<p>Let's hear the WPI specific pros and cons for living in an apartment instead of campus housing for upperclassmen.</p>
<p>Sophomore son wants to get an apartment next year, I am not so sure it is a good plan</p>
<p>Don’t know if this is a plus or a minus for your son. My daughter is a picky eater. However, she also likes to cook. Her biggest complaint about the freshman dorms at WPI is that they have no kitchens for the students to use. She misses doing some cooking once in a while. She wants a kitchen next year.</p>
<p>My son went to a different college that did have kitchens in the freshman dorms. He likes homemade cookies. He would cook up a batch and bring them up to his room. His only complaint was that you needed to make about 2 or 3 times the number you wanted. He said that you try and walk thru the entire dorm (the kitchen and his room were on opposite ends) and see how many you have when you arrive at your room. I wasn’t surprised at the number of friends he made that year.</p>
<p>Some upperclassmen dorms do have kitchens, but it looks like it tends to be the smaller houses, which seem to me to be basically WPI housing off campus. Don’t see a whole lot of difference between those WPI owned houses and private apartments.</p>
<p>Cost can also be a difference. Off campus housing tends to be lower priced than WPI housing of similar quality. However, there is a distance that a student must walk from the off campus apartment to campus which does make a difference. Living on the campus can sometimes make you feel more connected psychologically. </p>
<p>And another advantage to living off campus is that you have more choices and will not be stuck with a meal plan if you don’t want one (and they are very expensive). Even ordering pizza or chinese food for delivery is cheaper than the meal plan and one can also cook their own food (which is yet cheaper).</p>
<p>re the food plan - this is what S tells me. He says most of the apartments are just as close as his dorm which he says is all the way at the far end of campus. I worry about the not connected part</p>
<p>Relating to my college experience, which was not at WPI. I was “off campus” but involved in sports and other activities at school. So, I felt (as was) very connected to the school. You don’t have to be on campus to be connected. However, if you are not involved on school activities, then being on campus may help the connected part.</p>