You've graduated high school and now it is time to continue your education elsewhere! You pick a college, pack your bags and move in to your new home... school. Many people joke about school being a prison, and now you have to live at one? Well it is not like a prison what-so-ever.
You are free to do what you want. You are an independent adult now and have to make your own choices and be responsible for those choices. Although this may seem scary, through such experience you will learn who you are. No one is going to remind you of homework you have to do when you get home. You have to take the initiative and do it yourself and you will find how much of a work ethic you have. No one is going to go around picking up after you, and because of this, you will find out how tidy you really are. You are going to be tempted to go out on nights you know you have big papers due the next day, and based off your decision you will learn how responsible you are and where your priorities lie.
Living on campus gives you so many resources and 24/7 access to help. If you are up late working on a paper and you are stuck or need help editing, there is most likely someone up doing the same thing that you could get help from. Living on campus you are just a short walk away from almost anything you need. If you get to know your neighbors you have access to even more resources, as everyone has their strong suits. Maybe you r friend down the hall knows a lot about computers and your computer is frozen, so you can take it to them for help. Maybe you are stuck on a math problem and you know your friend down the hall is a math major. This being said, you also have to remember you can be a resource to others and be ready to help them too.
College is not just all work no play. There are so many opportunities to get out of the dorm and have some fun. They have dozens of clubs and activities you can join, especially on the first week of school. They have thing such as ice cream socials, karaoke, raffles, dance parties, etc. that go late into the night. Living on campus makes it easy to stay up late and be only 5 minutes away from "home." This being said, you also save a lot of money on gas which is not cheap these days.
When you live on campus you become part of a community you never knew existed. Mostly everyone is nice enough to lend a helping hand when needed. It is amazing to see people working together and helping each other despite certain differences. Moving away from home can be hard, but there are people going through the same struggles around you that are there to support you. When you are having a rough day, your friends are right down the hall or a short walk away to help you. Maybe it's just because of my school's small size, but within a few days of living on campus it feels like everyone is a big family. This being said, you won't necessarily know everyone. Even in actual families there are those few distant relatives you see at family functions you don't know, but you know they are looking out for you.
Being a first year student can be difficult and so can moving away from home, but I would highly recommend living on campus. The community and freedom allows you to start to find yourself as you become an adult. This doesn't mean everything will be perfect, there will be people you aren't fond of or classes you don't like or you get homesick, but you grow from all experiences in life. if you get the chance to be a part of your school's community I would 10/10 recommend.
