university: starting a new life(?) elsewhere or staying (close to) where you are

i was wondering.. all those of you who don't/didn't live in a metro city or similar - would/did you chose to get very far away when you went to university? on the one hand you could keep in touch with most people and maybe even your parents.. things wouldn't change that much. the other option would be going far, far away where you don't know anyone and nobody knows you. what would/did you pick, and why?

I did move quite far away when I went to uni, and it was the wrong decision for me, thats not to say it will be for everyone. At the time I was just interested in going to a new place with new people, and being away from my family. Turns out that I hated being away from home, and family.

I think the time to move far away is when you have a job, and are a little older, wiser and less needy, definitely not when your 18.

I didn't "pick" my university because of its location, I picked it because of its quality, but it just so happened it is on the other side of the country from where I live and I'm glad about it.

I've made new friends, learnt to get by day to day on my own and generally enjoy the knowledge my parents can't just appear at my door without a moments notice. Well they can, but thats 5.5hours driving for them

i went about 45 minutes away from my parents house, but pretty much lived like i had moved to the moon... i made all new friends at school, kept a good distance between myself and my parents... then when i dropped out of school i went back to my old friends and started kicking it with my parents again...

I moved from a country town to the city (about 90 mins drive) to attend Uni - lucky thing for me, most of my friends did aswell so it wasn't much of an issue. Funny thing is that Uni provided so many opportunities to makes new friends that the city was home before I knew it

when i do go to college i hope to go far away from here, hopefully to the northeast, so if that goes through i'll be really far from home

Im going to college in August. The college Im going to is a 24 hour drive from where I live right now....I think thats the perfect distance to get away from everything up here for me

My uni is 8 minutes from my house I didn't choose it for its location though, it really is an excellent business school. If the course had only been offered an hour and a half away, I would have gone there instead.

I wouldn't relocate for uni simply because my husband likes living where we are now and I like living near my family. I have relocated for work in the past and felt that it was a poor decision for me personally, but I know a lot of folks who have done the same and loved it.

In fact my brother has a friend who is Austrian - his dad offered him all of his fees to attend a top med school in Vienna, plus offered to buy him a house in Vienna and a brand new uber fast car - and his friend chose to stay in Australia to study science (having moved here 4 years ago from Austria). So I guess it really does work out great for some people.

Um... I selected my school, because it's the best I can get for my very small amount of dollars.

It also didn't help that they offered me more monies to hit things with drumsticks. xD
~Decibel

I have no idea how I ended up where I am (800km away from home).
I went from a prosperous, rich suburb to a town which is huge for the region .. but still small and totally ghetto compared to what I'd lived in my whole life. From the tropical coast to the remote mountains, and all because I just didn't give a crap about school!

Is it good for me? Its different, that's for sure. I don't really have any regrets. Had I stayed home / gone local I'm sure I would have had much different experiences. I haven't met many people here, or had a load of fun, but I think perhaps fate has brought me here, as cheesy as that sounds.

I think its good to go away. Half the people I met here promptly decided they didn't like it and returned back home to the sanctity of the big city they are from; I think if you have the opportunity to move away at 17 (as I did) without having to support yourself, you'd be foolish not to take it. Some day you'll have to live out on your own and pay for it all, so you might as well start to get adjusted and learn how to live autonomously.

Plus, think of all the fun you can have with your parents oblivious and far away

When I was in high school I always told myself I wanted to go to college FAR FAR away from home. So i went to the University of Washington for my first semester of college - I was from Austin, TX -

BAD BAD IDEA..

I couldnt stand being that far away from home, it was cool at first but than it started to suck big time. So I transfered to Texas A&M, which is alot closer to my friends and family that UW was. And btw, A&M was my first choice in schools, but my dad pretty much forced me to go where he went..UW.

I think the time to move far away is when you have a job, and are a little older, wiser and less needy, definitely not when your 18.

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I couldn't disagree more. University is the only opportunity you get in life to go somewhere totally different and be able to meet such a wide range of new people. Starting out somewhere new can be hard when you only have work as a way of meeting people, but at university there's a ton of people who are all dying to meet eachother.

Take the plunge and go out and make a new start. 18 is a time to ease yourself into responsibility and independence, and there's no easier way than university.

Plus, think of all the fun you can have with your parents oblivious and far away

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Excactly

I grew up in a fairly small country city (~15,000 people) and although they have a 2-year community college, staying there for 4 years isn't an option for most careers. They do have a 4 year program in teaching and nursing through distance education, so a lot of my friends did stay there all through college, but I never had any doubt about leaving. I knew I wanted somewhere a little more cultured, with plays and music events, and more variety in stuff to do. My hometown doesn't have any Indian or Greek restaurants, a larger movie theater that could bring in indie movies, or even a Target to shop at...

I am very close to my family though, so I didn't want to go too far away. In addition to that, the state (GA) offers a scholarship to all high school grads in the state with a certain GPA that pays for your tuition for all 4 years if you go to a public univ. in GA. So, that sort of makes up your mind a little bit as well. I chose to move to a city that was about an hour away from my parents. It was still somewhat small, but was 3 times the size of my hometown. Between the university there, and the air force base associated with the city, there was also a wide variety of new people coming in every year, and a lot of things to do. After undergrad there I've moved another hour or so away, to a city that is once again about 3x the size of where I was, with even more to do and see.

I am about 2 1/2 hours from my hometown, and i really feel this distance is a good one. I see my parents whenever i want, yet they have their own lives to live and don't mess with me. Also, transporting shit from your house over 600 miles would be a pain in the ass for the first time. IMO i would go to a uni close to my house for the first semester at least, explore your other options etc..

FunkyAlfonzo,

don't get me wrong, Im not saying dont go to university or move away, I just think that a big move, FAR away from home, should be for the right reasons not just because you want to go as far away as possible at that time, like I did, which is silly.

I couldn't disagree more. University is the only opportunity you get in life to go somewhere totally different and be able to meet such a wide range of new people. Starting out somewhere new can be hard when you only have work as a way of meeting people, but at university there's a ton of people who are all dying to meet eachother.

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going to uni definitely isn't the ONLY chance you'll get to meet new people ect, (cause not everyone goes to uni you know!), people do move places, get good jobs and have social lives without having to go to uni!!

One more note, to those of you in the Western half of the US (excluding California at least) ... look into the Western Undergraduate Exchange program, its an agreement among a bunch of the states so that you can go out of state for the in-state tuition amount, or pretty close at least.

I could have probably gone to school in my home state for free, I suppose since I'm not paying I didn't care, but it would have been a kind gesture to my parents