Rental Guide: Weisel: The pros and cons of coed living

Call me old-fashioned, but when I was younger I assumed that when I enrolled in college I would live with a bunch of other girls and that we would bond and have sleepovers and talk about boys and be best friends forever in our own little girl-world. Call me old-fashioned, but when I was younger I assumed that when I enrolled in college I would live with a bunch of other girls and that we would bond and have sleepovers and talk about boys and be best friends forever in our own little girl-world.

Then I arrived at Pitt, where I lived in a coed dorm, just a few staircases above multiple floors of boys. Since that experience, I’ve realized that choosing whether to live with the opposite sex — if you’re offered the choice — depends largely on your temperament and opinions. Some people can and will live in coed situations, and some people can’t and won’t.

I, like most students, had a naive impression of what coed living would entail. My parents’ memories of same-sex dorms — as well as various old TV shows and movies — led me to assume that living near the opposite sex would be detrimental. I don’t think I can even specify why I had negative expectations for coed living, but because adults looked down upon it, I did too.

In some ways, their suspicions were well-founded. According to a 2009 study in the Journal of American College Health, about 90 percent of college dorms are now coed, though many universities, like Pitt, still offer a single-sex housing option. Although to the incoming freshman a coed dorm might seem like the ultimate independent college experience, it’s not without its downsides.

The study surveyed 510 students, 87 percent of which lived in coed dorms. Of that percentage, 41.5 percent reported weekly binge drinking, as opposed to the much lower 17.6 percent that reported binge drinking in single-sex housing. The study also found that students were “more likely to say they’d had a sexual partner in the past year and more likely to think it’s all right ‘for two people to get together for sex and not necessarily expect anything further.’”

Needless to say, coed dorms allow for much more independence and experimentation than same-sex dorms. But although the risks are higher in the former, coed living also provides residents with an opportunity to challenge themselves. Such an environment offers a more well-rounded living experience and heightens our understanding of male-female dynamics.

Of course, given the proliferation of coed dorms, students might only be able to choose between the two living arrangements when they move off campus — a decision that carries its own unique considerations.

The main difference between living in a co-ed dorm and a co-ed apartment is that, in the latter instance, you’re no longer merely within close vicinity of the opposite gender — you’re in the same space. You have to share a bathroom, a kitchen, a living room and everything you own.

This transition can be difficult for many students, as the differences between the two genders become much more pronounced — boys, for instance, can be messy. Tensions are sure to arise if one group of people doesn’t wash the dishes, or if the other decides to resort to the cold shoulder in response to something mean that was said a week ago.

There’s also the issue of privacy. Assuming your roommates are friends and not romantically involved, it could be potentially awkward if, say, you walk in on your opposite-gendered roommate in the shower. Or while he or she is changing clothes. These are seemingly easy-to-avoid situations, but mistakes happen. You never know when your privacy will be interrupted, and those interruptions can make your living situation much more awkward.

On the other hand, having both genders in one household can help ease tension between roommates, especially when tempers are high. Female roommates don’t necessarily have to spend all their time with their female counterparts, while guys don’t necessarily have to spend all their time in the testosterone-filled land of male roommates.

Living in a coed dorm or apartment has both large advantages and large disadvantages. While some students might already feel strongly one way or the other before reaching college, many students only discover their comfort zone when they reach their university.

The most important element of deciding what kind of living situation you’d prefer is knowing yourself and knowing what you can handle. Remember, no matter what you choose to do, any living situation is going to have its challenges and its perks. It’s up to you to decide.

Contact Elizabeth at eaw62@pitt.edu.