My freshman year, I lived in Graham-Hewlett. For being a freshman, it was definitely a good experience, but I was ready to move and be on my own. I felt this way for several reasons. One reason was even though I did make lots of friends, I like to have my privacy. You get absolutely no privacy in the dorms whatsoever. If I was trying to study, it was very difficult when my suite mates came home and blasted their music. Also, living in the dorms, you can only have people spend the night on the weekends. This really makes it seem like a boarding school or jail. It was kind of depressing. This year, my sophomore year, I live off campus, and I love it. I get all the privacy and peace in the world, and I can have anyone over at any time. It is also much less walking: since I live more than a mile away, I have Park & Ride, so the bus pretty much drops me yards in front of each of my classes. Dorm life is good for a freshmen, but i definitely recommend living off campus after the first year!
In my first semester at UNCW I lived in the university apartments. It was actually pretty nice because it was so central and close to everything. As are most of the other dorms except for the Crossing and the Landing. The problem with on-campus housing is that it is usually really small and you don't always have a lot of privacy. In contrast there are some negatives that come with living off-campus as well, like getting to campus if you don't have a car. Luckily the university have a shuttle systems too, so you should just make sure about the pickup spots and you should be fine. Another positive for me moving off-campus was that it worked out to be much cheaper, on-campus housing could be expensive sometimes. It obviously differs from person to person but for me living off campus definitely turned out to be the best option. I would definitely encourage you to look at off-campus housing as an option. Don't get caught up in the on-campus lifestyle!
