Off-campus vs On-campus

[Mammoon]

I think a lot of it depends on the school and how many people you know going into it.

I personally lived on campus my first year of college, and had a pretty good experience. Was a great way to meet a lot of other people my age, and easy to learn my way around campus.... but I also went to a school of 40,000+. My next three years I lived off campus in a house with some friends and had a much, much better experience. Not saying living on campus was bad, and I would probably do it again, but for me it was much better living off campus. Then again, at my college it was pretty common for freshmen to live on campus for 1 year, and then move off.

[Origano]

My uni in Canada has no campus, so I didn't really have a choice. Either way I would have chosen off-campus no matter what. I visited Finland's only real uni campus before traveling to Canada, and I gotta say it is like the area exists in it's own small bubble, secluded from the rest of the world. Can effectively distract you from studies too if you are that kind of person who is tempted by that kind of activities.

[Lockula]

I would suggest living on campus for at least a year or two.

[Ssith]

in my alma matter, they recently instituted an "everyone of all years has to live on campus" policy. i am VERY GLAD that i graduated before that was put in place. there is no reason to force ADULTS* to live the way someone else wants them to.

OT: i'd suggest living on campus at least your first year, then see where your feeling takes you. if you live off campus you tend miss out on a lot of things you'll want to experiences your first year, simply because you don't know where to look when you are on campus.

*extenuating circumstances notwithstanding

[Fahrenheit]

I highly recommend doing year 1 on campus. It's something every should experience once in their lives and it'll allow you to make some friends that you wouldn't mind having an off campus house with for the next 3 years.

[archelios]

I am going to be a sophomore this coming year, and I would definitely recommend living on campus your freshman year, then moving off campus for your sophomore year. You will make so many more friends and have a much better time living on campus as a freshman. Trust me

[Auloria]

I was an RA in college. You get a few that abhor having to do work and will let anything slide and you get some that really stick you for rules. The RAs are responsible for enforcing rules in the whole dorm, so even if you get a slacker RA on your floor, another RA will still bust you on his rounds.

The problem with noise/alcohol is that you WILL have neighbors and they will bitch about not being able to study if you are loud and will rat you out for drinking. In a lot of ways it's out of the RA's hands, because if you continue to cause problems they will just talk to the housing management.

Being on campus for at least a year I would recommend, you can miss out on the whole "college experience" if you are too far off campus. It's not a really big deal though, it's just a matter of your style.

[raechuul]

Depends a lot on your gender, IMO.

I'm a female and had a female roommate in the dorms my freshman year. She would come into our 12'x15' dorm anywhere between 12am and 3am on a regular basis, whether she had an 8am class the next day or not. She would also get up at 6am (every morning she had an 8am class) to shower down the hall in the bathrooms, and then come into our room to do her makeup and hair for the next hour and a half before class. I'm a light sleeper and had a job usually early mornings before class, so that didn't fly. When I confronted her about it, she said "...well... what do you want me to do about it?" with an attitude. Srsly. She was also from the town where our university was, so sometimes she would just sleep at her parents' house and not even let me know whether she would be in or not.

Then there was the issue of her boyfriend was allowed to spend the night in the dorms no questions asked, but when I asked if mine could visit from 80+ miles away, she would have a fit and say she wouldn't sleep in the same room that night... Even though no one in their right mind would fool around 4 feet away from their roommate... -_-

She asked her parents to BUY her a house her sophomore year, and they did. She lived in it for 9 months before transferring to a different city. She was so entitled... she had multiple $400 pairs of jeans. Nuff said.

So... it was NOT worth it for me. I don't have any friends from that dorm, mainly because all of them were snobby drama queens. I have a much better time living with my boyfriend off-campus, now.