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Opinion

The College Experience: Commuter Edition

Wake up, drive to school, go to class, drive home, do homework, possibly eat something, go to sleep and repeat. As an incoming freshman, this is what I believed being a commuter student would be like. While I was most definitely not happy about the fact that I would have to commute to school every day, I had gone about starting school completely wrong.

Each day before Sept. 4 consisted of me begging my mom to let me dorm and each time, the result was always a big fat no. There was one reason for me constantly bugging her, and that was me wanting the full college experience. However, what I did not know was that once school started, I’d be getting the full blown experience just as much as every other resident was.

While yes, you do take all the steps I previously mentioned, there is also so much more that happens in a day than just driving back and forth to school and home. The clubs you decide to be a part of, the sports teams you decide to join, the extra time you have before classes that you spend with new friends are all things that make going to school so much more than going to class and going home.

There is so much going on around campus that commuter students can be a part of that will give us the true experience that residents get. If you don’t make the effort to get involved and be a part of campus life, you won’t get the experience you want. College is everything you make of it, it’s up to you to make it the best it can be.

I get the opportunity to stay on campus with my friends overnight  while also getting to go home, sleep in my own bed, and enjoy home cooked meals. These are the types of perks I never took into consideration when thinking about being a commuter student. I was so adamant on needing to dorm in order to make friends that I persuaded myself that my thought process was correct.

Now that we’re a month into school, I can say that I love being a commuter student. I enjoy having the chance to be home with my family but also having time in school to be with my friends, be a part of clubs and to go to events. After talking with some friends who dorm here, I’ve noticed that we have the same daily routines with the slight difference that I go home at night and they don’t. And, I love being in the comfort of my own home with my family around me.

We all got involved and love being at Monmouth which is what’s most important in being a student. No matter if you’re a commuter or resident, you get the “college experience” that everyone talks about. Get involved, make new friends and make the effort to do things other than go to class and go home and you’ll love Monmouth just as much as I do, even as a commuter student.