Living at SFU? (Not Res, in univercity)
 

Hey guys .. I'm starting my third year @ SFU burnaby in fall 2011.

Do you guys think it'd be smart for me to save up a bunch of money over the summer, and rent out a place on the mountain for 4 months for fall semester?

I want to live up at SFU before I transfer to another school just to experience living on my own. I'll be taking 5 classes (calc 1, microbiology, physics 101, bisc 300 and probably psychology 100) and I think I can get badass marks if I live on campus. What do you guys think?

I've checked out the apartments @ univercity and they're pretty clean and I just think it'd be fun being on my own for a few months. I've got my own car so I won't be isolated, and a few of my friends go to SFU so it could be pretty fun having a place nearby to hangout and stuff.

Have any of you tried this? I live in southvan and take public transit to SFU usually, so I end up spending 2hrs commuting. I'm taking some hard classes so I think I'd be more focused/waste less time/get better marks if I stayed there.

Anything I'm missing? All opinions/replies welcome :)

And no, I won't starve to death. I'm a pretty good cook :D I'm trying to convince my parents. If I can put up the money for the 4 months rent upfront I'm sure my parents will pay for whatever miscellaneous costs I run into .. so I won't have much stress in terms of bills etc.

If that's what you wanna do, go for it. But it's really expensive and probably not the greatest financial desicion if you have to save up to do it.

I lived at the bottom of BBY mountain for close to a year for the last 2 semesters and was lonely as fuck. Ran out of stuff to do so fast :( I didn't know anyone in bby though.

I just want to live there because its a nice change of scenery for me. I live at home right now and I don't have any younger siblings or anything so it's pretty quiet during the day, and all meals are made for me, but I just want to experience being on my own.

When I'm at school I like to be a bit of an introvert ... as weird as this sounds, I like small spaces with no other people in them, and when I'm studying or at school I mostly like being alone (when it's time to get serious ie exam time). Theres way too much crap @ home to distract me + the commute really pisses me off. Plus if I invested more of my own money into a semester it makes me think I'd be more motivated to get even better marks.

The average rate for what I want (1 bedroom + den + kitchen + deck and with a decent view) is around $1400/month ... it'd be tough to save up that much but I think it'd be a rewarding experience. Really going to be that bad?

you sound like you really want to try it, and if you can save up then why not?

Yea man like I said before, if it's something you wanna do, just go for it. Everyone's situation is different, if you need a change up and want the experience, it couldn't hurt to try it.

Personally for me after the first 2-3 months I got bored of the whole "responsibility" thing, the only things I enjoyed were the 6 minute drive to school, and when I could brag about living on my own lol.

I always think about moving back out there because the drive is killing me in the morning, 2+hours of commuting for an hour or two of classes is ridiculous. If I were to try again though I'd find a friend to share the experience with.

just wanna make sure there's nothing i'm missing ... like maybe theres random blackouts I don't know about etc. lol

That's what's killing me, those 2+ hours wasted doing nothing but staring out of a window listening to my ipod. I fucking love sleep, when I get sleep deprived I can't function for crap. I figure if I save those 2 hours that's 2 more hours for sleep/studying a day so I can handle 5 classes better.

Saying you live on your own is pretty badass too. Loneliness wouldn't be a factor for me because even if I do get lonely almost all the people I know go to SFU anyways.

Here's a dumb question, can you still get sfu wifi all the way out there? I'm guessing no ... so I'd have to pay for internet right? :speechless:

You won't be able to get the wifi lol.

Like even if I went home for whatever reason, I could drive back to my place in burnaby in 20-25 minutes at 1am, instead of an hour and 15 at 8am. Almost an hour extra of sleep.

Also, a random thing I noticed, I would get ready much quicker in the morning. One because there was nobody to distract me/to talk to. The house was only one floor, so I didn't have to run upstrais for breakfast, the back down if I forgot something etc.

Living on your own for 4 months won't give you a full appreciation of what to expect. I think anything less than 8-10 months you're wasting your cash. In fact, I'd use that money for something like a back-packing trip through europe. If you MUST rent a place alone, i'd look into central burnaby. Probably a bit cheaper to grab a basement suite than to throw away your cash on someone else's mortage payment. To each their own i guess.

living in res sucks... i'd say just rent out a place with buddy def not worth it

I lived in res for similar reasons a year ago (5 courses + wanted to live on campus to have more time for studying), but I ended up thinking that I had too much time on my hands and I couldnt manage my time at all. So I ended up procrastinating a lot. I found that the regular commute to school helps me maintain some sort of schedule/routine so it kind of keeps me focused.
But Im not saying that that will happen to you as well. Because, like you said, the fact that you have some money invested will probably keep you focused.
Yeah like tubbs said, you can rent a place with a friend or something

Unless you have a steady GF, your weekends up on the mountain will be occupied with masturbation marathons, visits to Nester's market for more lube, and Simpsons reruns, all the while awaiting the sweet release of death. It is over-priced and you are essentially cut off from the world up there- I don't see a single reason for wanting to live up there. Hell even if you have a GF, she'll probably dump your ass because she'll get tired of the arduous trip up into the sticks to come see you. Rent a place on Commercial drive and experience life and save a bunch of cash.

I lived on rez at SFU and it was the worst thing ever. I've lived on residence at 2 other schools and by far were much better. DONT DO IT!

don't do it. Stay at home, if you were going to UBC or some distant university it makes more sense.

I've slept in this guy's bed.

Worst thing ever.

Why don't you use your 2 hour commuting time to do your homework?

I found when I was in SFU that that was kind of a forced study hour for me twice a day and really cut down on how much reading time I had to do at home in the evenings.

