Commuting or Off Campus Apartments?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Washington
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<p>I am a incoming Transfer Junior, and I applied for Housing late and was put on Priority 4, which means I probably wont be able to get a dorm assignment. I was thinking of just commuting(about a hour) for the first quarter and deferring my housing application for winter. I also have to choice of preleasing in Radford or Nordheim but I don't know which I should do.</p>

<p>How is the school life like for commuters? Would there be a lot of trouble having a social life while commuting an hour a day, and would it be hard to study if you commuted?</p>

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<p>I attended orientation recently. The whole time, it was basically like this: “Look at all the cool stuff that happens on campus! You guys should totally get involved! Do this! Do that! And that! Wait, unless you’re commuting, because you’re…kinda gonna miss out on that stuff.”</p>

<p>I mean, they make a big deal out of pointing out one ground floor of one building as being the “Commuter’s Lounge” - where “all you commuters can go and hang out together and stuff!” Like the commuters are pretty much excluded from everything else.</p>

<p>I’m priority 2B-1 (behind 2A which is probably already done, and ahead of 2B) but if I don’t get a dorm, god help me.</p>

<p>Do off-campus apartments while deferring your application (or wait? I don’t know). Don’t commute. It seems like going to community college, which is basically like going to high school all over again.</p>

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<p>You can join clubs and get involved w/out living on campus. In fact, most students do not live on campus. (esp. past freshman year). </p>

<p>Living on campus is a perk because it’s a close walk to school (but then so are tons of other apartments in the area).</p>

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<p>Also, speedsolver will most likely respond to this post. They commute and seem to have no problems getting involved with the uw community.</p>

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<p>Hi, </p>

<p>I’m going into my 3rd year at UW and I’ve commuted for the past two years. I plan on commuting this year as well.</p>

<p>My commute generally takes a little over an hour each way if I take a direct bus from near my house to UW. It’ll be closer to an hour and a half if I miss that bus or stay late and transfer twice. I’m not sure where you’re commuting from and the transportation situation that you would be using (ie. my direct bus in the afternoon was cut from 4x to 2x every afternoon). </p>

<p>What I would emphasize about commuting is that you really have to make good use of your time. What are you doing during the hour of commute? Taking a break, thinking about your project, reading, sleeping, or texting your friends? What are you doing at school? Just hanging out after class, going to student organization meetings (generally after 5:30pm), sleeping, or studying? </p>

<p>I’m involved with three student organizations, find time to hit the gym, have a close group of friends (none whom I knew prior to going to UW), and have time to study. Sometimes when I have a TON going on (multiple projects, midterms, maybe a certain function I’m required to be at), I feel like I don’t have a social life at all. However, that really goes for even people who live on or near campus.</p>

<p>To answer how hard it would be to study if someone commutes - it really depends on you. I can’t study with lots of people around me, so I usually hide away in a quiet lab, empty classroom, study room, or one of the quieter areas in the library to get work done between classes. I also get a lot done at home. If it’s hard for you to study, take the bus, then pick up studying the same topic again, you can always designate a few days of the week to go home early - like at 2pm instead of at 7pm. It really depends on you.</p>

<p>There are some downsides of commuting - there are some study groups that you can take advantage of that usually meet after dinner. Some student organizations host functions that last until midnight or later. Sometimes your friends aren’t available until 9 or so to ‘hang out’ for a bit. Depending on your area, buses may run past midnight, but you’ll be pretty tired the next day after doing something, commuting, getting home, then sleeping.</p>

<p>I saw this earlier but was going to type a lot so I never really got a chance to respond to this until now. This was kind of a huge braindump at the moment but if you have more specific questions, please feel free to ask. I think there are some other “IS COMMUTING GOING TO KILL MY SOCIAL LIFE DX” threads somewhere on the forum you can search for, too.</p>

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<p>Also, we have a “Commuters Lounge”? Is this new? </p>

<p>I just kept hearing at orientation that I’m going to have a lot harder time making friends, but since most of my friends at UW commute and do not hold socially unhappy lives, I just kind of brushed it off.</p>

<p>One more thing: Making friends. How could I forget? Just be proactive, but not to the creepy extent. Try to join some student organizations that you’re interested in (culturally, hobbies, sports, etc). This will narrow down the thousands of people at UW to only a few hundred (or just double digits) of people. See if you can get to know a few people in quiz section. Everyone’s kind of awkward freshman year when saying “HI MY NAME IS …” and if you make yourself super embarrassed, you probably will never see these people again if you really didn’t want to. :P</p>

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<p>@ Speedsolver
The Commuter’s Lounge is probably in the new HUB, which opens this fall.
My parents both commuted (in the seventies) and they said commuters really banded together there.</p>

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<p>THE HUB! I have not gone there since 2005.</p>

<p>No, I am not old.</p>

<p>Thanks for the info mlidge.</p>