Stay at home or go to halls for University?
I'm going to uni in September and it's fairly local, I'd have to commute half and hour on the train, so I'm really unsure as to whether to stay at home or go into halls.
My mum doesn't want me to move out at all and that's one of the main reasons I've chosen a local university and to stay at home, that and the fact I'd have more money. I want to volunteer and travel in the next few summers so if I stay at home I'm going to have the money to do so.
However I feel like I'm going to miss out on the experience and that I'll just be a loner there everyday as people make friends with people in their halls, so I feel like I'll have no social life or mates.
I just cannot decide which is the best option.
My mum doesn't want me to move out at all and that's one of the main reasons I've chosen a local university and to stay at home, that and the fact I'd have more money. I want to volunteer and travel in the next few summers so if I stay at home I'm going to have the money to do so.
However I feel like I'm going to miss out on the experience and that I'll just be a loner there everyday as people make friends with people in their halls, so I feel like I'll have no social life or mates.
I just cannot decide which is the best option.
Move into halls!!! When I went to uni first time round at 18yrs old I learnt more from moving out than I did from my degree! People who stayed at home often struggled to really throw themselves into uni life too. Definitely definitely move out into halls, I may have forgotten a lot of my degree but you never forget the antics, friendships and people skills from living with people at uni.
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100% move into halls. It's an amazing experience.
Moving out is fun and all but i thought you wanted the money to travel? What is the main priority?
Moving out it good for the independence and freedom but if you think you will have money - boy are you wrong XD
And you will always fit in at uni because the freshers fairs and what not are set up for everyone so never worry about that kind of thing. All the people I know who stayed home have managed to find good friends and still enjoy themselves as well
Moving out it good for the independence and freedom but if you think you will have money - boy are you wrong XD
And you will always fit in at uni because the freshers fairs and what not are set up for everyone so never worry about that kind of thing. All the people I know who stayed home have managed to find good friends and still enjoy themselves as well
Original post by Rt6f
Moving out is fun and all but i thought you wanted the money to travel? What is the main priority?
Moving out it good for the independence and freedom but if you think you will have money - boy are you wrong XD
And you will always fit in at uni because the freshers fairs and what not are set up for everyone so never worry about that kind of thing. All the people I know who stayed home have managed to find good friends and still enjoy themselves as well
Moving out it good for the independence and freedom but if you think you will have money - boy are you wrong XD
And you will always fit in at uni because the freshers fairs and what not are set up for everyone so never worry about that kind of thing. All the people I know who stayed home have managed to find good friends and still enjoy themselves as well
The one I knew took 4 years to do a 2 year course.
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Move into halls, you'll miss out on a huge part of the experience of uni. Also part of uni is learning to be independent of your parents which you won't learn if you live at home.
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100% move into halls. Uni is far more than the degree certificate at the end
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Original post by Rt6f
Moving out is fun and all but i thought you wanted the money to travel? What is the main priority?
Moving out it good for the independence and freedom but if you think you will have money - boy are you wrong XD
And you will always fit in at uni because the freshers fairs and what not are set up for everyone so never worry about that kind of thing. All the people I know who stayed home have managed to find good friends and still enjoy themselves as well
Moving out it good for the independence and freedom but if you think you will have money - boy are you wrong XD
And you will always fit in at uni because the freshers fairs and what not are set up for everyone so never worry about that kind of thing. All the people I know who stayed home have managed to find good friends and still enjoy themselves as well
Yeah my compromise of staying at home was to go abroad and volunteer during the summer, but I know if I live in halls I am in no way going to have the money to do that the first year at all.
Stay at home, 30mins is not long at all and are you really going to be gaining anything you couldn't by moving in with your pals when you're more financially stable ? Apart from more distractions and the possibility of falling behind on your course.
