I need your opinions.. again!
I know people say 'Do what you want to do.' but I don't know what I want to do, I'm undecided so would like some opinions to help me along :)
I've got a whole year yet, but I would still like to know what you guys think.
Ok so, I'm going to list the good and bad points of moving away and staying home. There are probably more.
Key: (haha I'm cool)
+ = Positive
- = Negative
Falmouth (Moving away)
+ Give me a push to hopefully give me the confidence I need.
+ For this particular University you don't do exams, which I think will benefit me.
- I will have to budget and I've worked out that I won't have a lot of money.
- Applying and the whole moving process will be a lot of work.
Plymouth (Staying home)
+ Will have so much more money.
+ Will be comfortable (Good point, but then maybe I need to be taken out of my comfort zone?)
- This University do exams. Not that bad of a point, but I would prefer not to do them.
- I'm scared I won't make as many friends as people will already know their house mates and will also be together a lot more.
So there you go. I know a lot of people think moving away will be the better option, I would just like to hear all the points for both sides.. and some people prefer to stay at home.
Please let me know what you think!
x
I think that going away if better overall - socially etc, but it's worse in terms of budgeting etc x
ReplyDeleteI'm in the same situation, I really don't know what to do :(
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the decision, I know how you feel!
im in your boat too! ah its so tricky. my local uni is 10 minutes on the tube from the flagship topshop though. . .hahaa xxx
ReplyDeleteMove away! Yes budgeting will be difficult but all students have to deal with it! To be able to work together with other people will give you a great push in life with independence and social life. Just remember you're not alone!
ReplyDeletei would say move away (and i picked somewhere that was away from home but still close enough so i could go home whenever i wanted to) university happens once in a lifetime and i would say make the most of it =) i moved away from home and knew no one at the uni. i was quite and shy when i went and at first i didn't love it i must admit. but u make friends so quickly and make your uni ur home. money is always an issue whether ur at home or uni. moving away gives you a chance to be independent. its scary but well worth while!!xx
ReplyDeleteMove away definately! I have and even though I miss home it gives you the dependance and boosts your confidence so much more! A lot of people will be in the same boat as you with the budgets etc! Uni is the best time of your life! :) xx
ReplyDeleteI would say stay. I wish I would've. I lived with five other drunks basically. My stuff was stolen, there was drug dealers next to and below me! One girl was consistently sick all over the kitchen and HOOVERED it up! It cost me so much money to. I now live with my boyfriends parents and it is like heaven compared to where I was. I paid £450 a month for a box tiny tiny room with a dodgy en-suite! I wouldn't keep my dog in a room the size I was in.
ReplyDeletex
I'm in the same year as you and I am planning on staying at home :) I have 2 uni both about 30 minutes away and both good in the course I want to do. You will make friends with people on your course and can always stay with them if you are going out or they can come and stay with you for the weekend. People at school are trying to put me off but I know that when I come out of uni I will not be in 40 grand debt like I know some people who have moved away from home are in and they say that they get distracted from their studies too much aswell. Hope this helps :)
ReplyDeletePrincess Juicy T ♥
Apply to both :) You might decide now you want to move away, but as time gets closer, you might change your mind, so it will be great to fall back on. It depends what type of person you are, you know when the right time to move away it, follow your heart :) xxx
ReplyDeletefor me moving away was definitely the right thing to do, i know i wouldn't have had as much fun if i'd stayed at home and i met my best friend living in halls.it's given me much more confidence and independence. however i agree with amy-leigh you have plenty of time to decide, a lot can change in a year
ReplyDeleteI think to get the whole experience you need to move away and live there. All students experience the money problem so you wont be alone there and as a few people have said it all depends on who you are really. I'm definitely going to be looking at uni's up north as i want to move away and accommodation is cheaper up there than it is on the south coast. Lots of time to decide though, maybe you could talk to some students from there on open days? x
ReplyDeleteYou also have to consider what University is offering the most prestiges degree, what will look better, provide the best education in your specific subject. E.G. I chose my university for one of the reasons being it had one of the best classics departments in Britain. I don't know anything about it obviously but is a university without exams as high up? Will you really do better, it mind end up making you take things less seriously. I stayed at home :D but I will move out after my first year, remember you don't have to stay at home even if your uni us near but for the first year it will probably make things easier plus you might hate who ever is in your uni halls :S my friend really doesn't like her roommates because you don't get to choose them. But do what feels right :D, don't give yourself extra stress who knows how you'll feel in 6 months when the decision is more imanent.
