<p>I'm going to be a sophomore this coming school year. I lived in a dorm and did all that fun stuff my first year, but I will be living off-campus next year with a few good friends, about a 5 min bus ride from campus. I have a bad feeling that my social life will be worse because I won't be surrounded by a community of people all the time?? I know your social life is what you make of it but I have this weird feeling. Anyway, what's to expect when making this transition? In terms of social life/living situation/anything really.</p>
<p>Not to worry, you will still have a bit of social life. Get to know your neighbors and see if any students live near you. Get to know them and talk to them, so you won’t be too alone. You will still be able to attend parties and social gatherings that are on-campus. You might feel awkward the first couple weeks of living off campus, but you’ll get used to it. Just remember to get up a bit early, so you have time to do your morning routines and get to the bus stop. I would say waking up at least 60min before class is okay, giving you time to use the restroom and eat breakfast (and perhaps look over homework).</p>
<p>Make no mistake, living off campus will be different and will take a bit to get used to. But you will get a feel for it, and it’ll be fine.</p>
<p>Out of all the friends I have who are off campus, most are fine with being off campus, but a very interesting point is that they like to congregate in my suite (my dorm suite is above the dining hall, so a very popular gathering point). I also know of two people who went off campus and tried very hard to get back on campus, and succeeded as RAs.</p>
<p>The difference is just as you think it’d be: you’re no longer surrounded by hundreds of similar-aged people. You drop down to about like 20-50 or so in your nearby vicinity. Once you get used to it, though, I don’t think it’ll be a problem. Everyone I know off campus seems happy. You might end up at the library more often though, just to be around people. Haha.</p>
<p>You just have to make a bit more of an effort to see people, but if you’re living with good friends it should be fine. I will admit that I did stay at my house more often when I moved off-campus, but I always had a lot of people over, so it was kind of similar. You definitely will feel more independent and stuff, which is really nice. You’ll probably spend a lot of time at your friends’ houses as well.</p>
<p>In my apartment building there is none of that keep your doors open stuff. Tenants mostly keep to themselves. If you have friends still in the dorms then you might have less contact with them. I’m still around people my age, I don’t know any people in my area who are not undergrad college students. </p>
<p>It isn’t too hard to have a social life. You might have to do a bit more traveling to make it happen though. I know my friends were/are a pain and wouldn’t come see me so I had to always go see them. I would really recommend that you join a club or something just to ensure you are getting out and meeting more people.</p>