No, I live in an 8 bedroom house with 7 friends.

Prestige.

For the first two years, I lived in a dorm, it was fine but expensive. They make you buy a dining plan for the food halls and campus stores. I am now living off-campus with roommates and it is more affordable. Living in dorms first makes it easier to transition into the college.

The first thing I thought about when choosing a college was its marching band. In high school, I was a member of a core-style marching band. Every year we would spend weeks before school started at band camp to pour our efforts into a unique performance. We competed with other high schools and had tons of fun. Marching band was the highlight of my high school career, and I knew I had to keep being involved. The UW stood out to me for this reason. On top of its great location and academic prowess, it has one of the most entertaining college bands in the country. I applied for 3 other schools in Washington, but I knew this was my first choice. Luckily, my high school prepared me well for the application process and I was not worried. With a 3.8 GPA and AP test scores, I was sure to be accepted. Getting into the UW was exciting because I knew I would continue to pursue my musical interests as well as my academic ones.

I am currently staying in a dorm and my parents are paying my room and board. Honestly, it is hard to manage my expenses because I am essentially broke. I have a part-time job, but that hardly makes me any money, and I am so busy with school I can hardly work.

It is a very highly respected college. My parents always wanted me to go to this college, and it is close to home. People who go to this college are able to obtain employment easily because they tend to be highly educated.

I worked briefly as a kitchen assistant for an on-campus sorority. If it were affordable, I would have preferred to live on-campus. My biggest complaint against UW is that they do not provide enough housing for all the students that they admit. I think affordable, accessible housing is a big part of student success and UW's failure to provide this directly impacts the student experience.

Because I got in. Originally, I had planned to transfer to Western Washington University. However, after a campus visit to UW, I was in love (like many) with the campus and decided I at least wanted to apply. After hearing back, I decided I wanted to give it a shot.