Parents are giving my car to my younger sister. My freshman year at A&M will be car-less. Do most students not have a car? Will it be that much of an obstacle?

Are you living on campus? If so, you should be ok, but it will suck not to be able to go anywhere without depending on others. If you're living off campus, take a crap on both of your parents hoods the night before you leave. With the buses, you can get pretty much anywhere in B/CS without having to walk too far, but I couldn't live without having a car at my disposal for activities out of school and when the buses aren't running full routes (weekends/nights).

Get a bike. I went all of my fish year without a car. Heck, I even had my sister here (who used me to keep the on campus parking spot), but I rarely used that source.

If you are living in the dorms, there is ALWAYS someone going somewhere. In the immortal words of Jeremy Priven from "PCU":

"Here's some advice: Beer, it's your best frind. Classes, nothing before 10. Do you have a car?" "No." "That's ok. Someone in your dorm will. Find them and make friends with them on the first day. Any questions?"

~egon

I went 4.5 years w/out a car and lived off campus for half of them. It's not always the easiest thing to do (learn to plan and make friends - Friday after 3 was the best time to use the buses to grocery shop, ring dance would get me to HEB and the ice-rink for class, many things were w/in walking distance), consolidate trips, get a bike, learn the bus routes and it's very do-able. I even got to and from campus on weekends to work without a problem.

My initial reaction was that there was no way I would come to A&M without a car. However, when I thought about it some more, I remember several times my first two years when my car battery died because I used my car so rarely. You will be fine.

everyone i knew had a car

I didn't have a car for my first two years.

On campus its really a hinderance and the $300 or whatever it costs for a garage spot (if you actually want to be able to park somewhere reliably) is a lot of cash that you could spend on other things, like food or women, or beer.

Off campus its much more helpful and that the busses dont all stop at the Trigon anymore is a bit more annoying, because it was really awesome as a freshman to get out at the Trigon, have half of your classes in Heldenfels and then hop back on the bus and go home.

I myself never lived on campus, but I used my car most of the time in the evening my freshman year and rode the bus during the day, parking is damned nightmare and I was an engineer and parked at Zachry with my blue tag, then Lot 100 after Zachry lot got a name. When its still a nightmare even though you park in the largest parking lot on campus, there is an issue there.

Also when the Reed-McDonald building lot on the East side of Kyle became a on campus lot .. it pretty much ruined the best lot on campus for off campus folks .. so the bus or Zachry is now the only way to go.

Cliffnotes: Car = not needed, is useful .. make a friend and save some cash, cash is good for girls, girls have cars .. you pay for the movie and dinner, they drive you there .. simple enough.

Oh and not having a car means not getting harassed by PTTS for parking in places for "a minute" and then getting some crappy $40-50 ticket, like if you park in the golf course parking lot or next to the Oceanography building in that staff lot .. or whatever dumb thing you do because there isnt enough good places to park.

Like I said .. save the cash, save the hassel.

[This message has been edited by Randy03 (edited 6/23/2009 2:31a).]

Be thankful for the parking you have. I'm at MSU now and the parking is 100 times worse than it was at A&M. I can buy a parking pass here to park in 1 commuter lot that is about 5 miles away from anything. There are other spaces to park in, but they are all metered or in pay garages. I had never seen a meter on an college campus until I came here.

not having a car won't be a problem getting to your classes if you are living off-campus because the buses run pretty frequently during the school year. however, if your living on campus or off, it will be a pretty big hassle bumming rides from people to get to places around the city quickly, and it is hard to plan all that ahead all the time...

If at all possible, I would suggest seeing if you can get any kind of vehicle to get you around where you need to go... because from first-hand experience, it's hard to rely on the buses all the time. If you can't, it will be manageable, but having a car really makes things a lot easier.

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Be thankful for the parking you have. I'm at MSU now and the parking is 100 times worse than it was at A&M. I can buy a parking pass here to park in 1 commuter lot that is about 5 miles away from anything. There are other spaces to park in, but they are all metered or in pay garages. I had never seen a meter on an college campus until I came here.

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werd. msu parking sucks. $1.50/hr to park at the meters at shaw and $1.80/hr to park in wharton, or you can pay for the commuter lot which sucks.
i usually just take the bus because of the hassle involved, or just park in wharton until 9:30

hbc, what are you here for?

law

me too

my first two years no car on campus. It was not a big deal. I could get rides from people. There also is a lot with in walking distance. Junior and Senior year I had a car. Yes, I lived on campus then.

