<p>Which would you guys pick?</p>
<p>Living in an apartment in Berkeley = no need for a car. </p>
<p>And living at home saves ~$6,000K a year...</p>
<p>30 minutes will kill you when you have just a few discussions a day and they are all spread out. I know a lot of people will just stay on campus all day, which I could not do, simply for efficiency reasons(when you study on campus you almost always have people around and it is really hard to be maximally productive, unless of course it is a HARD class then their presence helps) also, if you have to live with your parents through college you aren’t really getting the “college experience” </p>
<p>on the other side of that argument, it saves you A LOT more than $6000… when you factor in rent, food, utilities, and misc expenses you would be hardpressed to get below $800 a month even sharing a room.</p>
<p>I think in the long run most people are happier being close to campus, especially those with overbearing parents.</p>
<p>Don’t do it. I commute 4 days a week from San Francisco and it takes me about an hour on average with no traffic. The commute life sucks since it’s a lot harder to meet people as well dealing with traffic and other problems while driving. If I had the money I would move over to Berkeley in a heart beat. If you have any specific questions about commuting feel free to send me a PM.</p>
<p>Depends on your personal financial situation. If ~$6000 a year is something you can’t reasonably handle, then forget the “college experience” crap. Cause let’s face it, once you leave this place and you’re broke as hell, you’re going to wish you had that extra $6000 in your back pocket. 1-2 hours less out of your day isn’t really that bad. You probably spend that same amount or more on Facebook everyday, so it’s not really that bad. </p>
<p>I would pick home if I had the choice.</p>
<p>^Maybe but is it $6k or $6k minus the cost of buying a car and the expense of maintaining it? Do you need to buy a car, and if so, how much? How much is gas? Insurance? And don’t forget to add in maintenance cost and repair. </p>
<p>And 2 hours out of your day to commute? If that is true, working on campus at $8 an hour is $320 a month, or almost $3000 during the school year right there.</p>
<p>Between car purchase, gas, repairs, maintenance, and a part-time minimum wage job during the time you would be ‘commuting’ I’m thinking you are pretty much on par. If my calculations are correct, I think you should get a job and thoroughly enjoy your 'full college experience".</p>
<p>Money is not an issue, and I don’t think I will lose the my social life (whatever’s remaining of that due to classes & lab anyway) by living at home. </p>
<p>I don’t mind staying on campus all day either.</p>
<p>30 minutes is seriously not that bad, considering I live in an apartment this year (I’m a second year) and it takes me FIFTEEN MINUTES TO WALK TO Dwinelle/Pimentel.</p>
<p>It’s about maybe $7K I think. I’m paying $6K for rent, I’m adding a generous grand for utilities/bills/misc.</p>
<p>It’s not just the money, it’s also being able to have a car. And being home = I stay very focused. And I can totally still hang out in Berkeley whenever. I have friends who live here and I can just crash in their place occasionally :P</p>
<p>It’s just the whole stupid “college experience” and “independence” thing that’s kinda bugging me.</p>
<p>I live in San Francisco because I have to take care of my grandma. However, if I had a choice, I would definitely move to Berkeley. </p>
<p>Taking Muni –> BART –> AC Transit and vice versa can get boring. There are so many campus activities which I would love to be a part of, but can’t because it takes me about 1 hr and 15 min to get home. IN your case, driving wouldn’t be very fun. You have to look for parking and drive back and forth everyday. </p>
<p>Since you live 30 min away from home and money is NOT an issue, I’d suggest finding an apartment. If you ever do need to go home…you are only 30 minuets away.</p>
<p>You answered the question yourself. “College experience” and “Independence” is a social construct, don’t let others dictate what you want to do.</p>
<p>“Independence” is not overrated though. There is something about being able to live on your own, aka not depend on your parents for every little thing that goes wrong. </p>
<p>Just that, pretty much. My parents are such chill people, so that overbearing parents thing is not an issue either. </p>
<p>But I guess 30 minutes really doesn’t make a whole lot of difference… I still brought my laptop home to have my dad fix it once :D</p>
<p>Guess I shouldn’t have chosen Berkeley :P</p>
<p>I did both, 2 years on my own in an apartment- I got tired of rent and wanted to save money so I moved back in with my parents. I lasted 6 months before I had to find my own place again(lol). Its all personal preference. If you have already been on your own for a few years and think you can handle it I say go for the commute. It’s not that bad, just set up your schedule very carefully.</p>
<p>I kind of thought you were a transfer or hadn’t gone to berkeley before or something when I set up my initial response.</p>
<p>and for those of you dismissing “college experience” as a social construct, come on! when money kept me from going to ucla straight out of highschool and forced me in to a jc I hated life everytime I visited friends at universities.</p>
<p>as for the independence factor, once I moved out for a few years my parents got use to it- so when I came back all of the same freedoms were present, so if that is the only thing holding you back… get the car! just be weary of berkeley, land of the smashed windows.</p>
<p>edit:</p>
<p>and you can always change your mind after being home for a semester or two</p>
<p>truth is, college is not mandatory in life. Thinking you need to go to college itself is a social construct.</p>
<p>My biggest regret was not living at Cal . I felt I missed so much of the whole Berkeley scene by commuting .PS -This regret was from 30 years ago !!</p>
<p>What do you even mean by the “whole Berkeley scene”? Right now I live on Warring (near frat row) and it’s like… in the middle of “it” all. It’s just a lot of partying on the weekends. But if you have friends, it really doesn’t matter if you live here or not…</p>
<p>@o0racle, iconoclastic tendencies much?</p>
<p>Sorry, I was under the impression you were conflicted and wanted advice. Apparently you already made up your mind so why bother? Everyone is different. Why do you need to justify it?</p>
<p>Though I find it sad you would rather spend an hour in a car than walk 40 minutes. It’s exercise- when else are you doing that?</p>
<p>Yeah, you seem pretty confident with your own feelings, so why not just go with them?</p>
<p>Commuting to school really will alter your experience (not necessarily for the better, nor for the worse), but that’s okay for some people. Sounds like it’s okay with you.</p>