Volunteering abroad would be a much more fulfilling experience than bunking with a bunch of excitable 17y/os
Volunteering abroad would be a much more fulfilling experience than bunking with a bunch of excitable 17y/os
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Zapper2000
I'm going to uni in September and it's fairly local, I'd have to commute half and hour on the train, so I'm really unsure as to whether to stay at home or go into halls.
My mum doesn't want me to move out at all and that's one of the main reasons I've chosen a local university and to stay at home, that and the fact I'd have more money. I want to volunteer and travel in the next few summers so if I stay at home I'm going to have the money to do so.
However I feel like I'm going to miss out on the experience and that I'll just be a loner there everyday as people make friends with people in their halls, so I feel like I'll have no social life or mates.
I just cannot decide which is the best option.
My mum doesn't want me to move out at all and that's one of the main reasons I've chosen a local university and to stay at home, that and the fact I'd have more money. I want to volunteer and travel in the next few summers so if I stay at home I'm going to have the money to do so.
However I feel like I'm going to miss out on the experience and that I'll just be a loner there everyday as people make friends with people in their halls, so I feel like I'll have no social life or mates.
I just cannot decide which is the best option.
Depends what kind of uni experience you want. If you want nights out and parties then its a lot easier if your in halls, if you want a more chilled out social life then its a bit easier to do this from home, you just have to put yourself out there and talk to people.
Original post by Zapper2000
I'm going to uni in September and it's fairly local, I'd have to commute half and hour on the train, so I'm really unsure as to whether to stay at home or go into halls.
My mum doesn't want me to move out at all and that's one of the main reasons I've chosen a local university and to stay at home, that and the fact I'd have more money. I want to volunteer and travel in the next few summers so if I stay at home I'm going to have the money to do so.
However I feel like I'm going to miss out on the experience and that I'll just be a loner there everyday as people make friends with people in their halls, so I feel like I'll have no social life or mates.
I just cannot decide which is the best option.
My mum doesn't want me to move out at all and that's one of the main reasons I've chosen a local university and to stay at home, that and the fact I'd have more money. I want to volunteer and travel in the next few summers so if I stay at home I'm going to have the money to do so.
However I feel like I'm going to miss out on the experience and that I'll just be a loner there everyday as people make friends with people in their halls, so I feel like I'll have no social life or mates.
I just cannot decide which is the best option.
Hello Zapper2000,
I lived in the halls and I loved it! I met so many amazing people!
However, I have loads of friends who did not and they did not miss anything out.
Freshers week is very important to meet people and make friends, it does not matter if you live in the halls or not! Additionally, universities have loads of clubs and societies that you can join.
Both choices are valuable but do not be worried about missing out because you won't
Hope it helps
Ludovica
Original post by Zapper2000
I'm going to uni in September and it's fairly local, I'd have to commute half and hour on the train, so I'm really unsure as to whether to stay at home or go into halls.
My mum doesn't want me to move out at all and that's one of the main reasons I've chosen a local university and to stay at home, that and the fact I'd have more money. I want to volunteer and travel in the next few summers so if I stay at home I'm going to have the money to do so.
However I feel like I'm going to miss out on the experience and that I'll just be a loner there everyday as people make friends with people in their halls, so I feel like I'll have no social life or mates.
I just cannot decide which is the best option.
My mum doesn't want me to move out at all and that's one of the main reasons I've chosen a local university and to stay at home, that and the fact I'd have more money. I want to volunteer and travel in the next few summers so if I stay at home I'm going to have the money to do so.
However I feel like I'm going to miss out on the experience and that I'll just be a loner there everyday as people make friends with people in their halls, so I feel like I'll have no social life or mates.
I just cannot decide which is the best option.
I hate to break it to you but your fears are not unfounded you will miss out on so many things. When your at school or college you obviously go home every day (unless it's a boarding school) but everyone does that so you don't really miss out but this is different.
your going to miss out in a number of different ways:
Social This seems be the one that your most worried about and your quite right to be worried about it.while you will eventually be able to make friends it will take a while (longer if you not there every day. Going out will be a problem because your tied to train times your leaving things early or if your dropping off your things at home first you'll do on of two things:
1/ Drop off your things relise you'll only have an hour at whatever event an then not go because it's not really worth it for an hour.
