During your time at Hopkins, you’ll be living on campus for your first two years and off campus for the remainder of your bachelor’s degree. Since it’s my junior year, I’m living in my first apartment, and it’s led me to reflect on these two living situations. Although I like them both, I definitely have a favorite—and maybe you will too. Let’s find out!
More independence
One of the biggest differences I’ve noticed between on and off campus living is having more independence. I got to choose my location and find an apartment that had the amenities I wanted. I also have to keep track of paying my bills on time. Although it varies, you might end up paying for things other than just your rent. I pay for gas, electricity, Wi-Fi, and laundry. It’s a little bit of a hassle compared to living on campus where all these things are included, but you get used to it.
Since I learned the hard way, one piece of advice I’ll offer is to make sure you know how laundry at your apartment works BEFORE you’ve procrastinated washing clothes for a month. Since I don’t have in-unit laundry, I assumed I could pay with a credit card, but the machine at my place only takes quarters. Every apartment is different, so plan ahead to prevent wearing pajamas to class like I did!
Roommate situation
For your first year, your roommates (and the building you live in) are randomly assigned to you based on a questionnaire you fill out. I’ve heard mixed opinions on this, but I actually liked having assigned roommates. For starters, I didn’t know anyone else in my incoming class, so it would’ve been hard to find people to live with. It also allowed me to meet people who were totally different from myself. My roommate was an international student from China. Since I’ve never been out of the country before, it was really cool to hear about her experiences in China.
Sophomore year, you’re able to pick your roommates. Similar to your first year, you’re not guaranteed your first choice of building to live in. This means when you choose your roommates, you’re also thinking about which buildings accommodate a certain number of roommates. For example, during my second year, I lived with two other people (known as a “triple”). Triples are more uncommon in the buildings, so most people will live with either one other person or three other people to ensure they get the building they want. For housing selection, each “group” (you and your roommates) are assigned a time slot. If you’re lucky, you’ll be one of the first people to pick before everything fills up. My group had a time slot kind of in the middle, and we were able to snag the last triple in our first-choice building.
For apartments, however, there are so many options; you’ll be able to easily find something if you want to live alone or have 1–3 other roommates. I appreciated the flexibility of picking exactly what I wanted and not having to worry as much about places filling up.
More privacy
During your first year, you’re pretty much guaranteed to be sharing a room with someone and a bathroom with multiple people. I lived with my roommate, but we also had another room next to us with two other girls. All four of us shared a bathroom because we were in suite-style housing. For some, this isn’t a big deal at all. But since I was used to having my own room and bathroom back home, I was pretty bummed I’d have to share everything.
During my second year, our place had three rooms and two bathrooms. In exchange for the smallest room, my roommates let me have my own bathroom. This was definitely a step-up from the year before, but I wished my bathroom was connected to my room. It was inconvenient to walk down the hall, especially when my roommates had guests over and I needed to get ready.
I also like my space to be nearly dead silent because I do all my studying in my room and take naps during the day. Unfortunately, during my first year, I was placed on the second-loudest floor in the building. The next year, my room backed up to our common living area, so any time my roommates had people over, I could hear every single thing going on. These are factors I just didn’t have much control over when it came to on-campus living.
Overall, it wasn’t too bad. Because I’m so picky, getting an apartment was a much better choice for me. It allowed me to find exactly what I wanted. I could prioritize the things that mattered most to me. Now I don’t have any of these issues and I feel a lot more relaxed. I get better sleep and can focus more on my classes.
Distance to campus
This was one of the most important factors in my apartment search. Like many students, I don’t have a car here. Some apartments have buses that take you to campus, but since I like to come back to my apartment multiple times throughout the day, I wanted something as close to Hopkins as I could get. I was initially worried it would be hard to find something nearby, especially since I started my apartment search late in the game. Thankfully, there were still a bunch of options nearby and in areas I was already familiar with. I’ve only met a handful of people who shuttle to their classes. Nearly everyone I know has a quick 5–10 minute walk depending on where they’re going on campus. As a bonus, there just happens to be a Hopkins security guard right outside my window 24/7.
Overall, I prefer living in my apartment, but I’m really glad I spent my first two years on campus. It allowed me to make friends and get to know everyone around me. Having RAs helped a lot with the transition to life in college and with figuring out where I was going to live during my junior year. They also held events for us and check-ins to make sure we were doing okay. Having this support prepared me for my apartment. Without it, I would’ve felt overwhelmed. Both living on and off campus are essential parts of the college experience, so I’m fortunate to have experienced both at Hopkins!
