Going into my freshman year of college, I was just excited to leave my town and start over somewhere new. I was so happy to be free from the binds of normalcy, so when I found out I couldn't afford to live on campus if I went to the the school i wanted to attend in the city, I really didn't mind. And all year, I honestly didn't feel I missed out on much. There were definitely times when there were late night events that I couldn't attend and was a little bummed about, and a lot of times my friends hung out and made memories that I wasn't part of. However, I also got a lot of time to myself; I got my homework done without distraction, and had to be more diligent about going to sleep and waking up on time. The one real major disadvantage was the commute. I had to take public transportation to and from school, so that may be different from many commuters, but that commute was the bane of my existence honestly. The buses I took were extremely unreliable and made me late to, or caused me to miss, class so many times. I had nowhere to go when I had long breaks between classes, I had to carry a heavy backpack around all day, and I spent a fair amount of time sitting on a bus or waiting for a bus in the cold or rain.

Although I was having a great year, I kept dreaming up ways to live on campus next year. The first semester of this year, I worked it out and was able to dorm at school. I was happy about it; thinking all my problems would be solved and life would be perfect. Well, that didn’t exactly happen either. Living on campus is a great experience, but it comes with its own set of disadvantages. I LOVED being able to get up right before class and just walk there, have a room on campus to retreat to, and never having to stress about how I was going to get to and from different events. However, something I didn’t anticipate was the constant temptation to hang out with friends, stay up late, not do homework...the list goes on. Obviously with a strong will power you can avoid these things, but it’s not easy when all your friends live in the same building. There’s also really no retreat from drama or a sense of really being alone. In some ways, living on campus can make you feel more mature because you’re truly independent, but there’s also more opportunities to make truly immature choices, and half of the people who live on campus go home every weekend anyway, so it’s not a big difference.

I loved living at school too, but it was definitely overwhelming. My advice, as someone who’s done both, is that everyone is different and living on campus works for some while it doesn’t for others. Being introverted or extroverted can really affect how you do in either situation, and you also have to take finances into account. I don’t know what choice I’ll make next year, but now I truly know the pros and cons of both situations.