Should I Live At Home or in Halls? FAQ & Chat Megathread

Re: whether to live in halls or stay at home

im in this dilemma right now, I'm going to Uni this October and I still haven't decided where to live, the university isn't far from where I live; 30 minutes drive to the station, then 25 minutes train journey however the accommodation there is brilliant and I do want to live independently..however the big snag in my plan is the fact that my girlfriend who I have been with for nearly 2 years hates the idea of moving away and thinks that it will result in us splitting up. I don't want that but I also want to have a social life at Uni and not have to get up at 7am to be in for early starts etc. can anyone offer me any advice? Anyone been in this situation before and if so what did you do about it? It's really playing on my mind

Re: whether to live in halls or stay at home

im in this dilemma right now, I'm going to Uni this October and I still haven't decided where to live, the university isn't far from where I live; 30 minutes drive to the station, then 25 minutes train journey however the accommodation there is brilliant and I do want to live independently..however the big snag in my plan is the fact that my girlfriend who I have been with for nearly 2 years hates the idea of moving away and thinks that it will result in us splitting up. I don't want that but I also want to have a social life at Uni and not have to get up at 7am to be in for early starts etc. can anyone offer me any advice? Anyone been in this situation before and if so what did you do about it? It's really playing on my mind

Hi Sam,

You appear to have misread the title of this thread - it's all about the question of whether you should live at home or in halls, not in private halls vs a shared house

OB

This sticky replaces the old megathread, which grew from a single question. This is the new place for all your questions and chat on the subject of whether you want to move into halls or stay at home for uni.

Finance
Probably the most commonly cited reason for living at home is finance, and the belief that it will be far cheaper to live at home. However, for many people it is no more expensive to live in halls. Things you should take into account include



Social Life
It's not impossible to make friends if you live at home, but you are making your own life harder. There are, for most people, three main sources of friends: course, halls and societies.

If you live at home, then clearly you won't have any friends from halls, and depending on the uni this may mean that Fresher's Week is something of a write off too, because most people will go out with their new flatmates.

Some courses don't socialise with each other – mine doesn't, for instance. I'm a perfectly social person with plenty of friends from outside my course, but I don't know anyone from my course who is more than an acquaintance. This tends to be more common for people on larger courses where group work is not a regular feature of the degree.

Societies can be a good way to make friends, but do be aware that some societies are such an intense commitment that living at home just makes participation impractical to the point of being impossible. For instance, in first year I was part of a sports society that involved practice around 3 times a week, more in summer, and often starting at 6am, plus gym sessions, plus weekends away to compete. It was hard enough when I was living in halls, but not one person who was living at home managed to get (and stay) involved. This isn't the case with all societies, as some will only want you to do stuff once a week, but the more intense societies do tend to be the ones where lasting friendships build up.

Independence
For many people, moving away from home is a chance to gain independence from their parents, and to learn life skills. Living in halls means that your mum isn't going to be telling you to tidy your room, but you will have to learn to cook and do your own laundry (which, let's face it, you've got to learn how to do sooner or later). Of course, this can lead to some mishaps (which will invariably later be told as funny stories!), but invariably communal areas will be cleaned by a cleaner, which keeps the worst of it under control. Many people cite this as being one of the more valuable aspects of going to uni.

Academia
Unlike at A Level, even when degree courses at two different universities have identical names and UCAS codes, they will invariably have very different content. This is because what's taught tends to be based around the staff's research and interests, and each university gets to set its own exams. This means that if you move away from home, then you will have far more choice between courses, and will be able to find a course that suits you best.

Depending on your grades and where you live, you may be able to get into a better uni if you move away. For instance, I am from Bristol, but I didn't have the grades for University of Bristol. I did have the grades for UWE, but by choosing to move away I was able to get offers from Russell Group universities including Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds.

When you're actually at uni, being close to campus has the advantage of easy access to facilities such as the library. This means that if you suddenly realise you need a book, it's really easy just to pop over and get the book out rather than having a two hour round trip (which, let's face it, isn't going to happen).

This may be just me, but I actually found it easier to work in halls than I did at home. This was because whilst my parents found it impossible to comprehend that coming in every five minutes to chat / asking me to look after the grandparents / similar wasn't conducive to working, my flatmates (a) had work of their own to do, and (b) understood that if my bedroom door was shut, then I was probably working and so shouldn't be disturbed if possible.

Finally, at my own university (and I have no reason to believe that this isn't something that isn't replicated at other unis), the group that is most likely to drop out of university is those that are living at home, which is food for thought.

With all that said, living at home can be better if . .


So are there any benefits to living at home?



Compromise?
One option can be to move into halls for first year, and then make a decision about second and third year later on. By that point, you know what living away from home is like, so you can make an informed decision, and you will have made a group of friends that you will keep for the rest of your degree.

The only potential snag to this is that some universities won't offer local students a place in halls, though this does vary from uni to uni. If this is the case, then you could

I know quite a few local students who moved into halls, and only one has chosen to move back home, which indicates to me that they prefer living away from home!

Unfortunately the answer is yes. Commuting life vs dorm life is just so so different. I dormed for my first year and half of my second year and then had to commute because of financial issues. I'm still friends with the same people from freshman year and that's all because of dorming. Since commuting, I've found it extremely hard to make any new friendships. I just drive to school, go to class, and drive back home.

Dorming really included me in everything that was happening and now I just feel out of the loop 24/7. It's just so different and if I could dorm again I would do so in a heartbeat.