Communting as a PT student?

[fbplayr75]

Here is the situation:

First year DPT student with wife and new baby.

Rent near campus is really high and I don't want to live near the school anyways because of all the partying and crime in the area (big city)

I found an apartment that would be a 45 min commute each way, its bigger, cheaper, and in a much more family freindly environment than near campus.

The problem:

I live in a city that has great pub trans-however the last bus that would take me directly home leaves at 6:15pm

Is it unwise to leave campus so early and commute that distance my first year?

Do most students stay on campus any study or did most of you guys head home after classes got out?

I know kind of a dumb question
but I'd appreciate any advice

=)

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[Bad0 Fish0]

due to traffic, i have almost an hour drive both ways each day. sucks getting up that early and makes for a long day by the time i get home and have to start studying, but i had no choice so i guess that's made it easier to deal with. it's really not that bad though. you get used to it. just make sure you leave in plenty of time.. i don't know what your school's attendance/tardy policy is like, but ours is strict.

as for living on campus, our allied health graduate programs are in a separate location from main campus that has no on-campus housing so everyone lives off campus. most of the students live within a mile though because they came from out of town and got apartments and townhouses right near campus since school was their whole purpose in moving here. i already lived here and it's not feasible for me at this time to move across town. so no, nobody really studies on campus. trust me... when you get out at 5pm, everyone is tired, hungry, and ready to go home. not to mention, ready to get away from each other. just my experiences so far though.

 

[jesspt]

Personally, almost all of my studying was done on campus, but I lived very nearby and had virtually no ability to focus my attention on studying with all of the distractions in my apartment (beer, video games, beer) But, I had a lot of classmates who lived quite a distance from campus and left as soon as the last class was over. I think if you're disciplined and can study at home, you'll do fine.

 

[PMC85]

when I was in undergrad I had a 2 hour drive to school and back each day. it wasnt that big of a deal because I had lots of time (only 15 credit hours a quarter) however when I moved to start PT school I moved into a place real close to the school and i'm glad i did. in undergrad I would put in about 30-35 hours a week on school, now I'm puting in 50-60 hours a week and I certainly dont have the time to drive 10 hours a week

Also being close to the cadavor lab was nice for anatomy. we had 24hour lab access

 

[bearcats]

Hey, PMC85,

When you say you spent average 50-60 hours per week in PT school, does it include in class time?

Trying to get an idea what is like to be in PT school.....in another words, am I gonna have time for anything else....socialize, part time job.....

Thanks a lot!

 

[PMC85]

well I guess how much free time you have in PT school depends on how smart you are and how quickly you can learn new information. in undergrad I had a 3.7 and studied 30-35 hours a week now I study twice that much and have a 3.3 in PT school. There is just that much more information being presented everyday. each week we have 7-9 tests. having said that, there are some people in my class who work full time have a family and still get A's, so if you are one of those 4.0 photographic memory types your life will be cake