OK, so honestly, it IS real. The Freshman 15 is a very real thing. Many, on-campus freshman residents tend to overeat. It’s a simple fact of American college culture. Let me put this into perspective. Students eat frequently throughout the day, either at the cafeteria, local eateries, or in their dorm. Cafeteria food isn’t exactly Weight Watchers, and most of the time, it’s all-you-can-eat! There is an overwhelming imbalance between health foods and fatty foods in student dining. In cafeterias, the selection may vary from salads to grilled chicken to cereal to fried rice to pizza to ice cream to brownies. Local eateries aren’t always health-conscious either. Lastly, food kept in dorms is usually very unhealthy (mainly because food kept in dorms is snack food on reserve for whenever the cafeteria is closed). Popular dorm snacks include Oreos, Potato Chips, Goldfish, cereal, candy, and candy bars. We all know that all these things can’t possibly be good for you.

Some excuses for gorging are:

I’m paying for this food so I should make the most of my meal plan.

There’s so much food and if I don’t eat it, they’re gonna throw it away!

I can’t help it, I’m so stressed out and eating makes me feel better.

Eating helps me focus better on my schoolwork and studies.

I get enough exercise walking up all these stairs to get to class!

Many students overeat because of late nights out, late nights of studying, and the stresses of college life. Also, sleep deprivation slows down your metabolism; therefore, you gain more weight for eating the same amount of food!

Here at Bentley, on-campus Freshman residents are forced to have the “Universal Meal Plan,” meaning we get unlimited meal swipes into the cafeteria, where the food is buffet-style and is open most the time. In addition to our unlimited meal swipes, we are given $325/per semester on our student account to purchase food/snacks from some of the school’s other food vendors. These vendors are available because they offer different cuisine for students whenever they get sick-and-tired of Seasons (our cafeteria) food or whenever Seasons is closed.

The commuter situation is different though. Commuters usually don’t have this problem because they are either eating at home, or are cooking their own food.

Finally, I’ll be frank, nights of partying and drinking (not that I do either of these things) aren’t the best way to watch your calories either. Beware of the ominous Freshman 15. Stay fit and healthy!

Sincerely,

Danny Wong – Bentley University Class of 2012

The other day I was reminiscing about my dorm decision experience and recalled a few things I fussed over. I’d like to share a few of the thoughts that came to my mind with other college-bound or curious students.

What if I have roommate issues?

First of all, if you have roommate issues, your college’s Residential Life will be more than willing to help settle those concerns. For the most part, if you have roommate problems, you can bring it up with your RA, Residential Assistant, who will try to settle the issue(s). If conflicts persist, your RA can help you request a roommate switch through Residential Life. Res Life is there to help make your college experience wonderful!

How should I choose my first-year roommate?

Personal Experience: I went with a random when choosing my first-year roommate and things are great! I highly recommend choosing a random roommate for your first-year. Many people build strong and long-lasting relationships with their first-year roommates. At least, if you don’t become the best-of-friends, you will probably get along well. But just a word of caution, a random is a hit-or-miss situationthere is always the unlikely possibility that you get a nut-job of a roommate. Social events hosted by the college are another interesting way to choose your first-year roommate. Open-house for accepted students, Orientations, and Summer Programs are great ways to meet your peers and choose a potential roommate. Then again, how well can you know someone after one-day? The guy/girl could be the weirdo everyone else will be talking about! Other college freshmen have turned their attention towards social networking sites such as Myspace and Facebook to meet their peers. On the “Bentley Class of 2012” Facebook group, there is a discussion board posting called “Roommate Application.” Through this electronic medium, some incoming freshman found friends and prospective roommates. But as always, beware! Be cautious when meeting people off the Internet. Also, please note that not all colleges allow you to choose your first-year roommate. Most colleges have you fill out a questionnaire to match you with an equally interesting roommate.

Should I have more than one roommate, or any?

Opting for housing with more mates can be a great decision. The most common type of housing is the double, where you have one roommate, but other interesting options include triples and quads. For many people, the triple can be the way to go. My peers who have triples love the living situation. The room is a little bigger compared to doubles and as I like to say, the more the merrier. Quads are also fun, if not better. Quads are significantly larger than doubles and triples and with the extra room, you can bring in more stuff, or just more people and have a nice social get-together (a clean one of course, unless you, your roommates and guests are 21 or over). Lastly, you really lose out if you choose the single. Yeah, get more room for yourself and don’t have to worry about adjusting to and accommodating for another person’s lifestyle, but it gets lonely when you’re all alone, ALL THE TIME. At least with a roommate, you have the luxury of company.

