In the last post, we talked about some of the benefits of attending university in the town or city where you grew up. While there are some definite pros to studying in your hometown, it’s certainly not for everyone, and there are also great arguments for studying away from your hometown. Today, we’ll highlight a few of those.

While living at or near home may be easier in a lot of ways (saving money, knowing your way around already, etc.), moving to a new city to attend university can also be a great deal of fun. You’ll get to explore a whole new campus and city or town, getting to find the best restaurants, cafes and shops over time. This not only gives you another “home” of sorts, but will also likely make you feel more comfortable with the prospect of moving to and settling in a new location for work a bit further down the road. You’ll likely find that jumping outside your comfort zone now will enable you to do it more easily in the future.

Studying away from your hometown will also provide you with a lot of important life skills, which you’d perhaps not have to pick up quite so quickly if you stayed home. You’ll have to really figure out how to live on your own without being able to rely quite so much on your parents, meaning you may have opportunities to become self-sufficient in ways you otherwise wouldn’t have done at this point in your life. There’s a lot to be said for learning to shop, clean and make food, all while getting a university education.

Another pro is that if you go for studying away from your hometown (unless all of your friends are also applying to the same university), you’ll perhaps be more likely to make the extra effort to meet new people and form a new social network. This isn’t to suggest you can’t do this if you attend university where you grew up, but you may find that being in new place and with lots of others in the same position gives you an extra incentive to find kindred spirits with whom to share the adventure. This will open you to new experiences and enable you to meet people you otherwise wouldn’t have, making lifelong friendships in the process.

And finally, another very important reason to consider studying away from your hometown is based on your programme of study. Depending on which programme you’re interested in, you may find that it makes much more sense to go to university elsewhere. A lot of programmes are on fairly equal footing at a number of universities, giving you lots of choice, but if you’re really interested in a subject that is particularly well-represented by a specific university, it probably makes sense to go there. Even if you’re not quite sure which course you want to take, the willingness to go elsewhere provides you with a much greater choice about which programmes you might want to try.

Making the decision about whether to stick close to home or whether studying away from your hometown is the way to go is a big one, and not a decision to be made too quickly. It’s a great idea to talk about the pros and cons with your family and friends, and think about what it is that makes you excited or nervous about each prospect. Weighing up the pros and cons of each will likely give you an idea of which scenario will best suit you, meaning you’ll likely get a lot more out of the experience.