Imperial - live in halls or at home? Half hour commute

I can stay at my parents (who aren't there too often) place in central London and commute half an hour to Imperial, or live in halls the first year. I'm not big on parties and like to study, but do think being more social would be a good idea. Any advice?

Reply 1

Anonymous #2

Depends what you’re looking for, if money might be an issue then probably commuting would be better. You said you wanted to be more sociable, living at accommodation isn’t the only way and doesn’t guarantee it. I know during my first year at Imperial, I had flat mates that just stayed in their rooms all the time. There’s societies and your course as well where you can socialise with a wide range of people.

Personally, I’d live out for the first year, just to see what it is like. As you can meet a lot of new people that’s in the accommodation. I’m similar to you in the sense that I’m not a party person myself, so I think this should help.

Reply 2

Scienceisgood

21

With London being as expensive as it is, personally I would live at home and is the only city I would live outside of student accommodation… just because I don’t see how anyone could afford the rent, bills and living expenses without outside assistance if relying purely on SF and without outside finances.

If you can however, go for it as I can say personally the freedom is pretty awesome whilst giving valuable experience in planning.

That doesn’t take into account having GOOD housemates. I’ve had some pretty crap housemates before including one who practiced his guitar at 3am… as well as people who complained about having no money despite blowing hundreds per month on weed…

I would say though that tends to be fairly rare but not impossible on having bad housemates!

Best of luck!

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 3

Anonymous #1

OP

Original post by Anonymous #2

Depends what you’re looking for, if money might be an issue then probably commuting would be better. You said you wanted to be more sociable, living at accommodation isn’t the only way and doesn’t guarantee it. I know during my first year at Imperial, I had flat mates that just stayed in their rooms all the time. There’s societies and your course as well where you can socialise with a wide range of people.

Personally, I’d live out for the first year, just to see what it is like. As you can meet a lot of new people that’s in the accommodation. I’m similar to you in the sense that I’m not a party person myself, so I think this should help.

Thank you. This is very helpful. It does seem like a lot of money to spend, and I suspect most people in engineering will be studying and in labs a lot of the time anyway.

Reply 4

Anonymous #1

OP

Original post by Scienceisgood

With London being as expensive as it is, personally I would live at home and is the only city I would live outside of student accommodation… just because I don’t see how anyone could afford the rent, bills and living expenses without outside assistance if relying purely on SF and without outside finances.

If you can however, go for it as I can say personally the freedom is pretty awesome whilst giving valuable experience in planning.

That doesn’t take into account having GOOD housemates. I’ve had some pretty crap housemates before including one who practiced his guitar at 3am… as well as people who complained about having no money despite blowing hundreds per month on weed…

I would say though that tends to be fairly rare but not impossible on having bad housemates!

Best of luck!

That's the concern. Getting a housemate who keeps me up during the night, making it hard to study. Cheers.

Reply 5

JiggyG

6

Original post by Anonymous

That's the concern. Getting a housemate who keeps me up during the night, making it hard to study. Cheers.

Honestly mate getting a house mate that keeps you up at Imperial is very unlikely. I'd say live in halls 1st year regardless: it's honestly worth the price socially and then 2nd year once you've made your friends then move back home.

Original post by Anonymous

I can stay at my parents (who aren't there too often) place in central London and commute half an hour to Imperial, or live in halls the first year. I'm not big on parties and like to study, but do think being more social would be a good idea. Any advice?

Hi there,

This is a tough decision so I thought I would give you my pros on both staying at home and living in accommodation.

Staying at home:
•You will save money on accommodation. Living in halls can be expensive and this will be a big cost saving if you live at home.You will also save money on bills and food etc.

•You will still have your home comforts and this can be comforting when you have deadlines coming up, exams etc. This can help with studying etc so if you like having more of your own space and comforts to study then this might work!

•You would be close to your friends so you can still see them and do fun things with them, again when university gets stressful with the workload it can be good to have people you are close with and are familiar to you around you.

Living in accommodation:

•You will meet lots of new people that you wouldn't do if you lived at home. While you can still make lots of friends at uni as a commuter student, you will have more opportunities to meet people that you are living with and it can be nice as you are all in the same boat.

• It would be easier to study with your course mates as you will be closer to them so if they want to go to the library you will be there to do that without having to be on a time limit to get your train etc if this is something that you would like doing. Studying with friends really helps me!

•Living away from home is a great new opportunity! You get the chance to learn new things such as cooking and living independently which you may not have the chance to do if you live at home. It is also fun living with a group of people a similar age to you and you may not experience this at another time!

•You will have to pay more for accommodation, but you won't have to pay for your commute which could potentially be every day if your course is quite full on. It's worth looking at how much the commute would cost you, as although it will be less than rent for accommodation, it might be more than you think which could change your decision.

I hope some of this helps and good luck making your decision.

Lucy -SHU student ambassador.

Imperial - live in halls or at home? Half hour commute

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