By Jacob Bernard
SC Contributing Writer

For the many incoming freshmen approaching ESU in a van or U-Haul, (depending on whether you decided to bring your entire room from home, of course) you probably had various, entirely reasonable thoughts going through your heads.

“I wonder if I’ll get along with my roommate.”

“Who am I going to sit with at lunch tomorrow?”

“I packed deodorant, right?”

For those of us who were saved by an averaged-size entering class, we did not have the worrisome thought of having to live in a triple, or worse, a triple in a traditional dorm.

This year’s freshmen class entering ESU have something more to worry about besides stomaching Dansbury’s mystery meat.

“Currently right now we’re at 1,338 freshmen; that is perhaps the second largest freshman class in the history of the school,” said director of admissions Jeff Jones.

For a class size 2.6 percent larger than last years’ alone, newcomers must overcome a rigorous adjustment in their dorm.

As one freshman commented, “Doing homework hasn’t been easy.” This is due to the expected, yet now enhanced distractions that come with the baggage of a crowded dorm room.

Yet, some freshmen have posed some advantages to living in a triple.

“Living in a triple has made making friends easier,” one student commented.

There are financial advantages to living in a triple dorm room.

University officials tell us students living in tight quarters get a $50 dollar rebate per week.

Some may even be convinced to think that there is an advantage to staying in a triple, for freshman year at least.

This argument is made despite the near complete lack floor space, and ignoring those who have to trek up to the top bunk and feel suffocated while afraid of the possibility of falling off mid slumber.

Floor space and possible head trauma are not the only disadvantages the freshmen face. They are faced with a more challenging adjustment on top of adjusting to college life itself.

Adjusting yourself from what is likely a private, personal room at home where you probably made a comfortable environment for yourself, to all of the sudden being told you must share your belongings with two other people is a lot to process for these freshmen.

Not only must they adjust their lifestyle into a new unknown environment, but they are also entering an entire new arena.

They are attempting to find their niche on campus, with numerous clubs and activities being presented to them to join. As freshmen they may not think much of it, but this is the time of identifying who they are and becoming their own individual.

Yet, this may be hard to accomplish when they are entering a whirlwind of an environment that they must now call home for six months out of the year.

As a rebuttal, students are told that they have the option of going to a lounge or to the library to make their own oasis. They were also warned in advance about being tripled in their dorm.

However, shouldn’t these students have the leisurely option of having a sense of home in their dorm?

A dorm should be the one place where they feel most invited and welcome, their own 12X16 foot welcome mat, not a shoebox stuffed with furniture and people.

Email Jacob at:
jbernard1@live.esu.edu