Clearly, there are good reasons as to why you would want to go to college with your significant other. In addition to being able to see them every day, you will also have your best friend by your side as you go through the beginning of a new chapter in your life. It can make the transition a little less scary. However, there are also plenty of good reasons as to why you and your significant other shouldn’t go to the same college.

1. Distance can be good for your relationship.

When I first left for college without my boyfriend, after spending the past year being with him 24/7, I was scared that we were going to drift apart or lose the spark between us. However, the distance helped make our time spent together more meaningful, and helped us each get to discover who we are as individuals in our relationship.

2. You both need to create separate college experiences.

If you have your significant other living right across campus or living right down the hall, you’re going to want to spend as much time with them as possible. However, college is a time to discover who you are as your own person: what are your interests? Do you like taking all 8 a.m. classes to get them out of the way, or do you like sleeping in? Do you like going out and partying every night, or do you like saving it for the weekend? College is the time to discover these things, and if you have your significant other influencing your decisions (consciously or subconsciously), you won’t have the opportunity to discover yourself. Being able to go about your day the way you want to and not having to worry about if you’ll have time to see your significant other, you are more likely to create a better college experience for yourself.

3. The separation helps create more opportunities to meet new people.

Having distance between you and your significant other forces you to go out and meet new people. College is the time to go out and meet a whole bunch of people, some of which are going to end up being your best friends for the rest of your life. If you and your significant other go to the same college, chances are you aren’t going to take advantage of the times you should be going out and meeting new people as much as you would if you knew you had your significant other to fall back on all the time.

I’m not going to lie, the thought, “Man, I really wish I went to the same school as my boyfriend” runs through my head about 20 times a day. However, I know that had I gone to the same school as my boyfriend, I would not have made as much of an effort to meet new people, become involved with the school or had the experiences I have. Looking back at all the self-discovery and growth I’ve had, all the new friends I’ve made and all the experiences I’ve created for myself in just two years alone helps reassure me that going to different universities was definitely the right decision.