To Everyone Who Has Lived In Dorms At College

What kind of bed did you have?  A top bunk, a bottom bunk, a lofted bed?  What did you like about it?  What did you dislike?

I'm trying to weigh the pros and cons of a lofted bed vs. a bottom bunk.  I'm in a room with 2 other girls.  If all goes well and I'm the first in the room, I have to choose my bed.  Any advice?

My first year of college I had both a bottom bunk and then a loft bed. I traded with one of my two roommates half way through. Both pretty much sucked. I was the last one in the room so I didn't get a closet... I got a "storage unit" under one bed next to a desk and use of some more storage space under the bunk bed. They wouldn't even give me a desk next to the one window as a compromise. I got the desk next to the storage unit.

To say the least it sucked. If you do get there first please be kind to your roomies and wait until they get there to do the space planing. Trust me... the last thing you want is to be living with one or two people who think you are selfish as soon as they meet you :X

Yea, I definitely don't want to start out on the wrong foot.  As far as I know, there are two closets and three sets of drawers for the three of us.  I don't mind if I have a desk facing the wall and not out the window - less chance of distraction.

I had a lofted bed above my desk for half of freshman year, and the other half, my roommate and I bunked our beds, and I was on top. There were pros and cons to each:

Lofted: Pros: I had my own side of the room, so I didn't have to worry about sharing as much :)

Cons: climbing into bed - I fell out of my loft and landed on my desk while trying to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night once...lol....i had a HORRIBLE bruise on my butt for a long time!

Bunked: It created extra space in our room, so it felt much more open. But, I had less privacy, and the whole room was "ours" instead of having our own sides.

I think it comes down to the personalities of the people in the room. Good luck!

Hmmm... neither, it was just a plain Xtra large bed. My room only housed two people.

Sorry? :)

my roommate and I had single beds.  If I had to choose among your three options, I would go for the lofted bed because then it would be wholly YOUR space.

Go for the bottom bunk.  Sometimes, climbing up (or down) is not so much fun.  My roomie fell out of bed (top bunk) a couple of times.  I (bottom bunk) never did.  Otherwise, if you can each fit a single bed in and claim your own chunk of room, that works too!  :)

Good luck and have fun!! :D

I had the top bunk in a 3 person room.  It turned out great because I got along great with the girl below me - we roomed together for 3 out of 4 years.  Our third roommate was a bit odd, and we were glad she had her loft space :-)  

at my university, our dorms only had 2 per room, or you could pay extra and have a 2 person room to yourself. I had a roommate my first semester and we knew each other before we got there. We tried lofting one bed to put the desk under it but we found out it was really unsafe when the lofted bed started to shift and I couldn't sleep cause I thought I'd get smashed and my roommate didn't sleep because she was afraid she'd kill me. Then we bunked them. She took the top because she was several inches taller than me. It was easier like that because we each had our own study areas and that was more important to us. At that point, we didn't have boyfriends so we had no worries for that kind of privacy. After that one semester though, I moved a few doors down the hall and we each got a private room.

I stayed at the dorms 'til I graduated.  I was in the "upper classman dorm" so our rooms were more like a suite with 2 bedrooms, joined by the bathroom to another suite.  Each bedroom had 2 people unless you paid extra.

I think my room was different every year.  What worked out best was to have both beds lofted in an 'L' formation around the room.  It gave a lot more room for extra storage and an extra desk.  Climbing up and down really was not a problem, and even sleeping with my honey in a single bed up top wasn't that bad.   Heh

We had one year that we had a super uber loft built with 2x4's and built in really snug into the corner of the room.  The loft units that we could rent from the school weren't bad either tho.  Super sturdy and heavy metal.  I'd highly recommend lofting the beds.

Here's what I've found in my myriad dorm room experiences...

Top bunk
Advantages:  Yours isn't the bed everyone sits on.
Disadvantages:  Forgetting you have a bunk bed and landing on the floor the first time you try to hit your alarm clock in the morning.

Bottom bunk
Advantages:  Don't have to climb up and down anything (useful when partying).
Disadvantages:  Total strangers (i.e. roommate's friends) sitting where you sleep.

Bunks in general
Advantages:  More space!
Disadvantages:  Having some disgusting nasty roommate who doesn't understand that just because you can't SEE her and her boyfriend doesn't mean you can't FEEL the rocking motion they're causing the bunk beds to make.

Go with the L-shape.

bottom - put little curtains on it so no one sits there and you can read late at night with a clip light. plus it looks really neat.

i suggest sticking one of those clip on fans in there too for venting.

its what i did when i lived in a models apt with bunk beds.
i stuck a folding chair at the foot (on the floor of course) and put a slipcover on it so it looked comfy. if i needed room i would just fold the thing and slide it between the headboard and the wall.

i actually liked it. it felt like a cocoon.

So been there and done that!  I had a loft for all my four years.

(top) Bunks/lofts are good if you don't toss and turn a lot, don't have a sex life, are not in the habit of getting intoxicated on a regular basis, are on good terms with the bunker below, own pajamas with pants/underwear, and are somewhat taller (because it's damn hard to make a bed when it's five feet off the floor!)

They do provide a lot more space to move around in (and to put up chairs to keep people from sitting on your bed) so in that respect they're worth it.

Definitely talk to your roomies to get an idea of furniture layout.  One of my roommates had a fantastic arrangement idea when I got a loft.  So much more space and privacy.

Anyway, definitely buy used if you do get a loft.  Cheaper, and the previous owner can warn you about any "eccentricities."

"Having some disgusting nasty roommate who doesn't understand that just because you can't SEE her and her boyfriend doesn't mean you can't FEEL the rocking motion they're causing the bunk beds to make."


i had the bottom bunk my freshman year and my alarm went off at around 5 am so that i could go study. the second it alarmed...i shut it off and heard my roommate and her bf above me having sex. i dont think they even heard my alarm go off cuz they kept at it. i pretended to sleep but was pissed cuz i couldnt get up to study. i didnt want to interupt them even though i should have cuz it was rude. i didnt say anything to her for a very long time until we got into a fight.