<p>I’d hate dorming as a grad student. Having to follow certain sets of rules enforced by someone several years your junior? Hell in some schools you can’t even have booze in a dorm regardless of your age.</p>
<p>I think something to keep in mind is the fact that many clubs can be at 6 or 7 at night. I have a friend who commutes about 30/40 min and she isn’t in any clubs because her classes end at 1 or 2 and then she would have to come back at night for them. She also has some family issues that make it harder, but in general I think joining clubs would be somewhat difficult for a commuter.</p>
<p>Yeah, but 20 minutes isn’t too big of a deal if traffic’s not incredibly terrible. If your club just met once or twice a week then that wouldn’t bad at all. I drove over a half hour to my community college three or four times a week and hardly ever noticed the distance.</p>
<p>Erm 20 minutes is 20 minutes, if he means that it would take 20 minutes even with traffic that’s pretty excellent.</p>
<p>I would completely recommend waiting that first year. For one, if you can drive yourself, you don’t have to worry as much about missing clubs. Second, you could try dorming your second year. You would lose nothing doing that.</p>
<p>I myself considered commuting, but since I would be driven from home to class by my ill father, I eventually decided dorms were my best option. I personally will likely move out of dorms next year, as to avoid loans though, unless I end up with an opportunity for a bit more money. Dorming is not about living an experience, in my opinion. It is about convenience and necessity. Of course, I’m an incoming student for fall as well, so what do I know? Heh.</p>
<p>I would recommend trying to live with good friends though. Living in a dorm doesn’t bother me because it is bigger than the room I share with my sister right now. Living with a complete stranger is what scares me. Personally, if I had the chance and if I ever get the chance, I would move into an apartment with a couple of long-time friends who I know well and trust. </p>
<p>Of course, everything comes down to personal preference, necessity, and what works best for you.</p>
<p>“I would recommend trying to live with good friends though.”</p>
<h1>1 rule about roommates is to NEVER live with friends. It might works sometimes, but in general this is something you should avoid. I’ve had nightmarish experiences with this issue (even though I knew the person for a long time), and I know if it were with some of my other friends it probably would have turned out similar. Friends are great to hang out with and lean on when you need someone to listen, but do you really want them there 24/7? If you must dorm and must have a roommate, living with a stranger isn’t always the worst thing ever. I would choose it over a friend. After all, your friends were once strangers too.</h1>
<p>There’s a bit of a paradox there if you end up being friends with your roommate and then room with them again in the future ;)</p>
<p>My personal recommendation to live with good friends comes from the fact that I have done so before. Of course, I lived with people I knew quite well. You’re not going to be with them 24/7. The people I would live with? We wouldn’t even be going to the same college, the others would be at community college for a while. Let us say that 4 hours a day, max, are spent in classes. Maybe an hour studying in the library. 3 hours for extracurricular. And hey, off-campus apartment? Hello job. Even when without a job, studying in privacy would take time away from the “spending all your time” with friends. </p>
<p>This is all dependent on the person, of course. But I’m rambling now, not meaning to, just explaining my point on the friends thing. I just have people that I have stayed with before(but can’t really do so in college) that I am used to spending a large amount of time with. Not everyone has that, and I know that even then, there can be problems with living together for months.</p>
<p>Arg, I feel like I’m going off-topic.</p>
<p>“Arg, I feel like I’m going off-topic.”</p>
<p>Lol, it’s okay. I guess it’s something you have to be open minded about. Sometimes you wonder why your friend’s mother is always annoyed at them at home. Then you move in with them and realize why! Sometimes you never know your friends as well as you think you do.</p>
<p>And it’s true, sometimes you never even see the people you live with. Sadly, in my case that didn’t mean that they never caused trouble.</p>