Apartment vs Dorm

[Xyro]

More bills for an apartment?
Well, you may get "more actual bills" but you still PAY for the same things in a dorm.

Plus, in the UK at least, the offial uni accommodation seems to be pretty expensive. Seems like you get more for your money going private.

 

[lunatic59]

I ended up dropping out of college and I think a lot of it did have to do with not living on campus, I had no social life in the school as I commuted to school for classes and that was basically it. I still wish I had stuck with sports and lived on campus, sure it would have almost killed my savings account, I think i would have done a lot better in school.

But on the plus side I;m in the process on buying a house for me and the GF.

YMMV. I think I was more productive not living in the dorms. I commuted from home for the first two years and lived off campus in an apt. for the next two. A lot of colleges and universities heavily promote freshmen living in the dorms, but I was never one to study well in a maelstrom of beer pot and sex ... not that there is anything wrong with those. Quite the contrary. However they are usually at odds with education and seeing as how that was the purpose for attending college in the first place, It was a good thing for me.

There are more responsibilities in an apartment situation and there is no RA to resolve disputes or problems.

 

[bigbadwulff]

Socially you may be better off in a dorm.
I commuted and played baseball. Still not many other students knew I even went to the school. That didn't really bother me but there are aspects I missed out on by not being there all the time.

 

[Outlaw71]

but I was never one to study well in a maelstrom of beer pot and sex ...

Yeah but think of it this way, can you think of a better test to see if you can handle high stress situations? Kind of like the entrance exam in 'The Social Network' where Mark had a group of coders trying to gain root access to the main server while slamming shots of alcohol in a room full of screaming people. He just wanted to see them react in a 'pressure cooker' situation.

And if you can avoid flunking out your first year of college amongst the hurricane of dorm living, then you just might be ready to take on a career on Wall Street.

 

[A.Nonymous]

I ended up dropping out of college and I think a lot of it did have to do with not living on campus, I had no social life in the school as I commuted to school for classes and that was basically it. I still wish I had stuck with sports and lived on campus, sure it would have almost killed my savings account, I think i would have done a lot better in school.

But on the plus side I;m in the process on buying a house for me and the GF.

The college I went to was mainly a commuter college. I would say 80-85% of the students lived off campus and commuted. Many of my friends lived with their parents. We all graduated.

 

[jamor]

You definitely have to live in the dorm especially if it is on or close to campus.

You have 3+ years in college and the rest of your life to have an apartment.

I lived in a dorm my freshman year in college and it is absolutely priceless no matter how crummy they are.

All new faces, easy to meet new friends, girls everywhere.. Not going to be the ritz but if you have the chance to live on campus in a dorm with fellow students, I would never turn that down.

It is an essential experience in the college experience in my opinion.

The noise, the random roommates and random people, the stench of marijuana, the drunk people coming home late.. oh man it is so priceless.

 

[Outlaw71]

All new faces, easy to meet new friends, girls everywhere.. Not going to be the ritz but if you have the chance to live on campus in a dorm with fellow students, I would never turn that down.

It is an essential experience in the college experience in my opinion.

The noise, the random roommates and random people, the stench of marijuana, the drunk people coming home late.. oh man it is so priceless.

Haha, that takes me back to barracks living in the AirForce sooo bad... well, minus the stench of mary jane that is (not that it wasn't going on, but certainly not openly. Biggest difference between military & college kids is, you go to jail if you get caught with it in the military... military jail).

It's nearly impossible not to make friends in that environment. Being sqeezed together like that breaks down all the cultural barriers and social clicks for you. If you're easily distractable I could definitely see dorm life being a problem. But if you can handle yourself, and you like having endless opportunities at your fingertips, its a must.

When I moved off base I had 4 or 5 friends that I saw on a regular basis. When I lived in the barracks, I had 50.

 

[race2c]

I stayed in a dorm for 1 semester, than in a fraternity for 3 years all at oklahoma state. now in an apartment for grad school at murray state.

I enjoy the apartment, as its quiet and such, but miss some of the random crap that would happen at the fraternity house.

 

[Outlaw71]

Woe... thought this thread was long gone.