Class of 2018, it's that time of the year when you start looking and applying at colleges. When making that decision you have tons of things to consider from payment plans, meal plans, classes, to housing.

If you're like me you live two hours away from your university and HAVE to live on campus. Some people, however, don't live on campus their first year because they either live super close to campus or don't want to pay the extra money. Although living on campus may seem like a waste of money or just pointless, it does have its perks.

Living on campus your first year is great...ish. Yeah, you have to share a room/bathroom with another person(s), but it's not all bad. Sometimes you're fortunate enough to have an awesome roomie, but other times you don't. There aren't too many downsides to living on campus, but there are tons of positives!

When living on campus you make so many connections and meet tons of people. You don't just have your roommate, you have your hall mates, your RA, and literally just the people you run into in the lobby. Some of the people I met my first year in my dorm are still my friends today, and some are now my sisters!

Living on campus gets you so involved as well. From Greek life to religious groups, to band, and other athletics, you will get involved. Now I'm not saying that living on campus is the only way you're going to do these things, it just helps and gives you a push into them.

Sometimes different clubs and organizations come around the dorm and talk to you about organizations, whereas if you live off campus you won't know about them. It's actually been proven that people that live on campus their first year get more involved and have better grades throughout their college career. No, living on campus isn't going to make you a genius, but it will help.

Most of the time the way you hear about events and organizations is through social media, but not everyone has social media. I know, crazy right??? But it's true. I happen to know college students who don't even have smart phones.

Living on campus may not be the best experience comfort wise, but overall it's the best choice for you to make your first year. Once you get that concrete involvement established and your grades going, live wherever you want your second year.

Take my advice on this because my roomie this year was a commuter and hated it and now we live together. She's not involved on campus, but she has great grades.

So, when choosing your college, think about the location of it and think about housing.