The Student Room Group

How do you make the most of uni when you don’t live there?

Probably been done before but anyway…
As the title says, how can I make the most of being at uni when I don’t live there?

Currently halfway through my 2nd year, exam period now, then going back for teaching end of jan/start of feb. The thing is, i live at home and drive in to uni (about an hour away) for when i’ve got stuff timetabled. I had classmates last year but they’ve either dropped out or are doing a different course. Basically, that’s left me on my own in lectures and uni’s got pretty dull.

How can i make it better? If i had mates there, i’d go out and do all that kind of stuff, there’s pretty cheap hotels nearby and i’ve slept in my car when I’ve visited mates at other unis before so i can get around the accommodation problem.

Anyone else been in a similar situation?
Is it weird to join societies/sports clubs halfway through 2nd year?

Thanks for any replies!
would you want to move into halls? Universities might have vacancies this time of year where students have left early....sometimes where students drop out a university makes them find a replacement tenant so you can get a room in halls with a few months of the rent already paid.

Does your university have a lift sharing website? You might be able to meet people by picking them up on your drive in (and they could pay towards petrol and parking).

Most universities run a refreshers fair this time of year because clubs and socs want more members
Original post by Anonymous
Probably been done before but anyway…
As the title says, how can I make the most of being at uni when I don’t live there?
Currently halfway through my 2nd year, exam period now, then going back for teaching end of jan/start of feb. The thing is, i live at home and drive in to uni (about an hour away) for when i’ve got stuff timetabled. I had classmates last year but they’ve either dropped out or are doing a different course. Basically, that’s left me on my own in lectures and uni’s got pretty dull.
How can i make it better? If i had mates there, i’d go out and do all that kind of stuff, there’s pretty cheap hotels nearby and i’ve slept in my car when I’ve visited mates at other unis before so i can get around the accommodation problem.
Anyone else been in a similar situation?
Is it weird to join societies/sports clubs halfway through 2nd year?
Thanks for any replies!

Hi there!

Firstly, I do not think it is weird to join societies halfway through the year, whichever year you are in. As has been mentioned already, lots of universities run 'refresher' fairs where you can go and see everything that is on offer in terms of societies at your university and see if there is any that you like the look of! Lots of people join halfway through the year so you will not be the only one who is joining 'late' and it is normal to do this anyway! I always recommend joining societies to people as they are great ways of making friends and also having a fun hobby to do. If you commute, I think a society is a great way of meeting lots of new people that you otherwise may not meet so I think this sounds like a good idea to join one.

You could also have a look and see if your student union puts any events on. Some SU's will put events on where you can meet quite a lot of new people so I think this might be a good idea for you to meet people if your uni does anything like this.

Another way to meet people when you commute is to have a look on social media. Quite often there will be groups on Facebook where you can meet people that go to your uni, and there may be some groups which are specifically for students who commute and you may be able to meet some people this way. It's worth a look anyway!

As has already been said, would you consider moving into halls for the remainder of the year? It depends if this is something that you would be bothered about really but it might be worth having a think about.

I hope some of this helps,

Lucy -SHU student ambassador.

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