Commuting to Success

Yuliya Geikhman's article "A Commuter's Guide to Survival in College" covers several areas of college commuting, from moving out of your parent's house to finding a group on campus which caters to commuters. However, for to help assimilate into the college environment and to increase motivation to attend class, and in the end be more successful in college, there are more things to be done.

First, become a part of the campus. For many who commute, it is a matter of expense. Which means going to class and working at least a part-time job. However, rather than working close to home or off-campus, join other students and work on-campus. Depending on your college, there are hundreds of part-time jobs on campus; many do not pay as much as a great waiter/waitress job at a hot restaurant or a bartending job, but if the choice is a part-time job at Subway off-campus or working in the food court on-campus, opt for the on-campus job. Other ideas include working in the Intramural department as an official for IM games, working in a lab (I knew an undergraduate who worked so many hours in a psych lad that she was effectively getting paid to go to school and the job helped her med school application due to her extensive research on rats), working in the library, working the desk in the dorms, etc. Regardless of the job, the on-campus environment helps the commuter meet more students, feel more a part of the campus environment and offer another reason to make the drive/take the bus to campus in the morning. Nothing decreases motivation more than taking the bus across town for one class and then taking the bus back across town to work. By working on-campus, you create a social network and motivate yourself to get to campus every day.

Second, join a campus organization. Colleges are the true melting pot in society, as lare universities (my experience anyway) offer clubs and organizations for almost every persuasion, from ethnic clubs, arts, sports, politics, etc. If you have an interest, join a club. If there is no club, find some other people with a similar interest and start one. I was on the edge of transferring when I found the Special Olympics program on-campus at UCLA and started volunteering as a coach. Not only did it give me something to do, I met dozens of other colleeg students who coached in the organization and became a part of something on-campus, which made the campus of 40,000+ people a little smaller. Later, I met dozens of people, from staff to department heads to students to local business people when I managed the campus organization and worked to start another campus organization (Habitat for Humanity). Beyond the friends I made (to this day), the fun I had, and the feeling of belonging it created, running the Special Olympics program led to a full-time job straight out of college and interacting with the Dean of Architecture while starting the Habitat program led to an offer of admission into grad school. And, it all started because I wanted to get involved in something during my freshman year to meet some more people.

Third, study in groups. Group study is effective as a means for learning the material, but is is also a great way to meet new people and learn more about campus life. In my last two years, I chose most of my classes based on recommendations of people I met in other classes. Rather than looking at a long list of possibilities, I chose highly recommended professors and classes, which made the subjects more interesting, as a good professor can make a wold of difference, regardless of subject matter or interest level. I also made friends with several people I met through classes and shared my notes or just talked about the class while walking to the next class.

The key is not to survive, but to thrive. Assimilating into the campus environment is the best way to thrive in college, both socially and academically, as it increases motivation through a sense of belonging and an improved self-efficacy. By working on-campus, joining a student organization and studying in groups, one makes friends, builds contacts and becomes a part of his or her university as more than just a person paying tuition and filling a seat in a class.