And honestly a 2 hour commute + a 2 hour class is a friggen cushy day given people in the real post school world have a 2 hour commute + an 8 hour day.

I highly suggest everyone live on their own as early as affordibly possible, but look in the Lougheed mall area instead, along the Coquitlam Center to SFU bus route. That thing runs every 15 minutes at peek hours (heck every 5 minutes during peak peak hours) and every 30 hour for most of the rest of the day and takes 45 min start to finish, 15 min from closer to Lougheed Mall and rent for a basement suite or apartment (there's lots of rental apartments by Lougheed) is WAY cheaper then up on the mountain.

If moving out and saving time is important to you, you should look here.

^ they aren't complaining about their 2 hour lecture, they're saying how ridiculous it is to have a 2 hour commute for a measily 2 hour class.

First sem at SFU I was stupid enough to have my tutorial on a different day from lecture. The longass commute for a 1 hour tutorial, now that was fucking facepalm worthy.

Oak street, take 41 bus down to Joyce, hop onto millenium to production. Luckily back then the 145 wasn't packed like sardines, like they are now.

I'm looking into it. They money shouldn't be a problem, my parents are giving me the go ahead, so that's awesome. I eat a ton of food at home/in general so it might just be worth my time to get a cafeteria card for a semester (would be badass, all you can eat :fullofwin: )

I can't focus with friends/family around me. That's the entire reason I guess I'm going to the mountain. They distract the living crap out of me, who knows, maybe after 4 months of isolation I'll become enlightened and have some crazy awesome way of studying/living that allows me to balance everything lol. For now though, I want to experience the two extremes. I know for a fact I'll be moving away for grad school/my masters (whichever I end up doing) and it will just make things easier for me if I've lived at a school before.

I'd much rather pay a higher price for rent than have to take transit to school. I absolutely despise the bus :speechless: I'm not a guy that likes to follow other things schedules (ie busses, skytrains etc.) I'd rather just wake up 30 mins before class, quickly get ready and still make it on time. If I'm going to have to be commuting (driving/bussing) I'd rather just put a quarter of the money that I'm putting into rent towards gas money/parking pass and be happy, but that's not what I want!

Ontop of that, most of my homework is online so there's no real way for me to capitalize on my travel time.





Also, the insane amounts of freedom I'd get would just be icing on the cake.

If you're a lazy guy like me, living on campus will make you end up skipping more. You will be like "oh I can sleep in more since it's only 10 mins walk to lecture" then 10 mins go by and you're like "oh ill just sleep a little bit more and be late for a few minutes, ill just run to class" and you end up sleeping through. Or in between breaks you walk all the way back to your dorm and take a nap to realize you will not go to your next class.

Also, there are NO food choices past like 11. It's shitty up there and you wont like it.

I can tell you from first hand experience that the freedom is amazing but cooking and cleaning is a bitch. Its nice to be able to sleep in, I absolutely agree but for $1400 a month thats a bit too much if you're paying out of your own pocket. I would say definitely try if you have some money saved up before working, just so it doesn't run you completely broke, but if its over $1000 its probably a bit excessive. Like others have suggested you should look into finding a roommate, its much cheaper.

FYI, rent in most cases don't include utilities and you probably have to eat as well so you're probably looking at $1800 a month at least.

Meal card isn't all you can eat. Think more like prepaid credit card/gift card... So no, Chartwells still gets ya.

lol papz $1400 a month for like 4 months just to study and attempt to get better grades, ima call you an idiot brah, rather save that money & invest it. schools a fuckin joke until u get to 4th year / gradschool/masters

Maybe for whatever program you're in, but I'd like to see you try and balance microbiology with physics, calc 1, a third year biology course and a psychology class. Ontop of that while maintaining a 3.4+ GPA, volunteering 16 hours a week in a research lab @ sfu and volunteering at the hospital 2x a week lol .. All while working part time 16-20 hours a week.

That semester is the most vital for me. if I can pull off a 3.5-4.0 average for that semester, all I have to do is take one semester of easy ass classes and I can apply to UBC and get in, and then I'm pretty set. That's the main reason I'm even considering investing all that money, if I put in whatever amount of money I do into that semester, and get a 3.5 GPA ... I'll get into the program I want to get into, I'll be happy, and I'll live pretty comfortably for the rest of my life. Doesn't sound like a bad investment at all to me :hotbaby:

Aslong as you can make me my pure mdma crystals :troll:

I did all that while maintaining a 3.8+ average (MBB Major, 5 to 6 courses a semester for 5 years, no summers). It can be done you just have to be very good at time management. I lived at home in Maple Ridge (1hr30min) commute and I swear to god those 3 hrs were the best part of my day because it let my brain take a rest.

If you have the money go for it if you think it'll help you out, if youre worried about grades then I'd say split that load between 2 semesters. Instead of 5 "hard" classes in one semester and a next semester of easy classes, why not do half hard and half easy for the next two semesters.

Also, if my analysis skills are correct, you're a biology major and you want to get into med school. Right? So from that list of 5 courses, 2 of those classes are a prerequisite for UBC med school, while the others are for your degree requirements. I would concentrate on those classes more: physics101 and calc154/151 whichever.

My two cents.

Not specifically medschool but I definitely want to get into UBC for summer/fall 2012, and when I go there my GPA will effectively reset so I'm hoping to take all my hard courses, then transfer, and take all my upper division bios + easy electives.

The only thing is my GPA from first year is shit (in second year now) so I have to work my ass off to get that higher. UBC only looks at the last 30 transferrable credits, so I just need to find 3-4 transferrable classes and get A's in them (ontop of my calc/physics etc). Jimzilla, know any easy transferable classes? lol