UNIVERSITY SERIES #10 MOVING AWAY V STAYING AT HOME

For some people, moving away is a necessity. For example, if you’re going to a university miles and miles away, it may be near impossible to commute from home. However, for some people it may be a possibility. Deciding whether you want to stay at home or move out is a huge factor when it comes to accepting or declining your offers on UCAS, so it’s important to consider all of your options. For some of you, you will have to make a decision on what courses you’re going to accept by the 7th of May. Read my post on Offers and Replies here to see if that deadline applies to you!

You could visit the town of each university you’ve applied for to see how you feel there, you could chat to other prospective students of each university on sites such as The Student Room and ask what made them choose that university or you could speak to current students on open days and get their opinion. Whatever you do, make sure your decision is your own, as it’s you who will be spending at least three years at the university.

I’ve devised a short list to give you a couple of benefits of each choice.

If you wish to live at home:

• You may be lucky enough to not have to do all of your cooking, cleaning and washing yourself
• You won’t have to move all of your things to and from university if you wanted to come for holidays
• You will still be near all of your family and friends
• There is the chance of keeping a job if you have one
• You will be starting university from an environment you feel confident in
• Depending on your financial situation, you may have more disposable income

If you wanted to move away:

• You will feel more involved with the university and student lifestyle
• You are given the opportunity to grow and become more responsible
• You will learn how to cope with adult life
• You will have your own space
• It is exciting and you’ll be close to all the parties and nightlife
• Depending where your halls are, you won’t have to travel too far to uni (lie ins!)

I’m living at home myself, because the university with the best course for me is in my hometown of Manchester. There is no right or wrong decision when it comes to moving away, each person has different options to consider, but I hope this post may have helped in some way.