As I was growing up and going to school I was lucky that I never had to travel to far to get to school. I actually would be able to get up only twenty minutes before class and still make it on time. That sense of comfort was obliterated once I graduated high school. I wanted to go to a “good” college and not the Nassau Community College which was everyone’s fallback plan. As I searched for schools to apply to I soon came to the realization that I will have to travel quite a bit to get to my destination, and to dorm, well that wasn’t an option financially. As the summer passed on, I narrowed my search down to St. John's University and Queens College, both on an equal plane in education and cost since St. John’s offered me a scholarship, so to me it ultimately came down to the time of transportation and the winner of that battle was obvious, as I am current St. John’s student.
The commute to school for me takes about forty minutes which includes 2 buses, but I usually give myself an hour in case of traffic on my route. Coming to St. John’s from my home in Elmont is pretty relaxing, but the cost of that commute leaves much to desire. $76 for a monthly metro card is a whole week’s check for me, but I guess if I had a car gas money would’ve been even more expensive.
I had two of my friends who also commute to school answer some questions about their daily traveling to school. Justin Tehrani, lives in Floral Park on Long Island and commutes with his car. He says it takes him about twenty minutes to get to school on a normal day, and give or take five minutes for the level of traffic. Justin also states that the gas needed to travel on a consistent basis is leaving a significant burden on his wallet. Second contestant on my little survey was Syed Lahori from Jackson Heights. His commute consists of two trains and a bus. He like me purchases a monthly metro card so that $76 haunts others as well. Syed tells me it takes him anywhere from a half hour to an hour to get to school.
As I started to analyze the data I got from my friends, I noticed it had a good variety. One who drives, one from Manhattan, and me, coming from the suburbs. However, I felt I need more substance as to why commuting is important. That substance can be anything, but my first guess would be the difference with commuters and dormers is the time they have to do their work. I plan to interview some St. John’s students who dorm and get their study patterns and compare them to my commuting peers.
What else can I use? That is what I am asking myself. I can do numerous things such as surf the web and find several statistics comparing commuters and dormers on a whole sort of different aspects on their student lives. At first glance I would assume dormers have the advantage academically because traveling to class isn’t a problem for them but then again going by what I heard of about the dorm life I would think there are many distractions with friends around you constantly. Whatever the case maybe, I will compare and contrast the way we interact and the way we learn.
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