Having lived in Cambridge accommodation now for about a week, I feel I can now tell you a little bit about what living in a college is like and how it compares and contrasts with living in a dorm or fraternity/sorority at MIT (DISCLAIMER: while I haven't actually lived in a fraternity, my observations are based on what I have heard from fellow CME's who were living in fraternities/sororities before coming here to Cambridge). Before I continue, it should be noted that "living in college" is quite a broad term, but in this case, I use it to refer to what it is like living in the dorm itself with respect to the room and other amenities. I will address other aspects of college life in a later post(s).
Firstly, most rooms in Cambridge are single rooms, and while there are certainly some doubles in college, those doubles often come with two rooms (called a set) adjoined by a common door so that both occupants have their own individual rooms. Next comes to the issue of bathrooms. At MIT, bathrooms are almost always shared among at least several people, but that is not always the case here at Cambridge. There are certainly buildings where the bathrooms are shared, but in many cases, people have their own private bathrooms, which may be disjoint from the room or in my case in my room (see the image below)! As an aside, this was a huge win for me, as there were many times back at MIT when I would try to use the bathroom on my floor, only to find it off limits because someone was showering.
Rooms in Cambridge also come with many more amenities than those at MIT. In addition to a personal bathroom, my room was already equipped with two lamps, three chairs (that includes one comfy chair!), and a duvet, which makes the bed a lot softer compare to the one I had at MIT! My room also had numerous built-in hooks, great for hanging up jackets and an umbrella. I was slightly disappointed to find out that my windows didn't actually open (mines at MIT did), but given how cold and rainy it can be at times, I'm not sure how problematic that will be.
Another big plus for me is that every college has its own dining hall, making the commute to breakfast, lunch, or dinner a lot shorter than it used to be at MIT. This perk is not really as big if you are living in a fraternity/sorority or cook for youself (colleges have kitchens on each floor for you to do this, and with supermarkets near college campuses, this is totally doable), but for those who do rely on the dining hall for food, this is important. No need to have to trudge through snow for food now! :)
In addition to the dining hall, every college also has its own library, extracurricular groups or societies (will talk about those in a later blogpost), bar, computer room (mini-Athena cluster but with computers for Windows, Linux, and Mac), sports facilities (albeit somewhat limited), a registered nurse, and student support team (think S^3-like). I have yet to take full of advantage of those still, so I'll write about them more later on in the year. Stay tuned!
With all of these perks though, there are downsides. First, for those living in fraternities/sororities, the cost of living in a Cambridge college will likely be more expensive. Not only is the cost of just living in the room higher, but you will also have to pay for food and laundry. Second, and this is a general downside, you don't actually get to keep your room the entire year. No, you don't change rooms every term, but it means that you actually don't own your room during vacations as you do at MIT. Thus, when I go on vacation this December, I will have to pack everything up and put it away in storage. If I want to even have a chance of keeping my belongings in my room (as I would like to do during the Spring vacation in order to study for finals), I will have to request permission to do so and agree to pay a daily fee during the vacation. Even then, I probably would not get my current room and would have to live elsewhere in the college. This is because Cambridge colleges can also double as hotels for conferences and other large gatherings, as evidenced by the way in which bathrooms are arranged in many rooms. This could be somewhat of a hassle, but I'll talk about it more in future blogposts once I have gone through the experience.
The other consequence of doubling these colleges as hotels is that the college staff have to enforce a certain degree of cleaniness in the rooms so that they can easily be serviced as hotel rooms once students leave for break. This means that cleaning staff (a.k.a. bedders) will HAVE TO come into your room on a periodic basis to clean it (e.g. vacuum, empty trash, clean your bathroom) and check to make sure everything is in order. While this is not necessarily a bad thing (I wouldn't want to clean my own shower!), you should be aware of it. And if you feel uncomfortable with people entering your room in such a manner, you have been forewarned now! Make sure then that when you are packing your belongings, you bring provisions to safeguard your valuables (e.g. locks on your suitcases so that you can store things in them). That way you can feel some degree of security if the bedders are in your room while you are gone.
Well, that's it for me for now regarding rooms! Time to head off to the dining hall! :)