Being away from home is a big deal to some and comes easily for others. It's important to have a home away from home while you're at school whether that is being part of Greek life or lounging in the study room with your floormates. When going away for college the first thought is "no parents, no rules," but boy, is that wrong. Once you arrive for move-in day, you get a rude awakening called an RA who acts like your parent for the remainder of the year. If I didn't live on campus my freshman year of college, I never would have met the incredible group of friends I have. Living on campus has its pros and cons, but here are the reasons why I think every person needs to experience living in the dorms.
It forces you out of your comfort zone.
You have to work to be social, but it gets you involved because organizations and clubs are always storming through the dorms trying to get everyone involved, freshmen especially. Your RA is getting paid to make you get to know everyone on your floor, whether it's through game nights, movie nights or random floor meetings. Your RA forces you to do weird things that you normally wouldn't do in your free time, and in the process, you meet a bunch of other people. Do yourself a favor and go to all the cheesy events your RA puts together, you're bound to make friends. Dorm life is a social experience of its own kind, one like you've never had before and a good one at that.
You always have someone to hangout with.
You're on a floor with over 30 other people for nine months whether it's 6 p.m. or 3 a.m. someone else is bound to be awake so you don't have to lay around staring at your ceiling or binge-watching Netflix.
You don't have to make food. Ever.
There are dining halls all over campus, and we all know that between classes, homework, work and other extracurriculars the last thing you want to do is eat Doritos (even though there is nothing wrong with them). You can just walk downstairs to grab a salad or a bowl of cereal. Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to live on ramen and Easy Mac, but it's OK to stock up whenever your parents visit.
You get the benefits of being close to everything.
When living on campus you get the luxury of access to the campus transportation, you don't have to drive to campus and park in the middle of nowhere just to spend an extra 10 minutes walking to class from the parking lot. You are within walking distance of all your classes, your professor's office hours and all campus activities.
Your parents aren't there.
This is commonly the most exciting thing to anyone going away to college, especially if they come from a strict family. You can go out late on school nights and not come back till noon on Saturday. Just remember that your mom isn't there to take care of you when you're sick, so stay away from anyone who is sick because, chances are, the entire floor will eventually get sick. Sorry, that's just how it is.
Your friends become your family.
This is hands-down the best part of living in the dorms. You left your family at home, so you're all in a new place where you know very few people. You spend your time with each other, and you grow closer than you thought possible. You meet so many people, and overall, it's a great experience. This is often where you meet the people you will live with next year in your off-campus apartment because, let's be honest, living in the dorms for a year is more than enough, but everyone needs to experience it. Cherish being a few doors down from each other those nine months, because come next fall you'll all be living in various off-campus housing, so you can't just walk down the hall when you're bored at 2 a.m. You'll probably have to drive.
You finally get a taste of living on your own.
Yeah your parents probably still foot the bill for everything, but you gain a whole new respect for them because you don't have their financial help at your beck and call whenever you need it. You have to clean up after yourself, and you need to respect your roommates' surroundings.
You become an adult.
You're forced to do well in school while focusing on your future. You resolve all your problems with your roommate or suitemate on your own, and it forces you to grow up, and over the course of the year, you mature because in the end you fend for yourself.
Academic strengths
Most freshman take general education courses their first year, meaning no matter your major, there is a chance someone on your floor or your building is taking the same course with you so you can study together. This provides for better grades and higher academic achievements.
Living in the dorms gives you the whole college experience, and although not all circumstances are ideal, I think this is one of the most important social experiences one can go through while attending college. After all, college is all about finding yourself. Living on campus not only helps you socially, but it helps with a smooth transition from high school to college. From personal experience I think spending a year in on-campus living made a huge difference, because it made it easier to make friends outside of class, and it gave me some of the most incredible friends I've had the privilege of spending my first two years of college with. Having a core group of friends makes it easier to meet others, because everyone has friends in class who they bring over, and everyone hangs out. Eventually the group gets bigger, and you meet more people from all over campus, and it's awesome. So take it from me, living in the dorms is one of the best college experiences one can have. Embrace it, enjoy it, and don't avoid it.
