<p>does that mean off-campus housing is that bad at UF?</p>
<p>Off-campus was lovely, reasonable in cost, plenty of amenities.
Many kids do very well off-campus. My son did not. It was too far away (even with the free buses) to go to campus to just hang out and get involved. It was very easy to miss the bus and thus miss class and then decide since he had missed one class he wouldn't bother going "all" the way to campus for just one class. </p>
<p>The roommates were luck-of-the draw. Nice enough kids, but certainly not the most motivated bunch (my son definitely included) so there wasn't really a culture of achievement, if you know what I mean.</p>
<p>Please understand. My son's poor choices were his own. He could definitely have been a successful student living off-campus. But I think the off-campus situation contributed to the poor freshman year he had.</p>
<p>Son #2 lived on-campus in the honors housing at another school. Different kid, different school. But all the freshman mixers and activities aimed at getting kids involved on-campus were at his fingertips, there were RA's there to encourage kids to give these things a try, and all his roommates went to class pretty much most of the time. All this put together, along with the fact that this is a different kid than big brother, has led to a very successful freshman year, both socially and academically.</p>
<p>Bottom line, as a parent I want my youngest to have the greatest likelihood of a successful freshman year. My experience has led me to believe that being on-campus is one factor that will help. There's no magic wand, there are no guarantees. YMMV. But our youngest will spend his freshman year in the dorms.</p>
<p>(Note to all the kids who have done great off-campus: I believe you. I wish my kid had done the same. Sigh.)</p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with off campus housing, it is just not conducive to meeting/making new friends and so not a great idea for Freshman. Freshman living in the dorms WANT to meet each other and go out of their way to be social. Activities are planned by their dorms and floors to break the ice and lots of people hang out in the common areas (either on the floor or in the lobby of the dorm) so it is easy to meet people. In off campus apartments you are on your own. For the most part, people do their own thing and they usually already have their friends base established. Living off campus can be very isolating and lonely for someone who hasn't already found their niche at UF. That said, if you choose an off-campus complex that is known to be more social you may have a different experience. A place like Windsor (coed and all female building) or the Ivy house (girls only) may have more freshman and be inherently more social than a classic apartment complex. My sincere advice, send in your $25 on campus housing application and then wait until YOU GET ACCEPTED until you waste any more time or effort on this issue.</p>
<p>i think that's probably what i'll do. i'm just stressing out with all of this housing stuff for UF and UCF (i got accepted into UCF and the housing situation is a whole other issue...great) when i don't even know if i got accepted into UF or not. i'll just wait till february to stress out. thank you to everyone who has helped me! i'll be sure to keep in mind your suggestions come february if i do get accepted!</p>