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Commuting
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
I'm already starting to think about the next steps after my diploma, and a degree is hopefully on the cards.
Now, I've already decided that I don't want to live a student life, so I'm thinking of possibly commuting from Milton Keynes to London full time.
Has anyone done this sort of thing and if so, what was it like? Was it a good idea? Thanks in advance.
Now, I've already decided that I don't want to live a student life, so I'm thinking of possibly commuting from Milton Keynes to London full time.
Has anyone done this sort of thing and if so, what was it like? Was it a good idea? Thanks in advance.
Post edited by JustV on
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I'm wondering the same!
And in first year everyone will be in halls so if you want a social life you've got a much greater chance if you're at least in the same city as everyone else.
I think that would cost a bomb and you'd feel fed up spending so much time travelling. Do you have to study in London? If you go elsewhere and worked as well as studying you may be able to earn enough to rent your own place rather than living student style.
The reasons I choose to commute are:
I've never had more than ten hours of lectures and seminars a week spread over three days on my supposedly "full-time" course, and I only have lectures for 18 weeks a year. Last term I was only in one day a week, and this year I will be in for five hours a week spread over two days, for the 18 weeks that my terms last.
I lived in halls in my first year. It was catered etc., but cost more than my student loan and I had real trouble finding a job, so I was skint all the time (living off about a fiver a week).
I did not get along with the girls in halls; no-one went out at weekends, on the nights we did go out people would be in their room writing an essay till 10.30pm by which time I had completely wound down and didn't even feel like going out anymore. I found it to be very bitchy and cliquey and I couldn't be bothered will all the catty comments and bitching that went on, even amongst the guys.
A lot of the people there were the kind of people that had never really been allowed to go out when living at home, so to them it was a whole new experience having no-one to answer to and being able to go out, get drunk etc. whereas I had been doing that for several years prior to going to uni, so it didn't really feel to me like I was getting sudden freedoms that I never had before.
BUT, saying all of that, I think my experience of uni has been quite different from other peoples, most people have a fantastic time. I would say to anyone that it is a good idea to live in halls for at least your first year, just to see how you get along with it - if you really hate it, the uni year goes so quickly anyway that you will soon be home again, and you can then choose to commute knowing then that you are making the right decision for you.
Difficulties in commuting are that you have to leave significantly earlier for lectures than you would living close by, and you have to allow for trains breaking down or traffic jams. For example if I had any 9am lectures, I would have to leave my house at about 5.30am to get there in time allowing for the rush hour.
Other annoyances include having to go into uni on a particular day for a meeting or to sign a bit of paper which takes less than 10 minutes of your time, and then having to commute all the way back again. Your uni may or may not be particularly accommodating to the fact that you live further away than everyone else, and there are times that you simply have to confirm something or have a meeting on a particular day when you otherwise wouldn't be in, and you have to make the journey for that sole purpose.
You should also consider what you are going to do around exam time - to be honest I wouldn't want to rely on public transport or a car to get me to an exam, I would want to be within walking distance of where the exam is taking place. My solution to this is that I stay in a B&B near uni the night before my exams, it still works out significantly cheaper than living in halls and takes away the worry that I'm not going to make it to the exam.
It is still quite easy to meet new people and make friends, and if I want a night out with my friends at uni I just sleep on one of their floors or stay in a travelodge - I haven't really found it a problem, and it is nice to have different groups of friends both at home and at uni that I can see regularly.
Also, in a way it makes you more motivated - you think to youself, I have just travelled for X amount of time to get to this lecture, now I am bloody going to get as much out of it as I possibly can!
Anyway sorry for the essay style nature of this post, I hope you find it at least somewhat helpful!
And yes, a degree is the right thing for me - it's the next step from what I'm studying (not beauty, but makeup artistry which is a completely different ball game).
I'm still not sure yet, a couple of my friends on the course are looking at the same course at the same place (London College of Fashion) so I may be more inclined to house share rather than live in halls.
It's all still just a brainstorm atm, nothing's certain. Thanks for your thoughts!
You don't have to live in halls, a lot of student accomodation is shared flats now.
Im with scary, id say work experience is probably more valuable than a degree. check before you waste money and time.
If there aren't apprenticeships as such, do people take on juniors like they do in hair salons or something along those lines?
People will only employ a makeup artist with enough years experience and yes, work experience is an integral part of the degree. A degree from the London College of Fashion is highly regarded in the industry - people who are trained on the job aren't respected at all. :no:
She's worked on The Full Monty and Les Miserables to name just a couple.
You can live in self catered halls. You cant just sit at home because you are scared of the big wide world. University life is the best experience ive ever had.
I'm 20 now, and one of my close friends here is a 30 year old mother of two that I've never seen drunk. I currently live with exchange students and a girl who's trying to write her final essay.
I don't think you can put every student in the same group and class them as all living a 'student life'. There are as many different people where I am as they are many. I certainly can't figure out what you can possibly even mean by that.
Don't forget that an huge part of a degree like yours is building up a connection network. My brother went to an art school and one of the more important things he's gaining by staying is to know people that might help him in the future. He helps them and they help him. He teaches them something and they teach him. He's actually gotten real paying jobs doing what he loves because friends have been too busy to do stuff themselves and forwarded the assignment.
Uni isn't just about studying hard, the people you are studying with actually matter. They're a part of the thing. My uni for example is small and has a reputation for having spat out circles of high ranked people that all know each other quite well and stay in contact long after graduating. You may pride yourself in being all independant and bad-ass person who doesn't need anybody else, but the truth is that it's not how things are in real life.
If you want to ditch living/socialising with other people because you don't think they're good enough for you you're considering commuting for the wrong reasons. Children at home, uni part time, sure, I can see why, but with your bizarre reason you do come off as if you think you're superior to the rest of the human race and in the long run that isn't going to work to your advantage.
Surely there are other types of accomodation available to you? I started out in halls, got fed up of it but am now living in a three-room place with a shared kitchen. We're four together and there's minimal pain.
Halls isn't for everyone we all know that and it's not for me, simple as.
It's an expense I could live without - I could live at home without paying rent and therefore not have such a huge debt at the end of my studying. It really is that simple.