Your university may encourage living on campus all four years, but if you have an option: Get out of there. College is the best time to test your independence limits without full responsibility. Here are six good reasons why you should ditch the residence hall after your freshman year.
1. Twin Beds
There is nothing worse than trying to get comfortable in a twin bed, especially with a dorm-grade mattress. Leaving a cramped dorm for an apartment or a house opens you up to the much bigger full size, or if you’re lucky, a queen.
2. Rules
In your apartment there’s no such thing as quiet hours, room checks, or hall meetings. You can play music without an RM asking you to turn it down a notch.
3. Your Own Bedroom
Not enough can be said for this one. You got used to having a roommate, maybe you even changed T-shirts in front of them, but having your own bedroom is a whole new experience. Privacy! Quiet! No boyfriends at 1 a.m.! Oh my!
4. Space
Aside from your very own bedroom, you have a living room AND a kitchen! Toss all your microwave mac and cheese in the trash and break out the box. Spread out on your lightly used couch and enjoy not living in a 12’ x 12’ box.
5. No Assigned Roommates
You’re living with your best friends, what could go wrong? But regardless of how it turns out with your friends, the crazy girl who shared your bathroom and whose boyfriend always took 30-minute showers is long gone.
6. Independence
In all seriousness, paying rent and bills and buying gas and groceries can get complicated, but your future self will thank you. Budgeting is a life skill you can only learn from having to do it. There’s no dining hall downstairs and no study rooms to retreat into when you can’t focus. You’re not really throwing yourself into real life, just easing your way in. One day, you will have to furnish a house, conserve electricity, and cook even when you’re tired—and a dorm isn’t going to teach you.
Leaving your comfort zone is hard, and explaining to your parents why you don’t want to live steps away from your classes, is even harder; but it’s for your own sanity. Let the freshmen be awkward on move-in day. You’re an adult now.
