Commute from home or get apartment closer to school?

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Home or apartment?

  • Home

    Votes: 8 28.6%
  • Apartment

    Votes: 20 71.4%

  • Total voters
    28

DrFizition

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Hello all

Will be starting M1 this fall. I am trying to decide whether I should live at home with my parents and commute to school or get an apartment closer by.

If I lived at home I would still be with my parents 🙁, approximately 20-25 min from school. But I wouldn't have to pay for rent, food etc.

If I lived in an apartment I would be 5-10 min from school , more independence and silence for studying, but of course will have to pay 600+ rent.

This is the northeast so snow during winters may be a factor to consider

So what are your recommendations based on your experience? Thank you.

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Live by yourself. U will love the independence...


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Hello all

Will be starting M1 this fall. I am trying to decide whether I should live at home with my parents and commute to school or get an apartment closer by.

If I lived at home I would still be with my parents 🙁, approximately 20-25 min from school. But I wouldn't have to pay for rent, school etc.

If I lived in an apartment I would be 5-10 min from school , more independence and silence for studying, but of course will have to pay 600+ rent.

This is the northeast so snow during winters may be a factor to consider

So what are your recommendations based on your experience? Thank you.
Live by yourself. Less distractions (even if they are harmless) and I think you'll enjoy the independence. I'm guessing you still won't be too far away from your parents if there were any type of emergency.
I empathize with you on the $$$$ factor though, believe me. It's hard to pass up on the free board and stay but ..... I think it's just something that needs to be done.

Plus, it'll be less awkward when you have a female over.
 
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You'll have to weigh the pros and cons to figure out what is most important to you, some things to think about:

- I'm living at home during my gap year and there is a decrease in independence and there is always someone to answer to, even in a friendly way. Think "where are you going what are you doing when will you be home will you be eating dinner with us" etc.
- have you lived with your parents while being an undergraduate? How did it go?
- what is the commute like during the times you will be driving it? My current commute is to somewhere that is 25 minutes away with no traffic, but during rush hour becomes 45-60 minutes.
- what are your parents schedules like? Do they go to bed early? How will their schedules be conducive to your study habits?
- how feasible is it for you to afford living in an apartment?
- do you have siblings who will be living there as well?
 
Only you can make this decision. A million people will have a million opinions on this and none of them matter. Make the decision based on what you need, what will work, and what you can afford. Money is a factor, time commuting not studying is a factor, interruptions/privacy is a factor, support for chores/feeding yourself/laundry is a factor, access to study options like tutoring can be a factor (what hrs etc), plus more I haven't thought of. Not saying this is easy, only that this forum can't help you.
 
Check the commute times at the times you will be traveling to school. Will conditions be dangerous in bad weather?

What is the parking availability at the school? Is there a cost for parking? How close is the parking to your lecture halls/labs (I mention this because I was once assigned a parking lot that was > 1 mile from my lecture hall!)

Will your parents shop and cook for you? Laundry? House cleaning? You can save enormous amounts of time (and/or money) if these things are done for you.

Do you have your own room? Is the house quiet? Do your parents let you come and go as you please? What would the reaction be if you stayed out all night (stayed with a friend, etc)?

How do you feel about missing out on the opportunity to attend impromptu social events with classmates?

Do you have local friends who may resent or not understand your inability to hang out with them? Is this going to hurt friendships?

(Full disclosure: I lived with relatives about 30 minutes from campus and I was in a long-distance relationship so bringing someone home or being out all night was not an issue for me in similar circumstances back in the last century.)
 
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I would commute. I remember seeing you on the Qunnipiac page, so I believe that is where you are going (?). You'll need to be commuting years 3 and 4, so you might as well do it the first two to save money
 
I would say get the apartment. A 20-25 minute commute can easily become much longer than that, especially since you're somewhere where the weather can be a huge factor in road conditions. I've got a 10 mile commute that should only take about 20 minutes in ideal circumstances, but I always make sure to leave over an hour early just because there's been so many times that conditions, traffic, or a wreck have made it take almost an hour to drive that far.
 
Don't be another car clown on the road.

A 20 minute commute (likely a rosey speculation, but let's leave it at that) five days a week, every week for a year is roughly 160 hours of your life, per year, just being flabby and slowly wishing you were at where you needed to be.

What about gas/depreciation/parking? Assuming government estimates (http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/r...ansportation_statistics/html/table_03_17.html) it costs around $.58 per mile to own a 1-2ton hunk of machine like your car. What is that costing you, on top of the already lousy feelings you get when you will have to head to the school, or face traffic when you are coming back?

Is it really worth spending all that time, energy, and money for a year to be another clown in a car who decided they didn't want to live near where they have to be all day/everyday? Get an apartment within a mile of your school and get a bike. You can do laundry and see your parents when you want to, but not when you don't.

Plus - biking/walking will keep you fit instead of being a car clown for 40 minutes of your life every day for a minimum of two years.
 
I would get an apartment. More convenient and you'll have your independence. Commuting every day will definitely save you money but takes its toll. Also traffic and weather conditions may lengthen your commute throughout the year and you'll be losing time that could be spent doing other activities.
 
The biggest benefits of living at home are that you don't pay any rent, so you don't have to shell out $600+ per month for an apartment; it's probably more comfortable at home; and you'd have a good support system, although that will depend on how close you are to your parents. The biggest pros of living in an apartment are that you're close to the school, you don't have to deal with a commute, and it'll be much easier to interact with students on a regular basis and participate in social/school-related activities.

I'd personally live at home to save a lot of money, but it's up to you. Honestly, I think you if you choose to live at home, you can decide how much time you want to spend at school, with classmates, etc. It could be that you're at school the entire time and just come home to sleep and that's pretty much it, and that shouldn't drastically affect your ability to spend time with classmates and friends if need be. I'm sure your parents would understand.
 
20-25min commute is pretty good
 
I'd probably fail out of med school if I had to live with my parents...
 
The biggest benefits of living at home are that you don't pay any rent, so you don't have to shell out $600+ per month for an apartment; it's probably more comfortable at home; and you'd have a good support system, although that will depend on how close you are to your parents. The biggest pros of living in an apartment are that you're close to the school, you don't have to deal with a commute, and it'll be much easier to interact with students on a regular basis and participate in social/school-related activities.

I'd personally live at home to save a lot of money, but it's up to you. Honestly, I think you if you choose to live at home, you can decide how much time you want to spend at school, with classmates, etc. It could be that you're at school the entire time and just come home to sleep and that's pretty much it, and that shouldn't drastically affect your ability to spend time with classmates and friends if need be. I'm sure your parents would understand.
I agree. You could get to school at 8am and hang out until 10pm if you really wanted to and still have a good night's sleep. 20-25 min commute is a normal commute for a large portion of working adults, so I would definitely say it is fine
 
Try one or the other the first year and if you don't like it, then do the other for the remainder of med school.
 
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