Living alone at uni??? Pls help!

Alrighty, so I have been in a dilemma as to whether I should live in halls or on my own at university.

I read this article... ** http://yobuilder.com/4t5C ** which really confirmed a lot of the things I fear about living in halls - tension between flat mates, peer pressure, passive aggressiveness and petty arguments lol.

I wouldn't mind it if I got really lucky and was blessed with some lovely friendly flatmates. But the fact is that it is completely random and you never really know if you're going to get along with everyone until you get there. I hear some people don't stay in touch with their first year flat mates during their 2nd and 3rd years which I think is a real shame.

You see, my friend went to uni last year and two of her flatmates were CRACK DEALERS. This was in a Russel Group university, mind you!!! (I wonder if anyone can guess which uni it was...) I was quite surprised and don't know if I would have been capable of dealing with a situation like that myself.

Nevertheless, I understand that there are many benefits to living in halls. You are forced to socialise and that's really great. Plus, you always have someone around to do something with which I guess is pretty cool.

However, from what I've heard pre-drinks can get out of control and even though I do drink sometimes. I don't drink to get black-out drunk, I just drink one or two drinks a night to loosen up a bit. My fear is that since the overwhelming culture at universities is a drinking culture I might get swept up into it when I go. I'm quite weak in the sense that I will give into peer pressure because I want people to think that I'm normal and I want to fit in. For this reason, it might be best to live alone and focus on my degree and only go out and drink when I feel like it and not just because everyone else is. Do you guys understand what I mean?

I just don't want people to think I'm weird/ have no friends. I'm a very social person and I love to go out but I also like having a little bit of privacy and not being surrounded by peer pressure which I very well might give into!!

What do you guys think? To live or not to live alone in first year????? Hmmmm... Any opinions, advice or personal experience would be VERY much appreciated!! Cheers

Before you start debating one or the other, consider whether you can actually afford to live on your own.

DON'T LIVE IN HALLS - IT'S A TRAP !!!!!!!!!!!!! Had the worse time of my life during first year, then spent the whole of my second year lying to everyone and telling them I had the time of my life. Hahahahaha. Trust me, everyone says to live in halls, but you'll deeply resent them when Becky, who you just met 3 weeks ago, drinks all your milk and then adamantly denies it. I'm still bitter.

DON'T LIVE IN HALLS - IT'S A TRAP !!!!!!!!!!!!! Had the worse time of my life during first year, then spent the whole of my second year lying to everyone and telling them I had the time of my life. Hahahahaha. Trust me, everyone says to live in halls, but you'll deeply resent them when Becky, who you just met 3 weeks ago, drinks all your milk and then adamantly denies it. I'm still bitter.

It really depends on who you get put with. My flat mates are actually some of the nicest people I’ve met and we get along perfectly fine

mayne das.... REEALL GEWWWD

Thanks mayne... I feel REAL GEWD DEEP INSIDE.

OH MAYNE.... das ... REEEALL GEWWWWDD.... I bet you living with some PREEETTY YOUNG THAAANGS too

Don't worry about it. Some uni's have special quiet rooms. The uni I went to, I chose a quiet room, and my flatmates were all sensible, quiet people like me, and we all got on fairly well, never really saw them but no tension/arguments. I withdrew for other reasons, but don't worry about it. Most uni's ask you questions beforehand to try and place you with like minded people, and in the case where you don't get on well, you can always try and switch to another flat. What your friend had happen to them sounds awful, but also sounds incredibly rare. I don't drink, but I never felt pressurised into taking part - hall reps came round to try and get you to join in, but if you said you weren't interested they were fine with that and left you alone. I lived in quite a small flat, only 6 people, so if you are concerned about stuff, the smaller the flat you can go for the better.

OH MAYNE... some of them are PRETTY YOUNG THANGS. I’m fitna go DEEP INSIDE and leave those NUTS HANGING OUT.

If you can't afford to live alone (most people can't to be frank, even in the cheaper cities) and don't want to go into halls. Then a shared house may be a nice compromise. There are often spare rooms going in shared houses, and you can ask about their general attitude to drinking, whether they tend to have house parties etc. So you're less likely to end up in a crap situation.

I live in a house share right now with people I didn't know prior to moving in with (my friends all finished uni when I had a year left) and I've not had any problems. We're all quiet and stay out of each others way. Added bonus, my room is significantly cheaper than halls.

It really depends on who you get put with. My flat mates are actually some of the nicest people I’ve met and we get along perfectly fine