<p>any experiences commuting here?</p>
<p>i'm basically commuting and im hating the thought of it more and more even though i'll be going to a good school and saving a lot of money.</p>
<p>It's only bad if you are a freshman commuter. Its great if you are an upperclassman.</p>
<p>Statistically, on-campus students do better than their commuter peers. Even off-campus students do better than their commuter peers. This is the reason many schools require freshmen to live on campus.</p>
<p>Commuter's have the greatest "tendency" to cut class. There might be a legitimate reason, car broke down, snow, traffic. If you are like 10 mins late, by the time you park and get to class it might be more like 25 mins, then you might just say "f*#k it".</p>
<p>I second alpha's remarks. Are you commuting as a freshman? Was money the only reason for the decision?</p>
<p>Yea I'll be a commuting freshman. And yes it basically came down to money. All the other schools I applied to didn't A) give me enough money or B) were in the middle of nowhere. Mostly A though.</p>
<p>It came down to medical reasons for me. But I'm 5 minutes away from campus so it's not like I drive a long way. My two closest college friends are also commuters.</p>
<p>When I was on a campus for three months, I felt like I was in a concentration camp or something. I didn't have a car and I felt very confined. My car might be my best friend of anyone--after all, we've known each other 18 years.</p>
<p>And about money, heck yes it's cheaper. All the money that would have been used on room and board is being used on home improvement now.</p>
<p>Commuter right here!</p>
<p>I can say at my first university, fall of freshman semester, commuting sucked. I lived about 40 minutes away from campus. It wasn't really a money issue, it was an 'I hate living with strangers and sharing community bathroom' issue (I'm a very stubborn only child, what can I say? :-P)
It took a LOT of extra effort in order to make friends but it did happen. I had to stay late for club meetings and somedays I'd be at school from 7 in the morning (had to get there because I had an 830 class, but I had 2 hours worth of traffic to beat) until almost 9 or 10 o'clock at night for club meetings. We had a Commuter Organization, but it was horribly organized and nobody who has part of it could get their own personal acts together enough to make it work. If we could have, it would've been so much better. I have since transferred, mostly because I wasn't happy where I was, but I don't think that living on campus would have made it any better for me. I commute to my new college and I love it, but it's a CC so obviously, everyone commutes.</p>
<p>Check to see if your university has a commuter organization and if it doesn't, I'd recommend trying to see if you and a few other commuters could get one together. </p>
<p>I wish you the best of luck, commuting can be hard, sometimes even frustrating, especially when you see or hear about how successful other people who live in dorms are. Don't worry, you'll find friends, it just may take longer. :)</p>
<p>I already hate commuting as it is. I've had to rely on public transportation all these years living in new york city (for some periods of time my family had a car but even then I still had to use the bus and train most of the time). And it isn't soo much about making new friends as it is about missing out on the entire college experience. I have a couple of friends who are already in college doing summer programs and everytime I hear the stuff they tell me I just can't help but feel like I'm going to waste another 4 more years of my life. I've read that even though there are benefits to commuting the college experience you get from living on campus have life long effects on the person. That's not to say you can't be successful without dorming. I find that I'll probably end up relying on my parents just like I have all these years. There's no incentive for me to do anything for myself knowing I don't have to pay rent, pay for food, learn how to cook, do laundry, etc. As it is I'm the type of person that doesn't like to go out much simply because of the fact that traveling is a pain so I usually stay in my room most of the time. Sure I'll be on campus taking my classes and doing workstudy but as soon as those things I don't think I'll be spending much more time on campus (I plan on trying to be a part of the baseball team as a volunteer helper and I also want to hit the gym as often as I can since it'll be free other than that not much else for me to do).</p>
<p>It does take a lot of discipline, since there's no incentive to do anything by yourself, you have to motivate yourself to be more involved. Living on campus or going far from home just forces you to be more proactive whether you want to or not.</p>
<p>What I'm doing is renovating my basement. I'll be at home, but out of the way of everything. It means I'm responsible for the entire area, as if it's a giant-sized private dorm in the middle of nowhere!</p>
<p>Sure, I will get meals cooked for me (or more often than not, I'll cook meals for my family since I like to cook) and I won't have to fork over a buck for laundry every time I have a load (but I'll have to manage my clothes myself) but stuff like sweeping the floor, keeping the bathroom clean, keeping my kitchen area clean, etc. I won't have to pay rent though, since it's my house.</p>
<p>Having a huge area to myself with a ton of space is only an incentive to meet people--if I have this awesome place to chill, why not show it off to everyone? This fall I will be doing a lot of work on this project, as the contractor is older and asked if I could help him out.</p>
<p>That being said, I already had a ton of freedom in picking the stuff out. If anything goes bad (carpet, toilet, cabinet, etc) it was because of my planning or something. I spent a few days just going around to Home Depot type stores picking all my stuff out.</p>
<p>This almost gives me a greater challenge than at a dorm or apartment in doing stuff. My mom gave me a $10,000 budget for this project so I really have to spend it wisely. It's not like going to an apartment and everything is already picked out.</p>
<p>If anyone else has done this/is thinking of it, let me know how yours has panned out.</p>
<p>I'm also getting a new car this fall, so my entire commuting experience will be upgraded!</p>
<p>Commuting is great. It is great practice for when you are out in the "real world" and it is also a wonderful money saver. I think the "stories" of non commuters doing better are silly because they always come from people who run student housing. I am a transfer student, but I have always commuted (to save money) and I have a 3.8 gpa with scads of honors work. </p>
<p>If you commute, you just have to learn to manage your time really well.</p>