So during freshman year I lived in the dorms (all freshmen at my college were required to) and I am currently living in the dorms as a sophomore because I liked the dorm I lived in as a freshman and though many sophomores at my college live off campus there’s still quite a few that stay in the dorms (maybe like 20-25% of the dorm residents are sophomores) so I didn’t feel too pressured to move out of the dorms.
However, now I will be a junior. And besides the RA’s, there are like no juniors and seniors living in the dorms, making me a bit uncomfortable with the idea of living in the dorms again with a lot of people who are two years younger than me and RA’s that are in my grade.
The thing though is that I’m afraid that I’m too late to have off-campus housing as an option now. I have done very little research into off campus housing so far and the dorm contracts are due in two weeks and if I don’t sign a contract saying I will definitely live in the dorms by then and can’t find off campus housing I could potentially have no place to live.
The reason why I haven’t done much research is that as a person who is very shy and anxious and nervous things seem to overwhelm me a bit more than other people, and the process of getting off-campus housing is one of them. Just the thought of researching off campus housing and figuring out the process of getting an apartment and making decisions overwhelms me. And I’m also worried that if I get a co-op for the spring next year that requires me to move I won’t be able to get out of a lease (and I know I will be able to get out of my dorm contract though to pursue a co-op because I asked, really dorm contract is for making sure people don’t promise to stay in the dorms and then decide to live off-campus just because they found something better).
On one hand I don’t want to live in the dorms again. For one, most people will be 2 years younger than me so I will feel awkward around them. And also, I’m starting to feel a need for independence. I like the dorms but I kind of miss having a full home and I feel having an apartment or living in a room at a house might be good for me because I might learn how to grow up more and gain independence and have more privacy which I feel might make me feel better about myself and be happier.
Plus I feel having something “new” in my life helps me feel happier about my college experience (because after getting a little bit of the “sophomore blues” and found that having a new job helped lessen that, I learned that doing new things makes me feel happier/more excited about college, and living in a new environment could be my new thing). And I also feel that if I lived in a rented room at a house that I might be able to better form friendships which I’m not very good at (although I am a little bit worried about that option because I worry that houses are more prone to partying, and I am not a partier). And also if I get an apartment or room in a house near the building where most of my classes will be, the walk to there could be easier.
On the other hand though, off campus housing process overwhelms me (especially now that I only have so little time to get off campus housing) and I will feel even more overwhelmed if I end up getting a co-op during my school year but can’t get out of my lease/have to find someone to sublease.
As far as my options for dorms, one option is that I stay in the same dorm as last year and the year before in a room on a floor where the majority of the rooms taken are sophomores and have a roommate that will also be sophomore. Most of the people on this floor will still be one year younger than me, but that is not as uncomfortable as living on a floor with mostly people who are two years younger than me and living with a roommate who is two years younger than me (and I am living on a floor that mostly has freshmen now and a freshman roommate and it isnt too bad because 1year age difference isn’t much). Another option is to move into a different dorm that is slightly more expensive and has more freshmen, but it’s really nice and I kind of like the idea of living in a new environment (plus it’s a little closer to the basketball court and I don’t have to walk up a large hill to get to my dorm like I do now). However, I can always change my room and dorm after signing a housing contract, so if I change my mind I can depending on room availability.
Any advice?