Sample Essays For toefl

 
107) Students at universities often have a choice of places to live. They may choose to 
live in university dormitories, or they may choose to live in apartments in the 
community. Compare the advantages of living in university housing with the advantages 
of living in an apartment in the community. Where would you prefer to live? Give 
reasons for your preference. 
Students are often able to choose whether they want to live in a dormitory, on a university 
campus, or in a separate apartment in the community. Each of these environments has its 
advantages. In this essay I will present some of the facts that support both solutions, and I 
will argue in favor of living in an apartment. 
Living in dorm offers a chance to improve communication skills, to learn to live with other 
people. For example, roommates must adjust their eating and sleeping habits according to 
each other's needs. Each one must arrange his free time in such way that he doesn't bother 
others while they are studying. Moreover, the social structure of the dorm community is in 
many aspects similar to that of a typical office, or workplace in general. Both 
environments require finding solutions to various problems and cooperation of the people 
in order to achieve that. Thus, by adapting to conditions of living in the dormitory, 
COLLECTED 
BY WWW
.
DETHI
.
COM
 
114

---

Essay Collection For TOEFL Version 1.0 – Mời bạn vào 
www.dethi.com
 để có thông tin phiên bản mới 
students actually prepare themselves for their future jobs. The environment in the dorm is 
friendlier and understanding, because it is consisted of other students, who often have 
similar problems and interests. The social life is more interesting, too. For example, if 
students failed to understand a lecture as it was presented in class, he can ask his friends 
from the dorm for an explanation. Also, it’s much easier to find a common topic to chat 
about, or an interesting activity to practice in free time. 
On the other hand, living in separate apartment usually means having less neighbors and 
roommates. In fact, it is not a rare case that a student has whole apartment for himself. In 
this situation, there is less distraction, so students can concentrate better on their 
schoolwork. As a consequence, their grades are better. Another advantage is that living 
alone means having more privacy. This aspect is very important, because everyone has 
personal secrets, which he wants to hide from all other people, even the closest friends. 
Finally, students who live in the apartments can maintain contacts with their neighbors, 
ordinary people, and are not confined to academic community. This way, students are 
offered a wider variety of experiences from everyday life, which they may find useful in 
their future lives. 
If I were in a situation to choose whether I would live in the dormitory or have a separate 
apartment, I would choose to live in separate apartment. It could be argued that living 
separately narrows one's circle of close friends, precluding him from having regular 
contacts with other people. This argument goes on to assert that such students are deprived 
of social experiences, and therefore remain aloof and introvert. However, it is a fact that 
students can make enough friends even if they live outside of the university campus, 
especially if the apartment is shared between several students. Furthermore, friends can 
visit each other as often as they need to. They can maintain friendly contact in a way, 
which doesn't affect their school performance. Careful planning and wise distribution of 
time can achieve this. If a student assigns enough time for studying, his grades won't 
suffer, and he will still be able to spend the remaining time with his friends. Alternatively, 
students who live in a school dormitory are constantly surrounded with familiar people. 
They can't avoid excessive socializing, even if they want to. Therefore, they spend too 
little time studying and they get low grades. 
In conclusion, living in the dormitory may be more interesting and socially challenging, 
but it's rather unsuitable for serious studying. Living in an apartment, however, allows a 
student to socialize, but only to the extent that doesn't affect his schoolwork negatively. 
This way, positive effects of living both in dormitory and in an apartment are obtained.