Dorm life in college comes with its distinct pros and cons. Pros include: Being able to meet new people, a great view (especially if you live on the top floor like I do), easy access to a dining center, and resident assistants that can make life on your floor fun and engaging. But the cons....man, the cons have the potential to build up over the semesters. With meeting new friends comes sharing living quarters with at least twenty other people. That means sharing showers and bathrooms, which can get bad at times (even for guys) and being subject to a bunch of different methods of doing things that you may not agree with.

Apartments, overall, are awesome. You get to choose who you live with, and there are only a few people in one space, which makes for a more seemingly-regular, cozy environment. You also gain a feeling of independence; you have your own place instead of your own room, how cool is that? But just like anything, finding apartments, and apartments in general, also have their cons. There are certainly some struggles in the process of finding an apartment to rent in college.

It seems like that right when school starts, students are already looking at living options for the next year. Why? It's because property managers send out advertisements upon advertisements marketing their prices and benefits, making college kids think that they will miss out if they wait to sign. This is untrue. I have heard stories of how some students wait until spring semester starts to sign for an apartment, and sometimes this actually means they will get better deals. Also, especially at larger colleges, there are a TON of apartments in the area, so no one should ever think that they will not eventually find one.

However, that doesn't mean that actually FINDING an apartment is easy. When you go to various property manager's websites, you will find several apartments that have already been leased or are in the process of being leased, which can be super frustrating. I know in my experience that this was true, and I hated it! You start wondering if you should have started the process of finding a place to live earlier, which might make you question your existence for a few seconds.

It is true that the per-month price of living in an apartment versus living in a dorm is usually less expensive. You can find an apartment in the price range of $400-$500 and have it be a good living space. But that is just factoring in the monthly cost of the PROPERTY, and maybe not even all the utilities. For off-campus living, one probably has to shop for groceries weekly and buy a router, maybe cable, and other living items. When you add all that up, apartment costs become ghastly similar to dorm costs.

There are also so many questions to ask. What are the fees for utility overages? Is there 24-hour maintenance? What's the laundry situation like? How secure is the property? What is the service fee for signing? And these are just SOME of the examples. I literally don't understand. *inserts laughing and crying emojis here* These questions are so important to ask, but stuff like this takes research, which takes time away from studying and other school obligations.

Finding an apartment is never easy. The process of finding somewhere to live has many variables, such as finances and asking all of the important questions. But in the end, it probably beats dorm life. No more communal bathrooms!