Choosing to live at home seems to be a harder decision than choosing to move out. Home and halls both have their advantages and disadvantages and the main factors people take into account are social and financial.
Moving to halls appears to be a staple in student life that everyone needs to experience but I believe that where you live must suit you and your preferences. Personally, I chose to stay at home due to the fact I could not imagine living with messy people. This may seem trivial but with my decision I have found other advantages to living at home, such as having more money for books (holidays/nights out). Although, living with other students, messy or not, is a great way to make friends and get the ‘real’ student experience.
However, if you would prefer to live at home, like myself, here are some tips to guide you through the problems you’re probably thinking you will face. Travelling far can be costly so I suggest you buy a term time ticket so that you know even if you run out of money at least you can still get to and from campus. Also, compare your timetable with travel times before you start so you can get into a routine to avoid missing anything important. Finally, with regard to commuting, it is a good idea to make the most of your day by spending time around lectures in the library to do work instead of travelling for more hours than the length of your lecture/s.
Next, the main concern I faced was whether or not I would make friends as easily as people living in halls. Admittedly, it did probably take longer to establish good friendships as you’re not sharing toilets and communal areas, nonetheless as with any friendship it takes time and effort. Tips; when starting University, you can check Facebook for your University’s Psychology/Psychology Society page where you will usually find others in your lectures who you can start talking to and perhaps meet up with before term starts.
Also, if you take the travel advice and spend the majority of the day on campus you can meet with your new friends in this time rather than going straight home after lectures to binge-watch Netflix. Making the effort is most important so if your friends ask you to go on a night out then go, you can always get ready and pre-drink in their halls anyway so you don’t miss out!