ReplyDeleteJean: Yeah the Uni is as high up as the others, you get the same degree :) x
ReplyDeleteI'd say go! You learn more stuff by being almost by yourself, including budgeting which will help you later in life. You will definetly have more friends and a better social life. It is true that you don't get to choose your roomates but you also learn how to deal with new people. What is more, you are not completely alone, you can always go to you parents for a weekend and talk to them on the phone, it is not like you've moved to another country (like I did) :P
ReplyDeleteI'm on my second year now. I wanted to move out last year but I'm glad I didn't because I was able to buy what I want and still have money leftover by the end of the year. Plus I'm a total neat freak and wouldn't handle living with someone who isn't neat and tidy.
ReplyDeleteYou can always go out with your uni friends then come home to sleep so I don't think you'll be missing out.
Don't forget that by not doing exams you'll be making up for them with a lot of assignments! My course is 100% assignments so when I don't have lessons I am always busy compared to those who have exams and only study before the exams.
hmm, that is a tough decision! oh man, i have no idea. both has good outcomes. Just follow your heart. :D
ReplyDeleteCarrie
http://readmylifeascarrie.blogspot.com/
For first year I stayed at home and took the train in to uni...then I saved the money I would have spent on halls and bought a new car. :) I just think the money they charge for halls is insane, like £400+ for a tiny box room with a airplane style ensuite. I'm not really a going out all night gettting drunk person, I'm not paying nearly £3500+ a year to fail every module. I'm there to get an education and come out with a good degree at the end.
ReplyDeleteThen 2nd year I moved out into a privately rented place on my own and continued to drive in. So I was away from home but still drove in. Then this year I'm back at home as my parents live in France and I'm studying in France then final year I'm moving back to the UK again. I much preferred living in a privately rented place, rather than halls. When I made the decision to stay at home, I did regret it for a bit, but I need to save money to get a place once I graduate, coz I don't want to be 22/23 and still living with my parents.
It definitely is a very tough decision to make, but you need to look to the future and when you graduate, are you going to move straight back home or will you have enough money behind you to get your own place.
It's a toughie!
Natalie xxx
Move away for sure :)
ReplyDeleteYes you would save money, but when you FINALLY are paying it back it will be like £5 a month or something stupid like that so I dont think you should think money as the biggest part to your decision.
Everyone will have LOTS of friends from halls, and those housemates will probably be strong freinds through the rest of the uni like. Yes, ofcourse you will make friends in your course, but then they will be going back to their place & hanging out with there flat mates, having house parties, and staying at the SU till stupid oclock.
I haven't been to Uni, but all my friends have, and my bf is still there now. If I were to go, I'd move out- I think thats the most fun part
xxx
I'm going to uni next year (hopefully!) and moving away, I think with the money thing you're going to have to move away from home with no money at some point, you might as well do it when you can have a (relatively) cheap student loan rather than a mortgage which can make you lose your house if you can't repay it. Hope this helps :)
ReplyDeleteIn my first year I lived away from home but because I was going to a nearby Uni I wasn't eligible for Halls so I ended up having to get a random house with people I'd just met out of desperation. I know this is the same concept as Halls, but in Halls you have more flatmates and loads of people on your floor and people you'll meet through them (as well as lecture ppl too obv!). If I could do it all again I'd go in Halls - they're like a rite of passage for students! My boyfriend lived in Halls and made some great friends who he ended up living with in 2nd and 3rd year and still keeps in touch with 2 years after graduating.
ReplyDeleteIn my 2nd and 3rd year I lived at home, I bought a car with the money I saved but I think I should have moved in with uni people and had a 'proper' uni experience, I do regret it a little.
Uni is fun, you'll never really run out of money, you're not going to starve - Uni's have bursaries and emergency loans for this reason, but it's pretty easy to budget and you could always ask your parents with some help - maybe some money towards making your room nice or towards a laptop to do your work on?
Basically, I really recommend moving away and into Halls if possible. I owe SFE loads but I wish I'd spent it on living away - it's easier to say 'no' to a night out when you live far away from uni and when you need to go to the library in the middle of the night it's a lot easier when you live 10 mins away as opposed to an hour away (which I did in 2nd and 3rd year!)
I hope you can come to a decision that suits you! If you think you'll miss home then try living in Halls at the nearby uni for first year then live at home after that?
Hope this long ramble was somewhat useful!