2/ arrive late to the event and leave early which isn't really a great thing to do and people will talk about it.
Also if you get lucky (you won't leaving early) you'll have to go back to hers and it's much nicer doing it in your own place. what if you join a team you'll most likely get delivered back to the uni after games that's OK for local games but what if they are along way away (like Glasgow) you'll be back way past the last train and have to sleep in the door way to Mc Donalds until people know you well enough to offer you a sofa for a night even then.
Academics This is the reason your at uni your uni work can be badly affected in many ways by living at home. lets look at the train first.
You cannot do good work on the train it just cant be done particularly in half an hour that's each way your loosing an hour a day that's one revision session of a subject( I broke my sessions up in to 2 blocks of about two hours each one before and on after lunch depending on my time table and what if your train is cancelled or delayed the uni see that as "your problem" missing one lecture isn't too bad missing an exam or hand in is a problem particularly as travel problems won't get you EC.
Next lets look at your time table or My time table in short it was the worst I cannot imagine how bad it would have been had i lived at home.
Monday
9am-7pm 1 hour for lunch
Tuesday
10am-8pm 1 hour for lunch
Wednesday (this was a good day if you lived in halls)
9-10am
9 hour break
6-7pm
As you can see not great particularly if you look at Wednesday I was in halls so i did some uni work and then played video games or went town or slept or went to the gym you can study in the library but only realistically for 4 hours so your still stuck with 5 hours to kill.
for these reasons and others i'm sure places like Oxford say you must live in the city if you want to come from home I worked out the nearest village outside of Oxford is a 7 minute drive even there I don't think they'ed allow it.
Oh you also get less loan if you live at home not to mention the life experience.
Original post by Zapper2000
I just cannot decide which is the best option.
I just cannot decide which is the best option.
I think no-one can give complete advice because it depends so much on you, what kind of person you are, and how much effort you will put it.
I'm assuming that you want to experience the traditional university life, and not just the purely academic degree, otherwise it's a no-brainer, stay at home. Otherwise, for most people, living at university is probably the way to go, but you have to balance that against what else you want to do.
First thing is to work out the actual travel time and frequency of trains. If it's half an hour door-to-door then that's less than the travel time from halls to the main university in some places. If it's half an hour plus half an hour's walk either end, then it's a different thing altogether. Similarly if there's only one train per hour and they finish at 8PM then that will affect things a lot.
The main difficulty people have with living at home is that it's then very easy not to put the effort in to immerse yourself full in in the university life people you have a safety blanket. it could just become somewhere you go during the day. You won't have the 'life-changing' moment when you first move to University, moving tends to change your mindset and forces you to be more fully involved. It depends on your personality how much difference it will make to you.
You can still have a very full experience, but it will be around the people you meet on your course, and through the clubs or activities you become involved in. You would need to make a huge effort to get involved in lots of things early on (more than people who have a ready-made network in their halls).
In the first few weeks it will probably seem like other people are having more fun than you because (depending on the university) lots of social activities will revolve around halls, although you might be able to find specific events for non residents. But as time goes on there will be less of a difference. Some people don't get on with their hall-mates and end up building their social groups around their class-mates or clubs/societies, so you wouldn't be much different to them.
On top of that, there are some practical issues. Some university activities (some clubs, late nights out) might be incompatible with commuting. Most won't, but will require more planning and commitment if you want to be involved.
Final thing to consider. If you move into halls in the first year, and decide it wasn't that great, you can always live at home in your second year. You can't really do it the other way around.
