<p>I'm an accepted freshman starting in the fall, and I'm trying to figure out what a typical freshman's schedule looks like, in terms of actual time. Affording room and board may be tough for my family, and I may have to live at home. I live about 20 miles away from campus (in Duluth), but since freshmen can't have cars for the first semester, I would have to commute using MARTA and the Tech Trolley, which would result in around a 60 minute daily commute (one-way). And I don't particularly want to be stuck on campus with two or three hours till the next class and nothing to do. Are there any students or parents who can comment on the gaps between classes, how many classes per day, experience commuting to campus instead of living there, etc.?</p>
<p>Freshman can have cars on campus. In fact, freshman that commuted have always been allowed to have a car on campus. Only freshman living in dorms were restricted before the two big parking decks (Tech Square and State Street) were complete.</p>
<p>If you’re still planning to be an ECE major, your schedule should look like this:</p>
<p>Math 1501 or 1502 (4 hours)
Chem 1310 (4 hours)
CS 1371 (3 hours)
English 1101 or 1102 (3 hours)
HPS1040 (2 hours)</p>
<p>As a freshman, it is very likely that you’ll have gaps between classes, especially because you’ll have a lab for Chem 1310 that usually runs late. You can do a few things in that time. First, you can make friends with people on campus and hang out at their dorm/house. Second, you can pledge a fraternity and hang out at the house. Third, you can study or do your homework at the library between classes. </p>
<p>Commuting to campus means that you’ll be much less likely to get involved on campus - it’s one thing when you just have to walk down the street to go to a meeting, it’s another thing when you have to commute. However, it’s very important that you make friends (both academically to have people to study with and socially to prevent becoming an extreme introvert that no one wants to hire). It’s also important to have some extracurricular activities on campus.</p>
<p>If you’re hard-pressed for money, you should look into co-oping. That will generate more than enough money to live on campus.</p>
<p>I would highly recommend living on campus your first year…as I did not. I had very few friends and my grades were horrible. Freshman commuters can have cars on campus, no worries there.
That being said, I recently returned and am commuting from the Duluth/Alpharetta area and it’s a pain in the neck to say the least. The drive is a killer and I am looking to move closer this summer. Hanging around campus between classes is actually the best part of my day. There are plenty of nice places to park yourself and study or if you want to be involved with something, there’s alot of things to do…though you will have to search them out. Your schedule will be full and with traffic in the am and afternoon, you will be on campus alot more than you think. Have fun :)</p>
<p>I live on campus and it is great, however I have a few friends who commute. Whenever they are on their breaks between classes, they just go grab lunch with friends or study in the library or student center with people. We also have a new building being built in the center of campus that should be a good location to plant yourself to do homework and meet with people if you have breaks in your schedule. I’d definitely encourage you to schedule at least one or two little breaks in your schedule to encourage you to get involved and know people on campus, study with your friends, etc. It will be harder to get together for group projects if you don’t have times when you’re regularly on campus and available to see other people on campus, because most of your friends will live on campus.</p>
<p>It’s ok though! Just make an effort to get involved and meet people! And DEFINITELY work hard to keep your grades great, so you can get a co-op. If you get a co-op, you will make tons of money and be able to afford living on campus. Good luck to you!</p>