What’s the deal with co-ed dorms?

Co-ed dorms. That’s in interesting issue. Here at Bentley, the dorms are co-ed, but the situation is that girls live on their own floor, or the other half of the floor with segregated bathrooms. Guests of the opposite sex are allowed in all rooms (there is no rule against it, unless you or your roommate dislike that). Other schools that aren’t co-ed may have a restriction on the opposite sex staying over past a certain hour, and may segregate the opposite sex by having all-male and all-female housing halls.  A word of caution: guys and girls go through entirely different issues, issues that the opposite sex may not be able to handle. Also, if sexual relationships build between roommates, the situation may be awkward because of the on-going relationship or because of tension after a break-up.

Well, that’s all folks.

Sincerely,

Danny Wong Bentley Class of 2012

Leave a comment or drop us any unanswered questions. To share some of your dorm experiences with the myCollegeSTAT community, reply to this post. We love to hear about the goods, the bads, and the uglies of your college experience. Thanks for sharing!

]]> http://blog.mycollegestat.com/2008/09/roommates-friend-or-foe-how-many-is-too-many-co-ed/feed/ 2 http://blog.mycollegestat.com/2008/09/why-some-colleges-suck/ http://blog.mycollegestat.com/2008/09/why-some-colleges-suck/#comments Mon, 15 Sep 2008 03:10:09 +0000 Awad http://www.mycollegestat.com/blog/?p=19

I attend Baruch College of the City University of New York. Most outside of New York City have never heard of it, though both Jennifer Lopez and Ralph Lauren attended and subsequently dropped out. That’s OK, I suppose. After all, we’re pretty well known within the city and respected for our business programs. Of particular pride for the school is that its [Graduate] Entrepreneurship program ranked 25th in the nation this year.

Hooray.

Let me clear one thing up. I believe strongly in entrepreneurship. I believe it’s part of what makes this country so great and I believe it’s all part of that great American Dream. And, I also happen to believe that the college environment lends itself to fostering entrepreneurship. We go to college for many reasons. Principally I’m told we go to learn how to learn, if that makes any sense to you. What better way to learn, than by actually going out and trying to do something. When you’re in college you don’t have the same liabilities as you do in ‘the real world’. You have loads of free time (even after studying and assignments). You have no house, no spouse, no kids, not much of anything really. You have nothing to lose. And you have everything to gain. That’s some pretty sweet upside.

One would think, then, that a school with a top ranked entrepreneurship program AND an entrepreneurship competition would encourage its students, regardless of age (or class), to take a stab at this creating businesses thing.

In our case, one would be wrong.

You see, I found out about the Baruch-Merrill Lynch Entrepreneurship Competition over the summer while I was interning at Merrill Lynch (great place to work despite all the headlines lately, btw). I thought, hey, this could be fun. So one of the first things I did when the school year started was to find out how I could join the competition. And then it went sour. I quickly found the rules page and saw that only juniors and up were eligible to apply. Thinking this was a bit strange, I contacted one Barry Dumas, who heads the program to see what was up.

What I got back was disheartening, to say the least.

You can be in the competition as a member of a qualifying team but you would not be a qualifying member.

Strange…I can be a part of another endeavor but I can’t have my own. I asked him why. The response back was chilling.

Freshman should concentrate on their education, not launching businesses

Yes, he spelled freshmen wrong. But besides that, his basic premise is simply outrageous. I was basically told that I could work my butt off for another person but I can’t do it for myself. I suppose it’s par for the course for a school that pumps out more middle management than any other school in the country, but that does not make it right. Should freshmen (look I can spell!) be worried about their grades? Sure. Should upperclassmen worry any less about their grades? I certainly hope not.

So why then should we exclude a certain group from an otherwise university-wide competition? There is no rational justification. After all, Baruch being a commuter school with NO student housing (implying most of the student population does not have to adjust to some new dorm life far away from home) does not exactly have the same college-y atmosphere as many other schools do. In fact, it’s only 2 more stops on the subway than my old high school commute.

This sends a horrible message. It says that, while the school may give lip service to a variety of student activities it offers its commuter students, it’s all a load of crap. It says the school does not really encourage entrepreneurship or other creative pursuits. And, worst of all, it says the school just does not get how it has students who are willing to spend time and effort outside of the classroom to learn and are being turned down.

That’s a freaking shame.

-Awad