Original post by jonathanemptage
I hate to break it to you but your fears are not unfounded you will miss out on so many things. When your at school or college you obviously go home every day (unless it's a boarding school) but everyone does that so you don't really miss out but this is different.
your going to miss out in a number of different ways:
Social This seems be the one that your most worried about and your quite right to be worried about it.while you will eventually be able to make friends it will take a while (longer if you not there every day. Going out will be a problem because your tied to train times your leaving things early or if your dropping off your things at home first you'll do on of two things:
1/ Drop off your things relise you'll only have an hour at whatever event an then not go because it's not really worth it for an hour.
2/ arrive late to the event and leave early which isn't really a great thing to do and people will talk about it.
Also if you get lucky (you won't leaving early) you'll have to go back to hers and it's much nicer doing it in your own place. what if you join a team you'll most likely get delivered back to the uni after games that's OK for local games but what if they are along way away (like Glasgow) you'll be back way past the last train and have to sleep in the door way to Mc Donalds until people know you well enough to offer you a sofa for a night even then.
Academics This is the reason your at uni your uni work can be badly affected in many ways by living at home. lets look at the train first.
You cannot do good work on the train it just cant be done particularly in half an hour that's each way your loosing an hour a day that's one revision session of a subject( I broke my sessions up in to 2 blocks of about two hours each one before and on after lunch depending on my time table and what if your train is cancelled or delayed the uni see that as "your problem" missing one lecture isn't too bad missing an exam or hand in is a problem particularly as travel problems won't get you EC.
Next lets look at your time table or My time table in short it was the worst I cannot imagine how bad it would have been had i lived at home.
Monday
9am-7pm 1 hour for lunch
Tuesday
10am-8pm 1 hour for lunch
Wednesday (this was a good day if you lived in halls)
9-10am
9 hour break
6-7pm
As you can see not great particularly if you look at Wednesday I was in halls so i did some uni work and then played video games or went town or slept or went to the gym you can study in the library but only realistically for 4 hours so your still stuck with 5 hours to kill.
for these reasons and others i'm sure places like Oxford say you must live in the city if you want to come from home I worked out the nearest village outside of Oxford is a 7 minute drive even there I don't think they'ed allow it.
Oh you also get less loan if you live at home not to mention the life experience.
your going to miss out in a number of different ways:
Social This seems be the one that your most worried about and your quite right to be worried about it.while you will eventually be able to make friends it will take a while (longer if you not there every day. Going out will be a problem because your tied to train times your leaving things early or if your dropping off your things at home first you'll do on of two things:
1/ Drop off your things relise you'll only have an hour at whatever event an then not go because it's not really worth it for an hour.
2/ arrive late to the event and leave early which isn't really a great thing to do and people will talk about it.
Also if you get lucky (you won't leaving early) you'll have to go back to hers and it's much nicer doing it in your own place. what if you join a team you'll most likely get delivered back to the uni after games that's OK for local games but what if they are along way away (like Glasgow) you'll be back way past the last train and have to sleep in the door way to Mc Donalds until people know you well enough to offer you a sofa for a night even then.
Academics This is the reason your at uni your uni work can be badly affected in many ways by living at home. lets look at the train first.
You cannot do good work on the train it just cant be done particularly in half an hour that's each way your loosing an hour a day that's one revision session of a subject( I broke my sessions up in to 2 blocks of about two hours each one before and on after lunch depending on my time table and what if your train is cancelled or delayed the uni see that as "your problem" missing one lecture isn't too bad missing an exam or hand in is a problem particularly as travel problems won't get you EC.
Next lets look at your time table or My time table in short it was the worst I cannot imagine how bad it would have been had i lived at home.
Monday
9am-7pm 1 hour for lunch
Tuesday
10am-8pm 1 hour for lunch
Wednesday (this was a good day if you lived in halls)
9-10am
9 hour break
6-7pm
As you can see not great particularly if you look at Wednesday I was in halls so i did some uni work and then played video games or went town or slept or went to the gym you can study in the library but only realistically for 4 hours so your still stuck with 5 hours to kill.
for these reasons and others i'm sure places like Oxford say you must live in the city if you want to come from home I worked out the nearest village outside of Oxford is a 7 minute drive even there I don't think they'ed allow it.
