If you are attending a local college, especially one without residence halls, you’ll probably live at home and commute to classes. This arrangement has a lot of advantages. It’s cheaper. It provides a comfortable and familiar setting, and it means you’ll get the kind of home cooking you’re used to instead of the monotony (单调) that characterizes even the best institutional food.

However, commuting students need to go out of their way tobecome involved in the life of their college and to take special steps to meet their fellow students. Often, this means a certain amount of initiative on your part in seeking out and talking to people in your classes whom you think you might like.

One problem that commuting students sometimes face is their parents’ unwillingness to recognize that they’re adults. The transition from high school to college is a big one, and if you live at home you need to develop the same kind of independence you’d have if you were living away. Home rules that might have been appropriate when you were in high school don’t apply. If your parents are reluctant to renegotiate, you can speed the process along by letting your behavior show that you have the responsibility that goes with maturity. Parents are more willing to acknowledge their children as adults when they behave like adults. If, however, there’s so much friction at home that it interferes with your academic work, you might want to consider sharing an apartment with one or more friends. Sometimes this is a happy solution when family tensions make everyone miserable.