While living on campus can be difficult, moving off campus is a very stressful experience that can feel shockingly similiar to the five stages of grief (fitting since you are grieving your bank account after putting down first and last months rent plus paying realtor fees). Here are the five stages of grief that come with look for an apartment:
1. Denial
When you and your roommate(s) try denying that apartment hunting isn’t terrible. Searching through Zillow add after Zillow add while trying to find the correct number of rooms is worse than homework.
2. Anger
When you find the perfect place only to realize it is waaaaaaaaaaay out of your budget. The only affordable apartments are either tiny, far away, or just kind of gross. Or maybe you’re just angry at your parents for deciding they don’t want you to move off campus when you’ve basically committed somewhere.
3. Bargaining
Sometimes this is literal bargaining with your landlord in a vain attempt to lessen the security deposit, other times it’s bargaining with your future roommates over the best place to live.
4. Depression
Same Zac Efron (but we miss our money..)
Looking at your bank account after the initial deposit or after buying everything or after something breaks or after buying groceries. So many ors. Why is everything so expensive?
5. Acceptance / Excitment
When it’s all said and done, moving into an apartment is really exciting and one of the first steps into adulthood. Just think, there’s an entire living space you get to make completely your own without the rules of dorm life.
Hopefully, these helped give an idea of what off campus housing has in store for you, good luck apartment hunting!