Why would Anyone Live Like This?

Question

I'll be attending college soon, and apparently the college I'm going to has community bathrooms that are shared by the members of that floor instead of having bathrooms in the dorms themselves! How can someone live everyday waking up, going outside their dorms into a shared bathroom to take a shower? Is college life going to be the worst thing ever, or was the college website I went to not giving me enough info? Did everyone here have to go through the same thing while living in college? What was it like? I'm not very interested in sharing a bathroom with more than two people. And I'm sure there'll be more than two people on that one floor. Won't we all be fighting for a chance to take a shower in the morning? Don't all colleges have common sense to put bathrooms inside the dorms? Anyways my dreams of going to college have been shattered halfway. Can anyone give me some reassurance that it won't be that bad?

The fact is I'm paying for this, the least the colleges could do is get rid of community bathrooms. It's not a matter of being spoiled but who could enjoy sharing a bathroom with strangers. It's not like highschool. I have to shower this time!

Answer 1

Be reassured. You will almost definitely be sharing a bathroom with more than two people, but it really isn't all that bad--lots of socializing can occur in those bathrooms while you wait a few minutes. If you really don't want to wait, you can figure out when no one is usually in there (like really early in the morning) and shower then.

Virtually every dormitory I have ever seen has community bathrooms, but they are inside the dormitory building, not outside of it. My dorm had one or two bathrooms on every floor of each wing. It was rare that we ever had to wait for a toilet. On rare occasions I had to wait a minute or two for a shower, but most of the girls were nice about not hogging the facilities. While we were waiting, we could always leave our "john bucket" (which had soap, shampoo, etc.) to reserve a place in the shower line and then go to the sink to brush teeth, etc. If we wanted, I guess we could have gone to a bathroom in another wing, but I didn't notice that happening--probably because the waits were never that long. The main thing I remember about the community showers was that because my dorm was old, the water temperature would get much hotter when someone flushed the toilet. Therefore, if someone was in the shower, we were supposed to yell "Flush" before doing and wait for an "Okay." That would allow the person in the shower time to step away from the direct spray to eliminate the possibility of getting a burn.

My sister lived in one dorm where each of four girls had a tiny bedroom--barely big enough for a bed, dresser, and desk. They shared a "living" room and a bathroom. There was no kitchen--they had to eat in the cafeteria.

During his freshman year, my son's dorm had a community bathroom. Since his dorm was co-ed (as were most), the wings were separated for men and women, so only guys used his bathroom. They each had small lockers in the bathroom for their personal items. He was in an on-campus apartment his second year where each of four boys had a small bedroom, but shared a living room, dining area, and kitchen. There were two bathrooms, so two shared each of them.

Answer 2

Your question and the panic in it point to how the world is changing. Many of us went to schools and shared a bath with all the people on our dorm floor, and it was no big deal. Until just a few years ago, that was the norm at every school.

Everyone is on different schedules so in four years, I can only remember a handful of times when I had to wait a little bit --never to the point of being late. And frankly, in the girl's dorm it ended up being kind of fun as there would be a bunch of us getting ready to go out in the evening and we'd be sharing makeup and talking about our plans for the evening, or encouraging each other when someone was nervous about a new experience--it was not the horrible experience you seem to anticipate at all.

In my experience, it was also much cleaner and more sanitary than the bathrooms in my friend's apartments. They certainly weren't cleaning on a regular basis, but we had someone looking after our bathroom and showers multiple times during the day.

Have you read any of the comments from people wondering why college keeps getting more expensive? It's because of things like this: students who prioritize creature comfort, a smorgasboard of made-to-order dining options, suites or private rooms with private baths. . . . more and more colleges are forced to meet these demands but you do pay for it. Believe me, faculty salaries aren't what is driving up the cost of your education.

Save your worries for real issues, like getting good grades, advancing confidently in your career options, being smart and safe as you are probably living away from home and making independent decisions for the first time. The shared bath is not anything to freak about, honest!

Answer 3

No one cares. Everyone has different morning classes anyway. The are generally enough so that no one has to wait. I've never met any college student who even bothered by this. I wouldn't say anything once you got there or people will think you're a spoiled princess.

Answer 4

Ah-the shared bathrooms. All part the the experience. Deal with it for a year so you can say you did it, then find an apartment for the following year.

Answer 5

Obviously, you have never been in the military. That's the way it is.