Most universities in the U.S. require freshmen students to live in dorms on campus. A large majority site their reasoning as it allows students to be more involved with clubs and activities on campus. This reasoning seems strong, but it doesn't always work out that way for everyone. For me personally, being on campus did nothing but give me quick access to go back to my room anytime I was not in class.
Last year I lived in a dorm that was very close to the center of campus, which was super convienient, but also had a downside. Because it was so close at all times, I would immediately go back to my dorm anytime I wasn't in class. Being on campus gave be a quick escape from interacting with anyone else, which is exactly the opposite of what my socially awkward, antisocial self needed. I know very few people who enjoyed their time living in a dorm. I think we can all agree that sharing a 10 by 12 foot room with another person (usually a total stranger at first) is never easy. Luckily, I don't have a roommate horror story; my freshman roommate was super sweet and we got along fine. We had very different schedules and habits, so we didn't really become the best of friends, but I know it could have been much worse. Dorm life gave me a route to isolate myself from everyone else (besides my roommate, who was rarely there). As a freshman, away from home for the first time, isolation was a depressing recipe for disaster.
Fast forward to a year later, I'm living in an apartment off-campus with the person I would now call my best friend and the cutest cat you've ever seen. Life is unimaginably better. After my freshman year, I considered transferring home. I had made a couple close friends, but still felt something was missing. I realized that the missing piece was simply access to privacy. In the dorms, I shared a room with someone and my dorm also had community bathrooms (which I highly disapprove of, but that's another discussion). So for an entire year at school, I never had privacy, which for someone as antisocial as me was a huge problem. Privacy is a vitally important part of life for any human, and college dorms seem to forget about that sometimes.
College is a time period when you are supposed to be wild, intense, and mostly involved in everyone else's business. However, for those of us who prefer a quieter, less intense college life, an apartment off-campus provides a much better life than dorms. Dorms are loud and incredibly social. Getting an apartment with a friend has been the best decision I've made so far in my college life.
Some people look back fondly on their time spent living in a dorm, some are impartial to it, and some absolutely hated every minute of it. That take away from this is that living in a dorm doesn't always work for everyone. If you are in a dorm right now, and you're miserable, miss home, and are contemplated transferring, try to stick it out for another year. I know it's tough, and I know it seems impossible, but if you can just make it to the next year, it'll all be worth it. Life is so much better outside of college dorms.
