<p>I will be attending UF next year and I have run into a dilemma. Right now, my sister is attending UF and is living off campus. My parents are thinking of purchasing a condo near campus that both my sister and I could live in. It sounds nice but I am wondering if I will be missing out on the dorm room experience. Are there major benefits from spending your first year in a dorm? Will you meet more people? I've been invited to the honors program. If I lived on campus I would definitely choose Hume. I think mingling with the other honors students would be a plus. I don't know if it is worth sacrificing the comfort of an apartment. What do you guys think: living off campus in an apartment OR on campus in Hume?</p>
<p>I always say if you want to meet people, you will meet people. Where you live is not going to affect that. I lived on campus first year and I think I would have met as many people if I lived off campus. The college experience is what you make of it. Personally, I would not reject a condo. If your parents are willing to pay that much for it, then I wouldn't pass that up.</p>
<p>I highly recommend on campus the first year, and whatever you want the next. On-campus is getting popular again b/c this is the first time in 3 yrs that the housing dept had to use the lottery to select who could leave on campus another yr. Also I would recommend more social freshman yr (broward, jennings, simpson, trustler) and if you stay on another year, pick a quieter dorm (keys, murphree).</p>
<p>IMO,stay at least summer (if time is not a issue of living in a condo) to see if you will like the on-campus feel. If you stay in Hume, it will be a little less social since theres not really a "communal" atmosphere. I talked to a random person and she said it was hard to motivate her floormates to get together socially outside the dorm so.....Try Jennings for the summer. I was glad that I stayed on campus the first year to meet new people, but you can easily meet new people at a apartment complex. Not to discourage you, but I wont be staying on campus next year, because I cant deal with crappy roommates and it's cheaper to stay in an apt. Hopefully you have a slighty close friend you can room with.</p>
<p>It's all how you make of it.</p>
<p>fyi asmaj..its trusler not trustler (im not trying to be anal but u've written trustler a few times in earlier posts)</p>
<p>Sorry about that. Thanks for the correction.</p>
<p>If your parents will agree to it Pi, I'd live in a dorm for at least the summer semester, if not your whole freshman year. I still remember the two years I lived in a dorm (a hundred years ago), and all the great times we had. It's part of the whole college experience. Even my Dad told us funny stories about his dorm, and he graduated in 1938! (Despite what everyone tells us, I think college students were crazier back then, than they are now.) I know everyone won't agree with me, but I think of living in a dorm as a 'right of passage', and if you can, I'd do it. I still correspond with two of the girls who lived on my floor.</p>
<p>Good luck in your decision. I'm sure you'll make life-long friends no matter what you decide.
g8trmom</p>
<p>Go off campus. None of the dorms, save Hume, really seemed that appealing when I visited. Most of my friends moved off campus after their first year. If I go I'll be getting a dorm at Hume, but I will likely move off campus as my parents are thinking about buying a condo there also. Condo>dorm.</p>