ADVICE, PLEASE! (Regarding living at home, or at the Uni city)

Hi all,

So, I'm not usually one for a 'panic', 'advice needed' post. But, truth be told, I'm in a predicament here. Just wondering if anyone can offer advice, please!

The situation is, I'm going to (very happily) study Masters full time at Cardiff University in September, but am unsure on whether to live at home, or in Cardiff itself.

My hometown is 45 minutes away via train, and I have an offer of a pub job to pay weekly for transportation, though will not have a lot of other freedoms.

The issue is, after undergrad, I love the independence, and more importantly, the campus life. Do I move to Cardiff and find a job and travel back at weekends, which may be stressful, or stay at home, and battle with lack of independence, home job, and not as much opportunity to use library and other campus facilities....but remaining slightly more financially stable?

I'm too scared to grow a pair and commit to one of the options. I want to make the most of the year, even though it's likely to be a lot busier. But, have I now got to be uber mature and go for the financial stability?

Any current postgraduates able to offer advice on workload etc and other stresses? Anyone else in similar situations? Equally, anyone live in Cardiff, or travel from home to their university?

To you guys, the answer may sound obvious, but there's pros and cons in the way of both, and so, outside opinions would be pretty useful!

Thanks all!
Hope you're enjoying the weekend! :biggrin:

Reply 1

Josb

How many classhours will you have?

Reply 2

DorianGrayism

You are doing a masters. You need easy access to a library.

Reply 3

Klix88

My Masters commute was 2 hours each way. It was a slog in terms of the academic work, but it was only a year and I ended up with a great result. You need to be very organised with your library time but as far as the work goes, you should be fine with a 45 commute. That's with the caveat that I did an MA, if your subject needs a lot of lab time, you'll probably need to be on campus much more.

As far as a campus student experience goes, I can't say that I - or any of my subject colleagues - really had one. Workloads vary widly, but pretty much all I did for a year was to read, research, study and write. My Masters was a very intense experience. It definitely wasn't a continuation of my undergrad lifestyle.

My advice would be to let go of the idea that you'll carry on with the student lifestyle you're used to, on a Masters. If you get some, that would be a bonus, but I think you need to make the 'at home/away from home' decision based on what will make you most productive.

And a word of warning - don't rely on being able to work during your course. Plenty of people manage it but some don't. One person on my course had to give up her part-time job as they wouldn't be flexible with her hours.

Reply 4

username1060389

My home town is about an hour away from uni so is commutable, however, as my course is full time (35 hours a week) plus placement included, I felt commuting added too much time to each day.
By moving out, I get more time to study and to myself meaning that I enjoy uni a lot more. It also allows more independence and for me to make friends outside my course.

Personally if your course is full time and will need time to work, I'd move out :smile:

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Reply 5

beautifulbigmacs

Living quite a way away from the uni shouldn't be a problem. Both of my masters, unlike my undergraduate, weren't on my doorstep.

If it's just about money then it's better value I think, to make use of the liberal amount of resources online and buy the occaisional book when needed studying at home. Much cheaper than paying for campus accommodation and has always worked for me; I've never felt I had restricted study material as a result of not living near the library.

I think the biggest consideration to take into account is money and where you are personally at with that in particular. If your course doesn't have lots of contact hours then it's likely that commuting is manageable.