<p>One of my dream schools is NYU, which is across the nation for me. (I live in LA)</p>
<p>I want to hear experiences about out-of-stage college life, preferably in NYC but in any other state would be good too. Like how was it without your parents? Was it just you and your friend? You and your relatives? Or just all you? Please, tell me so I can get a sense of going to a college out of state</p>
<p>No difference going to college out of state or instate (unless you are commuting or plan on going home often).</p>
<p>If you go to NYU for college, you are only a flight away from CA and close to three major airports here.</p>
<p>The only difference you encounter going out of state will be how long a flight home is and the cost. Many schools have kids from all over. Go to school in CA and drive or fly home or go to school out of state and drive or fly home.</p>
<p>We live in NY and I have a son in FL. 3 hour plane ride home. (24 hours or so by car- NOT!!)
Son2 in NY, but 8 hour car ride from home. He flies home too, but transfers planes and adds to flying time, sometimes making his travel time 3-4 hours.</p>
<p>It’s more expensive. You have to pay for airfare, and your bags will probably be overweight because you’re trying to bring as much as possible so you have high baggage fees. Then you have to buy a lot of things there because it’s not worth it to ship them cross-country. That can get really pricey in places like New York, and difficult becasue you probably won’t have a car so it’s not easy to cart things. You’ll be jealous of your friends who can drive from their homes with carloads of stuff and have legions of family members to help them unpack it. Also, flying home for Christmas is a nightmare. Every time I flew home there was some kind of winter storm that made me almost miss the holidays altogether. Sometimes you get lucky, but a lot of times you just have to be prepared to spend the night in the airport while you wait for the next connection home because you missed your scheduled flight or it was cancelled due to weather. </p>
<p>The weather is really different from what you’re used to, so that’s an added expense. You’ll need winter/fall/spring coats and the accompany hats/gloves/scarves/boots/long underwear, which you probably don’t own. And the people will be different. A lot of them will have never been to California, I find that Westerners tend to go East more than Easterners go West. </p>
<p>The hardest part is definitely just the separation. Your friends will be able to drive home and visit their families for weekends or shorter holidays. You probably won’t be able to do that. And it’s hard being away from everything you know and loev. </p>
<p>So that’s the bad. THe good parts are that you get to go to a whole new place, where nobody knows you, and you get to re-establish yourself as the person you really want to be, without high school or hometown baggage. You get to make a whole new set of friends who have all these different, fascinating experiences to share. You get to explore the most exciting city on Earth, and when your family comes to visit you get to show them around like a seasoned local. Everything is new and fun and exciting because you’ve never seen or experienced it before. You can take the train places instead of driving. You can fly cheaply to almost anywhere else in the country or world, esp. if you want to go to Western Europe. You learn to be independent and mange for yourself, even in the event of travel crises or other emergencies. </p>
<p>So, some downsides, but benefits too. I’m glad I went. I feel like my friends that stayed in-state just haven’t grown as much as I have. THey still have the same friends, date the same boys, go to the same places, and have the same outlook on life. Whereas I’ve changed a lot.</p>