Cerro Vista, the on-campus apartments, are not typically the first choice incoming freshman have for housing.
Why you may ask? Probably because most students want a traditional college living experience in the dorms, and Cerro is known to be less social than the dorms. This may be true, since you don’t live as close to as many people, but the social scene is what you make of it. If you leave your door open and are friendly with your neighbors, then of course you’ll make friends.
There are also great things about living in Cerro that you don’t have in the dorms.
Let’s start with the space. The dorms tend to be small, but in Cerro you have so much more room. You don’t have to store all of your stuff in one room and you aren’t limited to hanging out in your bedroom, having people sit on your bed. There are couches and chairs so you have plenty of room to have people over and you don’t have to end up invading your roommate’s space. Also, there is a lot more privacy; you always have a room you can go to if you need to take a break from people.
Next is the bathroom. In the dorms you share a bathroom with the others in your hall, but in Cerro you only share a bathroom with three people max. This is even less than the number of people I share a bathroom with at home. How nice is that? You don’t have to worry about wearing shoes in the showers or wondering if someone did something gross in there.
One of the biggest perks of Cerro is that you get a kitchen! You have a full fridge and don’t have to share your microwave with a hall full of people. You can cook, if that’s your thing, bake when you feel like it, or microwave whatever you need. Plus, you don’t have to live off the food on campus.
And lastly, the view from Cerro is amazing; you get a perfect Snapchat story at sunset nearly every night. (Here’s one of mine)
So all in all, I think the benefits are greater than the downsides. Living in Cerro is worth walking up that hill every day.