9 replies to this topic

[tabster1]

I just got my room assignment, I'm stuck in the same crap room I had last semester. This dorm is called "The Ghetto" by all the students. There is an inch of space between the floor and the bottom of the door. Freshmen running up and down the halls screaming at all hours. The door slamming every 5 minutes. All that sound travels FOREVER. I have done everything to try to block it. I've piled pillows in front of the door. Have 2 different types of white noise, AND sleep with earplugs and I still wake up when the suitemates use the bathroom. The walls are so thin, you can hear everything. There is no carpeting to absorb the noise. Please does anyone have any ideas for how to soundproof my room so I can get some sleep?!

Right now my only idea is to get some of those things they put under the doors that are supposed to help with drafts. Also, it's no use asking for a room change because technically you are only allowed one and I've moved twice already (long story).

Please any ideas at all! I'm getting desperate here.

[Asleeper]

I am making an assumption here that you have narcolepsy since you are on this site. I would suggest that you contact whoever works with disabled students at your school and tell them that you have narcolepsy and you need them to make an accommodation and move you to a quietier dorm. I have read that this has worked with other students on this site and some even got single room with private bathrooms. Are you on medication? A single room could be helpful to secure any class 2 medications you may be taking or provide a safe environment at night if you are taking Xyrem.
Let us know how this works out.

[metacognate]

ABSOLUTELY get in touch with your school's disability support office. Before I started college, I was supposed to live in a junky, crowded, noisy dorm halfway up a 40+ year old building. Then, I told the disability support services office that I...

a- Had problems with stairs,
b- Couldn't eat certain types of food, and
c- Would appreciate private space.

...and gave them a note from a doctor saying the same. So they made a last-minute change and offered me an isolated two-bedroom, two-person dorm with a full kitchen.


Talk to a doctor you're familiar with, tell them exactly what you wrote here, and ask for a written letter requesting accommodations.



You have a serious, legitimate, potentially debilitating disability - and if it's not handled properly, you will not be able to get the most out of college. And your school wants you to do well. Even if the rules say otherwise...the people who work there want you to do well. You deserve some help dealing with this *BEEP*, and they will help you.

[tabster1]

Yeah I was diagnosed w/ N & C last spring. I tried the whole roommate thing let me tell you what a nightmare THAT was. I had one roommate who worked nights so she would wake me up when she left at midnight and again when she got back at 4am. A Korean roommate who didn't sleep EVER and would have loud phone conversations while I was asleep. And a nutcase roommate who told me her split personality was Freddy Kreuger. (I had a nervous breakdown the day I moved in that one and they pulled me out the next day and set me up in the crap dorm)

So my doc wrote this really good letter which did get me a private room. Here is the thing. At this school most of the people with "disabilities" end up in the Ghetto. Because it is one of the only buildings that has rooms on the ground floor. Add that to the fact that nobody wants to live in an all girl dorm, and there is always plenty of space for people who need private rooms.

I've been working closely with the disability office because I also have a severe traumatic brain injury and need accommodations in class and they have been helpful/not helpful at the same time. They are understaffed, and people with the visible disabilities get priority I think. Also, they can get you a private room, but they can't say where that private room is. They don't make the housing assignments. And I kind of screwed up because I was hoping to get into the on campus apartments, so I didn't request a quiet floor. Didn't get the apartment and now it's too late to request a quiet floor. If I want to move I have to wait til class starts and put in a request and everything. Which would mean me having to move all my stuff either up one floor or across campus completely by myself.

I have this bad feeling that any of the quiet dorms would be the super expensive ones that are built with better insulation. I already have to pay $1000 extra for a private room (even though it is required bc of my narcolepsy etc). Yeah started to ramble a bit there....

[tabster1]

Called housing to see if I could get switched to one of the "quiet floors". You have to sign a contract to live there. Anyway, they aren't moving people because apparently they have a surplus of female students and are having to house people in one of the really old dorms they weren't planning on using. They told me I might be able to move a few weeks into the semester. But I don't see how I can manage that on my own.

[metacognate]

I'm really sorry to hear that...I hope it works out

Let us all know how it goes?

[drago]

I've been working closely with the disability office because I also have a severe traumatic brain injury and need accommodations in class and they have been helpful/not helpful at the same time. They are understaffed, and people with the visible disabilities get priority I think. Also, they can get you a private room, but they can't say where that private room is. They don't make the housing assignments. And I kind of screwed up because I was hoping to get into the on campus apartments, so I didn't request a quiet floor. Didn't get the apartment and now it's too late to request a quiet floor. If I want to move I have to wait til class starts and put in a request and everything. Which would mean me having to move all my stuff either up one floor or across campus completely by myself.

I have this bad feeling that any of the quiet dorms would be the super expensive ones that are built with better insulation. I already have to pay $1000 extra for a private room (even though it is required bc of my narcolepsy etc). Yeah started to ramble a bit there....

Have you tried sound-proofing just around your bed? It might sound lame, but in college my roommate and I bunked our beds so she could have a 'fortress' (she set up sheets all around her bed frame). If you used a heavier material, it could prevent more sound from leaking in.


drago

[tabster1]

Have you tried sound-proofing just around your bed? It might sound lame, but in college my roommate and I bunked our beds so she could have a 'fortress' (she set up sheets all around her bed frame). If you used a heavier material, it could prevent more sound from leaking in.


drago

I could try bunking the beds but I'm not sure if the bed frames in that room will do that. I have a air purifier I use as white noise that is going to go somewhere near my bed. I'm hoping maybe I can get some rugs to absorb some of the sound, and maybe if I put my bed on the opposite side of the room it won't be so loud.

[Katty0]

I lived in a dorm like this...

Rugs... rugs rugs rugs!!! I had a huge one across the floor (some carpet companys will sell you huge peices they didnt need in builds cheap,) a small one that I could jam under the dorm door, another in front of the bathroom door and on on the inside of the bathroom by the door... also I had a roommate that bunked the beds and staple gunned carpet to the frame to keep out noise.

Another thing you need are thick curtains. sometimes noise I thought was from the hall was actually outside. I also put my mini fridge by my bed as the night stand.

I would also buy the THICK towels and jam one under the door. When you do that though try to make sure it isnt sticking out in the hall or some jerk will steal it...

Hope some of that helps you... The door draft probably wont help if your door is as high of the ground as mine was because it wouldnt seal the bottom of the door...

[tabster1]

OK so class starts Tuesday and I lucked out!!! My mom and dad basically declared war on the school and somehow managed to get me an apartment! Yeah it is a really really old apartment.....but it's mine Super excited!