that, and I guess I'll be having a roommate for the first couple of years (also in university subsidized housing, but I'm only guaranteed a spot in the 2 bedroom apartments they have). If it's well-matched, a roommate could be good, but I'm worried it's going to be hell. I really need some privacy and solitude for my sanity. We'll see, I guess. I have no control over who my roommate will be.

[rising_star]

scarvesandcardigans, honestly having a 4bd/4ba with just 2 people living in it could be kinda awesome. You can each have your own office (one of your 2 bedrooms) and a bedroom. Or, you could set up one of the bedrooms as a second living room. That way there would be plenty of space to have a boyfriend/girlfriend over. For your second year, you either move or find another roommate. A lot of grad students deal with moving or having to find other roommates. It's really common. I moved almost every single year of grad school for various reasons.

 

At any rate, you never know if your roommate will start dating someone while you're living together. My first year in grad school, I was single and so was my roommate. By the end of that year, neither of us was single and neither of us saw it coming when we agreed to live together. Knowing what you're getting into might be easier, to be honest.

[Catria]

But is roomiematch.com a good place to look for roommates?