I lived on campus all 4 years, and had a car all 4 years. it was worth it to me to not have to depend on my friends for a ride, or the bus. if I wanted to go to the grocery store or drive home for the weekend at the last minute, I could. also, I was in CARPOOL, so I was going off campus at night at least 6 times a semester to work--that's another occasion where I didn't want to be dependent on people for rides because who wants to give their roommate a ride at 5 in the morning?

I went home every other weekend, so no car was not an option for me. Plus, when you start having meetings with groups, or start hanging out with friends that all live off campus, no car will be the suck.

I'm about to be a senior and have never had a car. It's not really a problem, though I am on campus. There's always friends with cars or busses if you HAVE to get somewhere.

My freshman year I was so far down on the wait-list for Lot 40 and SSG that my car was parked in Lot 100 for the entire year. This is the parking lot around Reed Arena, about 1.25 miles from my dorm in the Commons. I drove my car less than a dozen times freshman year and could have easily lived without it.

A few tips for getting around off-campus without a car:

- Take bus route 27 to get to Post Oak Mall or HEB
- Take bus route 26 to get to Kroger
- Take bus route 33 to get to Wal-Mart

Otherwise just bum rides off friends who pay through the nose for the good lots.

Ryan2010, Thanks. I just emailed myself those routes.

Everyone I know had a car. I imagine not having a car wouldn't be too bad during the week but probably a pretty big obstacle on weekends.

not having a car would really suck if you do anything off campus.

You can definitely do without a car your first year or two here.

As far as having a car goes, some people on campus use theirs everyday, others, very, very rarely. Go for at least a semester or two to assess your needs.

When I was at A&M, I could go through the garage and find cars that literally did not move an inch for WEEKS at a time and somebody had to be paying $400+ per month on them unless they were bought outright because they were late model volvos, acuras, bmws, etc. Even then, you take a decent hit on depreciation even paying in cash.

Freshman year I lived on campus and didn't have a car. Wasn't too big of a deal because I knew plenty of people with cars.

Sophmore year I had a car but it was a piece and was parked in West Campus Garage during the fall semester so it was always a chore to go anywhere.

This past year I lived off campus (with a new car). Don't think I could manage without it. My brother was a freshman in the corps this year and he didn't have a car but we shared whenever he needed it.

I've lived in B/CS for 8 years come August.

Come August, I will have had a car here for two (2) years.

Before car ownership, I was plenty mobile, held down jobs just fine, and went to school (three of those carless years where living off campus).

You will survive.

I lived off campus my entire time and had a car the whole time. I used the car primarily to get to work or to go to various activities. I never drove to campus until my graduating semester - prior to that I either walked, rode the bus or rode my bike.

It shouldn't be a huge problem to be without a car, though.

What Ryan2010 said. I went all but the last month of my 6 years at A&M (2 degrees) without a car and had no problems getting any where I needed to go. Just plan your off campus bus trips in advance to avoid the rush of off campus students getting to campus and you can easily carry 3-4 bags of groceries with you on the bus.

Yeah, parked in West Side Garage last year and this year will be in lot 40.

Didn't have a car until I was a senior. Not much of a need for one, with so many places to eat within walking distance, and Wal-Mart being close to one of the bus stops. Unless you plan on taking a road trip every weekend, the times when you need a car will be rare, and when you do, your roommate probably won't mind.

No car my first four years on campus, but I did have one my fifth year off campus. Not a big deal with plenty of friends with cars.

I needed to clarify, I hate bumming off of people for rides, because I know for me, most times it is kind of annoying unless I first offer it. Just my take. Also, then I no longer have control, and I have to go by someone else's schedule.

I spent three years without a car and bought one my senior year. The only bad part about not having a car was that grocery shopping was a bit of a pain. If you live on campus, you'll be fine without a car.

I rode my bike or took the bus to H-E-B and Target.

Make friends with your roommates and—if you have them—suitemates. I often found that I didn't have to ask them for rides... they'd just ask me if I wanted to go some place with them. If you join a group, they sometimes do things off campus, and someone will have a car and be willing to drive you.

Remember... a lot of people with cars were without them at some point in the college career. They don't mind giving you a ride at all because they remember what it was like when they were carless.

Bring a car. Easier to make beer runs.

You don't really need a car first year if you live on campus. If you have a meal plan it is possible to not leave campus for weeks at a time (some friends never left their dorm.) I had a car 2nd semester of my fish year, but I hardly ever used it.