| OP I'm in the same position. I commute from home; I've also been doing so for 3 years and I'm also going to be a 5 year student.
I have gone to parties, made friends, etc., but not even close to the amount of even the most socially awkward people that I know that live in dorms. Making friends and going to parties takes a LOT more effort if you commute. In first year, I made that effort (trying to meet people, asking about parties, etc.) and it worked pretty well.
The thing is, though, that I meet mostly acquaintances and I feel like I have to do the same thing every year (or even every semester sometimes). Now that I'm getting into upper division courses, people are getting more focused with school and less concerned with meeting people like they were in first year. So I do think that it's possible, but in my opinion it is very difficult for someone to commute and have a good -college life-. People in the dorms have it so easy, they don't even know. |