Married, but moving back into a dorm? Wondering what it’s like to live in a studio apartment with your spouse? Here’s how we’ve made it work!
“Honey, I’m home!”
I do not need to raise my voice very much for my husband to hear me when I get back after a day of class and schoolwork, because sound travels quickly in a 320 sq-ft efficiency apartment. I admit I was concerned about living in a small space with my spouse while trying to juggle studying, working, and relaxing, but there are several things we have done to make it comfortable – and I’m happy to have him here with me!
For the school year 2018-2019, MIT Graduate Housing offered a “Couples Pilot Program,” allowing married couples without children to live in the traditionally “singles” dormitories. In addition to the traditional graduate family housing offered in Eastgate and Westgate, we had the option to bid for Edgerton House, Sidney-Pacific or 70 Amherst Street. We received our first-choice bid for an efficiency (also called studio) apartment in Sidney-Pacific (SidPac).
Here are some tips and pics to show you how we’ve made it work:
Request Furniture for Two
Yes, more furniture means less floor space, but it can work to your advantage! Having two armoires ensured we had enough hanging space for his work clothes, my interview attire, and all our sweaters to keep warm in the New England winter. The picture shows that we positioned our tall armoires side by side across from our dresser drawers to create the sense of a walk in closet. Our bed is behind the armoires, creating the illusion of a wall dividing our “closet” from our bed and helping divide the space from the kitchenette.
As far as a bed goes, SidPac is equipped with twin sized single beds. We were given the option to request a second twin sized bed, but we elected to bring our own full sized (double) bed instead.
Separate Study Space
We brought a separate desk with us so that I always had a designated space for tackling my homework assignments, reading case studies and designing solutions for our capstone project. He used his own desk for work and downtime on the computer. If you can’t bring your own desk, consider asking for a second one, as shown in our first suggestion.
Multi-Purpose Functionality
Although it may look like my desk is floating in the middle of the room, we realized theextension3 could allow us to still sit across from each other and eat together. Nothing like a romantic dorm-room dinner 😉
We also set up a monitor arm on his desk so that the wide-screen display can serve as a computer monitor and TV. If that seems like too small a display for your taste, there are large flat screen TVs available in the common spaces on each floor, and one in the game room/lounge on the first floor.
Wooden desk on right doubles as a dining table;
his desk on left doubles as TV stand
Head Phones
They may be a little pricey, but noise-cancelling headphones are totally worth it! He can set up his Bluetooth to pair with the iPad and watch a show, while I play some soothing sounds on my laptop.
I hope these were some helpful tips if you are considering living with your spouse on campus. I am so fortunate to have him here to cheer me on during this busy, challenging, exciting year. It has been very beneficial for me to have easy access to campus and my classmates, particularly when working on group assignments. If we had decided to live off campus, it would have been more challenging for me to balance my time and get to class.
In our next blog post, my husband and I will write about ways he has enjoyed time at MIT, outside of the dorm-room walls!
Brittany Collins entered the MIT SCM program Class of 2019 after spending seven years working in the steel industry as a business analyst. As an undergraduate, she studied Marketing at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA.
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