That's a tough one, but I've heard Plymouth has a great nightlife you'll have home comforts of having your clothing washed, nice food and spare cash. Plus my friend stayed at home, made friends easily (he's pretty shy)and you can choose to stay at the local uni with people that live there if you have a drunken night in and then after the first year/second year you could always choose to move into a house share with a few people from uni :) Best of both worlds! You'll have new uni friends and friends from home :) xx
ReplyDeletehttp://goldenglowww.blogspot.com/2010/09/giveaway-winner.html
ReplyDeleteJust to let you know incase you didn't see it on the post feed you won my 50 followers giveawy :) xx
I've just started uni on saturday and I cannot stress enough that you should definately move away! I thought I wanted to live at home but it's so nice to wake up with people your own age, and have people just come round to yours whenever with no parental permissions...you all bond so much better if you live together and I'm loving it :) besides you can get up later cause you'll live on campus and be close to your lectures rather than commuting!! Hope i helped youuu :) x
ReplyDeleteI did both (student living in first year, lived at home in final year).
ReplyDeleteLiving in halls really is a rite of passage, and I personally recommend it - I only liked about 2 people in my corridor but I was very good friends with them and lived with them the following year and am still very good friends with them. We had our share of druggies and weirdos (never forget the night one of the hall guys came in with half a shaved head and a woman's swimming costume with his bits hanging out... no one knew where to look! He had been super drunk.)
But it is worth it, and as for budgeting, you can get another job or just suck it up. Money will always be a problem, that's reality!
Living at home - I did like living at home, but I lost a lot of independence, and I lived about 2 hours from uni so I had to commute - only twice a week, but it was still time and money I hated spending. It was nice to see the family again and have home-made meals but I began to miss my own cooking.
It IS totally up to you, but perhaps doing both would be an option... it depends how far the other university is and whether it's an option! But personally, move away! You can always leave and go back home if you truly hate it.
I had that dilemma too, cos my uni is only a 25 min drive from home.
ReplyDeleteI moved to Cardiff and I don't regret anything about it.
Sooner or later you have to become independent, why not make it sooner? It does mean less money but it means you can become self sufficient, and that when you, for example make your own money through a job it's worth so much more and you really appreciate it more. Not to say I didn't splurge...because I did, and that's what an overdraft was for (for me haha)
You'll make lifetime friends, something people always had trouble with in my class if they didn't live in halls (sleeping on peoples floors on nights out wears thin!)
just my opinion. love the blog :)
www.cococerys.blogspot.com
xx
I have been faced with the same choice and I have chosen to stay at home.
ReplyDeleteI have spoken to a lot of people who say that they have the best time of their life in year one and often end up living slightly rougher in years two and three because they run out of money!
Therefore, I am going stay in halls for the first year to make lots of new friends and to make sure I don't miss out on the social life etc! Sure it will compromise your work to an extent but as it is year one, it will be the easiest and (if any) the best to screw up. The advantage of this is that you get the best of both worlds; the parties, friends and independent experience, combined with the convenience of living close to home and knowing your way around the best parts of your home town (this will no doubt make you popular with others as they know that you know what you're talking about!) you may also spend less money on going out as you will already be used to it and won't feel that you need to go crazy and try every place there is!
Plus, no travel costs, you can go to your parents when you can't be bothered to cook and, if you do end up having a nightmare in halls, it is easy to either move home or find a nicer place to rent (and you will be less likely to end up in a dodgy area as you know where you are). You could also go and stay at your parents if you get ill or you need some decent sleep or have lots of work/revision to do - to get away from the drunks and people keeping you up all night if you need to.
Then after year one, I plan to move home and start to save towards an account which I can have towards a house once my degree is over. This will obviously work out much cheaper! particularly if your parents still pay for your food etc.
This means that you won't feel left out as you will already have made friends in year one, and at the same time you will have supportive family and (probably nicer, and much cheaper) accommodation to your advantage!
As for exams, I am sure you have put up with dozens so far, a few extra won't do any harm! Plus without exams, you can't have the crazy nights out to celebrate when one is over ;) Employers may favour exams as well, to an extent, as it shows that you can work under pressure and proves that you have gained your grade without help from others, which people may get when doing coursework etc.
Some people find that exams pose more pressure and therefore get more work and better grades out of them anyway.
Good luck with your choice, I hope that my personal opinion (as well as that of my family and friends) will help you in some way! :)
xx
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