Oh you also get less loan if you live at home not to mention the life experience.
Grammar dude, half your post doesn't make sense.
Original post by Zapper2000
I'm going to uni in September and it's fairly local, I'd have to commute half and hour on the train, so I'm really unsure as to whether to stay at home or go into halls.
My mum doesn't want me to move out at all and that's one of the main reasons I've chosen a local university and to stay at home, that and the fact I'd have more money. I want to volunteer and travel in the next few summers so if I stay at home I'm going to have the money to do so.
However I feel like I'm going to miss out on the experience and that I'll just be a loner there everyday as people make friends with people in their halls, so I feel like I'll have no social life or mates.
I just cannot decide which is the best option.
My mum doesn't want me to move out at all and that's one of the main reasons I've chosen a local university and to stay at home, that and the fact I'd have more money. I want to volunteer and travel in the next few summers so if I stay at home I'm going to have the money to do so.
However I feel like I'm going to miss out on the experience and that I'll just be a loner there everyday as people make friends with people in their halls, so I feel like I'll have no social life or mates.
I just cannot decide which is the best option.
Definitely move into halls. You have to leave home sometime. You can always get a part time job
My sister in law has kept her children on such a tight leash that I think they will be incapable of ever leaving home.
If you don't like halls then you can move back home next year but if you don't try you will never know. You have your entire life to volunteer and travel, but this is the best chance at making friends and fitting in.
As someone who did this very thing; I would reluctantly recommend halls. I actually didn't like it when I did eventually live in halls, but being closer to campus and the overall student life things made a huge difference (as did not being at home; you're necessarily forced out of your comfort zone learning how to cook, clean, do laundry etc, which is actually an important thing, although it sounds dumb).
Also a half hour commute, while it sounds practical, can quickly wear you down. Particularly, consider how you are commuting: if on public transport, what happens if it's late or cancelled? If you're walking, what happens if you wake up late, can you budget for a taxi or is this going to break the bank? If you sustain an injury which slows your effective walking pace (even if it's just a hurt toe)? If you're combining various methods, what happens when some part of the link is delayed? Will you miss the next bit? How will this affect your overall journey time?
It's generally just going to be much simpler in many ways at halls, and while it can be daunting and feel like you're being thrown in the deep end but keep in mind, almost every other person there is in the same situation. It's a perfect way to meet new people; yes you'll probably dye all your clothes pink or melt the toaster or something but so will someone else or somesuch and you'll have a funny little story to bond over and whatever.
Sounds a bit
but, in my experience until you get shoved into the cold water you'll never actually acclimate no matter what you think (this metaphor made more sense in my head 
)
Also a half hour commute, while it sounds practical, can quickly wear you down. Particularly, consider how you are commuting: if on public transport, what happens if it's late or cancelled? If you're walking, what happens if you wake up late, can you budget for a taxi or is this going to break the bank? If you sustain an injury which slows your effective walking pace (even if it's just a hurt toe)? If you're combining various methods, what happens when some part of the link is delayed? Will you miss the next bit? How will this affect your overall journey time?
It's generally just going to be much simpler in many ways at halls, and while it can be daunting and feel like you're being thrown in the deep end but keep in mind, almost every other person there is in the same situation. It's a perfect way to meet new people; yes you'll probably dye all your clothes pink or melt the toaster or something but so will someone else or somesuch and you'll have a funny little story to bond over and whatever.
Sounds a bit
but, in my experience until you get shoved into the cold water you'll never actually acclimate no matter what you think (this metaphor made more sense in my head )Not sure why anyone would move into the halls looking at the prices. Would be cheaper to flat-share with 2-3 people in town somewhere.
Original post by unomie
Grammar dude, half your post doesn't make sense.
Yeah I was a little tired when i wrote that.
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