Commuting...

Parents Forum
1

Hello parents, I’ll probably post this on the college life forum as well but I would like your input as well.

After living on campus for 2 years I will be not only commuting but starting at a new school come the fall. For those of you that have students that commute is there any advice you would give or something you noticed.

I’m a little worried about the social aspect because of a few things;

  1. I am an education major so a significant amount of my time will be spent on things like workshops, observations and EdTPA boot camp
  2. I have a job by my house (20 minutes away) I've been working there for 3 years now and am scheduled regularly.
  3. I can be a pretty shy person...
2

I don’t have a student who commutes, though I do have a couple of questions.

  1. how far will you be commuting?

  2. is your job in the same direction as school or will you be adding a lot of extra drive time to get to both school and work?

I would be concerned about the social aspects of commuting more if you were a 1st year student wanting to commute. You have experienced living on campus and know what that is like. A lot of upperclassmen at many schools live off campus, you won’t be a big oddity in that regard.

I don’t think you need to live on campus to overcome shyness (if that is what you want to do). You will have opportunities to interact with people at your job, in your classes, and in the workshops/student teaching/observation type thing you will be doing.

My biggest concern would be how much of a commute is it between job, home and school?

3

The school is 20 minutes from my house and then I work about 7 minutes from home in a different direction, so not too significant

4

You will have to make an effort to get involved on the campus in some capacity. DD20 has commuted to 2 different schools. One 10 min drive, and the second a 50 min drive. She works 5 min from our home and works a lot during the school year, and next to nothing during the summer.

She was not really committed to the first school and made no effort to connect to it in any way. She told me the kids just leave right after class, so no way to connect. (there were clubs and organizations she could have joined, BUT it is also true that commuters don’t often hang around)

Current school is very far but she is with the same classmates for all her classes, and they stay to practice their skills. She also stays at school to use the gym and use the commuter room. She has made great connections that she didn’t have w/ the first school.

So I don’t think distance is that big a deal so much as the effort you are willing to put into it. Remember that sometimes that connection doesn’t happen no matter what. Do your best and keep your eye on the end game, graduating with your degree.

5

My S went to a college which had a commuter population. He said there were two types of commuters. Some people came to school for class and left right after class. Others made a conscious choice to get involved on campus – join clubs, eat meals on campus, study in the school library attend sporting events etc. and the students who made the effort ended up with a much fuller college life. If you are a quiet person, I’d say to get involved in clubs etc. that interest you.