Dormitory versus Apartment

Prior to their stay in school, many students encounter this dilemma of either renting an apartment or living in one of the school dormitories in Beijing Language and Culture University. In choosing your own living space, here are some points to ponder:

Personalized space
One of the main differences of apartments and dormitories is the way they can actually design the space. If you rent a dormitory, then you'll only probably have a bed, a study table with chair, a closet for your clothes and a toilet. There will be no area for hanging your clothes outside, so you should buy a clothes dryer rack or maybe just hang your clothes on top of the curtains. The space is not very generous and you cannot really decorate it since pasting on walls is prohibited. If this doesn't bother you and you don't really have passion for interior decorating (like me), then living in the dorm will be fine. Otherwise, if you want a homey space with a living room, kitchen,dining area and personalized room, then you should stick with the apartment.

Convenience
For people who take convenience as the most important priority for a living space, then I suggest that you stay in a dormitory. If you live in a school dormitory, especially at Dorm 4, then everything is just so near to you! The classroom is less than a hundred steps away and the Dining hall is just in front of the Intensive Building. You can wake up at 7:30 a.m. and still be early for class! If you stay in Dorm 17, it's quite farther away from the classrooms but still, it will only need 10 minutes by foot and around 5 minutes by bike. There are some apartments nearby, but the closer the apartment, the higher is the price to pay. So, if you don't mind spending extra few minutes to ride the bus to school, you can take an apartment. 

Residence permit
For dorm residents, the residence permit will be given within the enrollment procedure. For those residing in apartments, you and your landlord should go together to the police station and claim your residence permit. This will only take less than a day or so, so the earlier you come to Beijing (before the class starts), the better.

Safety
The BLCU school ground is open to the public so anyone can just enter the school and pass by, but each dorm has a front desk and a number of CCTV cameras to watch who comes in and out the dormitories. Apartments don't have front desks, but it shouldn't be that unsafe either since the main doors have big locks to keep you safe from burglars and the like.

Electric and Water bill
When you rent a school dorm, your rental fee includes your stay, water and electric bill. You can use the electricity without limits provided that they are included in the dormitory guidelines. You don't need to refill electric cards so the problem about getting power shutdowns are out of the question. But if you're renting an apartment, you should coordinate with your flatmates in paying for the bill since it will be divided among yourselves. I'm not sure how much it costs every month, but it shouldn't be that big. Electricity is not very expensive in China.

Internet
The most people that can share an internet connection in the dormitory are two people (in a double room), unless you have friends next door who are willing to share with the internet expense. Routers can be rented at a really low price so it won't cost too much. In an apartment, you can have at most around 3-4 flatmates, so you can share the cost amongst yourselves.

Chill time
Since most apartments have a living room, with a sofa and television and a little bit more extra space, then this will be great for people who like to chill with friends. You can invite friends over for dinner or drinking sessions anytime since it doesn't have limits on visiting hours like dormitories have.

Where do you think it's more suitable for you to stay and why? Tell us more about it!