I am currently a sophomore and I live on campus. I lived on campus last year as well. I am a very shy and introverted person who likes alone time. I do not like living on campus but I know that I will be missing out on the “college experience” if I decide to commute. I live about 30 minutes away from my university. I have a few good friends, but thats about it. I suffer from anxiety and depression as well and I currently am on medication. I love being home. I go home every weekend and all week long all I can think about is spending time at home. I feel like it would also save my family a lot of money by commuting. I just worry that if I decide to commute, that my social life will go from very limited to non existent. I just hate being at school and cannot wait to be home so I feel like living at home is the best choice for me. I have a younger brother who I have a great relationship with and we do lots of stuff together. I also have a great relationship with my parents. Does anyone have any thoughts on my situation. It would mean the world to me to get some input. Thanks so much for reading.
I think you should commute then. You can make a deal with yourself that you have to do X # of “extracurricular” things to stay social. But it’s ok to go home if that is what you want,
I would say you gave living on campus the “old college try.” If you aren’t too worried about traveling in bad weather to get to your school, by all means live at home and commute. Save your family that money, and stop feeling bad about your choice. If living at home will work best for you then it is just fine.
I agree. It sounds like your best choice is to commute.
You really should have commuted from the beginning, it’s kind of silly to spend all that money on a dorm when your own house is so close.
I’m an introvert and a commuter - I enjoy it quite a bit. As other posters have said, just make a conscious effort to stay involved on campus to maintain your social life. Anything from arranging weekly outings with your friends (dinner, movie, shopping, hiking, etc.) to clubs, sports, to holding an on-campus job can help keep you feeling “included” in the college community.
The “college experience” is simply the experience of being in college. As you have noted, living on campus doesn’t miraculously make college fun and a social life appear out of thin air. Different people have different comfort levels with living on campus, and most college students actually commute from home. The “college experience” has been completely manufactured by the media - movies and books about college life, with a little help from the relatively few top colleges at which most or all of the students and their families can afford to pay for their kids to live in residential halls.
Particularly if moving home decreases your stress and anxiety you may actually find your social life improves, because you feel better and are more inclined to go out. My sister was a commuter student in college and she made lots of friends and had a great time in college with a robust social life. The interesting thing is that her friends were a mix of people she knew from various places in life - her job, her church, other activities. She actually only had a few friends at the college she went to.