<p>I really want to bring a car with me to college next year unless I absolutely don't need one. </p>
<p>The reasoning: I don't have my license yet. I'm gonna turn 18 in a few weeks, and I will be taking my driving test in the next 1-3 months. Come August-September, I will only have 6-8 months of driving experience. Also, I feel that the public transit systems nearby are woefully inadequate, especially here in LA.</p>
<p>I intend to live on campus. I 'm hoping my parents will let me bring one. I think it can help me make lots of friends and it would allow me to have more flexibility, as well as get away whenever </p>
<p>I understand the benefits and the cons of bringing a car.</p>
<p>Here are the colleges I'm applying to:</p>
<p>Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Cal Poly Pomona
Cal State Fullerton
San Diego State
UC Irvine
UC Riverside
UC Santa Barbara
UC Santa Cruz (I have found out bringing a car is impossible for underclassmen)
Pitzer College
University of Redlands
USC
Either LMU, Santa Clara, or Univ. of San Francisco</p>
<p>Opinions? Should I bring a car? Any feedback will be highly, highly appreciated.</p>
<p>It's funny because I think the only colleges from your list in the LA area is LMU and USC. What about UCLA? I think San Francisco's public transit should be adequate, at least enough so that you don't need the hassles of a car. But yeah, anywhere else and you need a car to get around.</p>
<p>Once you decide on a school and have your license is the time to decide. Even if your school lets you have one, the parking permit can be crazy expensive on top of insurance/gas/maintenance. What about not taking one the first semester and seeing how it goes? Most schools are set up so people without cars get by.</p>
<p>I didn't have a car my first year, and got rides to Walmart or whatever with friends. I'm glad I didn't have one, because it kept me on campus more to study and enjoy the free activities sponsered by the school. It's very expensive for what you actually use it for. Now I commute to school 10 minutes and have more errands since I need to buy groceries, so I have a car. It's just one more stress in life.</p>
<p>I am so glad I have my car on campus. Granted, sometimes I have to park pretty far away from the dorm, but it's usually not too bad. <em>knock on wood</em> But all my carless friends always have to go places if someone else is going anyway, and I like doing things on my own time. I'd say unless you have an urban campus in a pretty big city with good transportation, bring a car.</p>
<p>If I go to NYU next year, I'm DEFINITELY not taking a car. Toyota Camry+New York City=stolen in a week. Plus, Greenwich Village+severe lack of parking spaces+$400/month for a garage space+traffic in NYC=pain in the ass.</p>
<p>Definitely don't bring one to SB. Everyone bikes here, the parking is ridiculously expensive and far away from classes (more of an inconvenience). Plus the bus system here is very good.</p>
<p>As I am not from the west coast, my opinion isn't on whether you actually need a car or should rely on public transportation, its more on if you bring a car dont let anyone know. Seriously. Especially if you're the only one in your group of friends. At first it won't seem that bad, but then they will start to rely on you for transpo if they need it. Or maybe it's just my friends....who also never contributed to gas based on the fact that "You were going to go there regardless".....just thought I should put my two cents in on that</p>
<p>and also to a previous poster toyota camry + NYC does not equal theft!!!! Come on..it's a camry..unless its the new ones but....
toyota camry left unlock with valuables inside + NYC= theft</p>
<p>Toyota Camry=the bestselling car in North america for the past 9 years. Bestselling car for the past 9 years=lots of Camrys on the road. Lots of Camrys on the road=more likely for a thief to steal a Camry than say, a Maserati, which isn't very common and will make you stick out like a sore thumb.</p>
<p>According to State Farm Insurance, Camry is one of the most stolen cars in North America.</p>
<p>Ok thanks for the statistics...I see the light now.....</p>
<p>I posted that because people outside of Ny (and if you are from NY I completly apologize, no seriously I do.) tend to think like that. Not saying that car theft is absent from NY but you make seem if you drive a car there its gonna be gone before you know it, and trust me camry's are not the only cars stolen.</p>
<p>Let's not turn this into an argument though, we both got our points across.</p>
<p>People scoffing public transportation is insane! </p>
<p>As a college student, many schools will give you bus passes and other 'free' passes that are paid with your student fees. There is absolutely no reason to need to pay all the money for car insurance, gas, parking, etc. when there is infrastructure in place to get you to the same point for free. Unless you are working a job with an unpredictable schedule while going to school full-time (as I did for most of my undergrad career), I see a car being a waste of resources. </p>
<p>As an undergraduate, I kept my car on campus my sophomore year on. Sophomore year, it was incredibly expensive and looking back was not worth the money it cost me to keep it there. Junior and senior years, when I was working nearly full-time outside of the normal bus service 2nd shift, it was very much worth my while because I was making enough money to support it.</p>
<p>However, I'm now in my second school for graduate school and rely soley on public transit to get myself to school and the likes. I find it silly how much I used my car as an undergraduate and why I brought it on campus so early. My car is now sitting in the parking lot of my apartment complex diabled until it gets fixed. The reason its not working is because I didn't start it for over a month and it got cold. I went from using my car a couple times a week for errands, to nothing! Public transportation works just fine for me and most of the other graduate students in my department don't even own cars!</p>
<p>With the great availability of public transit in SoCal, I'd really give it time to make sure you really need it there. No freshman really needs a car unless they are supporting themselves by an inaccessible job.</p>