<p>I will be moving away for college to live on my own in my own apartment paid for by my sister. The college is just walking distance away. My sister is going to help me get a dog so that I will feel less alone but I know it will be very hard. Does anyone here have any daughters/sons that have moved away for college and lived on their own (no roommate, no dorms, nothing)? What advice is there? (Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this). Thanks guys :)</p>
<p>Is the cost of living in this apartment with a dog actually going to be less than living in a dorm? Why is this your choice?</p>
<p>Why choose to live alone in an apartment (assuming this is your first year at a new college) when you could live in a dorm surrounded by peers?</p>
<p>Don’t get a dog. What are you going to do with it during the academic breaks? What are you going to do with it once you complete college? Having a dog is a long term commitment. Don’t forget—they cost money (food, vet bills, shots, etc.). In addition, many landlords do not allow dogs.</p>
<p>I doubt you really will have the time required to care for a dog. It wouldn’t be fair to the dog & you would be unable to stay out with friends, go away for the weekend etc. ( we just got a dog in august, I am home full time with the dog & he is a LOT of work! Plus I forgot how expensive everything is. Toys, food, medical care, replacing things he eats…)
Pls don’t get a dog.
However, if you are a freshman, dorms are usually preferable anyway.
You meet more people, don’t need to do meal planning/ grocery shopping and you dont have to worry about utility bills.</p>
<p>As a college student living on your own you will not have time to properly care for and exercise a dog.</p>
<p>Another vote against a dog and for a dorm if possible. If you really can’t live in a dorm, here are some ways to meet people on campus:</p>
<ul>
<li>Join a few activities you are interested in (choir, intermural sports, school newspaper, a volunteer group, sorority) – you get the idea.</li>
<li>If you can form any study groups (or just meet up with classmates to study), that is another way to get to know people better.</li>
<li>Will you have a part time job? You can meet people there, too, but don’t get sucked into too many hours – 8-10 is probably all you should go for freshman year if you do have to work.</li>
<li>Find study areas on campus and spend some of your time there studying (not alone in your apartment).</li>
<li>If you have a meal plan on campus, sometimes you can meet people by sitting with them in the cafeteria.</li>
<li>Keep an eye out for flyers or posters about speakers and free activities on campus, and go to them even if you don’t have a buddy to go with you.</li>
</ul>
<p>Remember that everyone who is a freshman is pretty much looking for new friends, so really try to put yourself out there the first couple of months. But also remember that really close friendships take a while to develop, so don’t feel bad if you don’t meet BFFs in your first semester.</p>
<p>Regarding the dog, you have to constantly be going back to the apartment to take care of the dog – they have to go out a few times a day, and there will be times when you have a chance to do something on campus and will have to skip it because of your pet. Dogs are great – but there is a time in life to get one, and freshman year of college is not it. I say try college without a pet first.</p>
<p>Weren’t you just calling your parents unreasonable for denying your applying to NYU since you come from Guam? Now you’re wanting sympathy/advice b/c you’ll be going to CC in California and will feel lonely?</p>
<p>I don’t get it.</p>
<p>Please, please, please do not get a dog.</p>
<p>If you are from Guam, it seems even more complicated to have a dog. Expensive to board it for a long period, and hard to take it home if you are going home for a summer. One more reason to skip that responsibility for now!</p>
<p>I am not going to board because I am going to a community college that does not offer dormitories!</p>
<p>Does your sister live near the college? Why not live with her? If there are no dorms, instead of getting your own apartment, perhaps you could find a room with a family?
(I live near a community college and have a basement apartment–I have rented out several times–once to a student, and another time to a single young lady who had just moved to our state and had never lived on her own before. They lived independently–separate kitchen/laundry, but we were around to help if they needed something.)
Local churches are a good resource to help find this kind of situation. I also know of elderly people who have given students a room in exchange for light housework/errands.</p>
<p>@T26E4 in no way does that mean I do not love my parents.</p>
<p>atomom, I can’t live with my sister because she also has a family to take care of. She also thinks it best to room in the apartment NEXT TO HER HOUSE. So I will be by myself.</p>
<p>If you are living next door to your sister and her family, it isn’t really like living by yourself where you don’t know anyone.
I would still look for other housing though. Some community colleges have dorms, and while many students may commute, there also will be students who are looking for roommates.</p>
<p>You need to make sure you can live on your own first before you’re responsible for another LIFE!</p>
<p>College senior with a dog here.
Seriously? My dog is my child. That being said, I had no concept of how much this sweet boy was going to cost me in time or money. I have to look for apartments/places that will let me have him & usually that costs an astronomical amount of money. In my current place it was a $300 nonrefundable fee. That being said, he is my kid like I said (lol) so it’s worth it to me. </p>
<p>You’re going to be fine. You’re going to go to school and probably work and won’t find a whole lot of spare time to worry about how you’re doing at all of it. Learn how to cook some things before you move out, that’s invaluable information to have. It’s better for your health AND wallet. </p>
<p>Sent from my iPhone using [URL=<a href=“Tapatalk”>Tapatalk]Tapatalk[/URL</a>]</p>
<p>If your sister is next door, and she is paying for the apartment, I think you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>Don’t get a dog, though. If your sister has a dog, you could walk hers sometimes. I have been the neighbor of people gone all day at work who left their dogs alone, barking all day in the apartment. Don’t do that. You won’t have time/money to take care of a dog and most apartments charge extra or do not allow pets. Get a goldfish.</p>
<p>Very old story, but back in the 50’s, my dad–who was from a poor immigrant family–won a scholarship to an engineering school in another state. The school had no dorms. My dad arrived by bus and had to find a cheap place to live. He ended up living in a grungy boarding house with a bunch of middle-aged and older, not-too-savory men, alcoholics, ex-cons, etc. (One man had been a displaced person after the war–he had survived a Soviet prison camp–dad always remembered his stories, and threatened to ship us kids off to Siberia when we acted up. That guy actually introduced dad to my mom–so it is a good thing dad found that old boarding house. . .) Dad got a job working nights at a food processing plant to pay his room/board. (He lied and said he wasn’t a student–they considered students unreliable workers and wouldn’t hire them). After a short time he got fired for falling asleep on the job. He also was falling asleep in class. A professor took notice and dad explained his difficult situation. The college then gave him an evening job as a janitor. </p>
<p>My kids live a luxurious life–living in dorms, eating in the dining hall, parents paying for college-- compared to that!</p>
<p>Thanks bloomer and atomom! :)</p>
<p>Bloomer, thanks! I know, I love dogs and have always been a dog person. They are literally my best friends.</p>
<p>Atomom, interesting story. I love it! My sister does not have a dog, she owns birds (and I hate birds as pets, I’m sorry). I was thinking of getting a dog because I own one here where I live and the companionship it brings me is immeasurable. My dog makes me happy. I only wish I could bring it with me when I go off-island for college, but I can’t because it’s too expensive. 
Thanks for the advice. A goldfish might be okay, but not exactly what I want… ah! But I will see how it is like living on my own first before getting a dog.</p>
<p>See if there’s a CSU in your sister’s town that would admit you. If you had grades that made NYU a possibility, I would imagine that a CSU is possible. CSU’s have dorms. That would solve your problem - and you’d still be able to see your sister.</p>
<p>Sorry to see that most of the advise given here is for concern about your dog and not concern for you. If you feel getting a dog would make your transition easier, just be prepared for the inherent complications that come with it. If you were bright enought o get into NYU, I don’t think the academic "pressures: of CC will overwhelm you.</p>