Commute from VCU Med to UVA -- realistic

[salsadoc]

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I was wondering how realistic it would be to go to VCU med school while my boyfriend attends UVA for grad school. Is there a good place to live in between? Is this type of commute feasible? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[crazy_cavalier]

I was wondering how realistic it would be to go to VCU med school while my boyfriend attends UVA for grad school. Is there a good place to live in between? Is this type of commute feasible? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

UVa is centered in Charlottesville; VCU is in Richmond. The commute between the two is something like 30 minutes. That is not a terribly long commute, in my opinion, and if he lives 10 minutes from UVa and you live 10 minutes from VCU, then you will be apart by only 10 minutes.

VA 😍 is the best. 😉 🙂

 

[brodude6]

The commute is longer than 30 minutes if you don't drive 25 over the limit. Also, there is really no where to live "in between" Richmond and Cville unless you want to pitch a tent because there is nothing but trees and trees between VCU and UVA. After going to UVA for 4 years, I think its safe to say that your boyfriend will have to live near UVA because of parking situations, so if anyone is going to be living "away from campus" it will probably be you because thats normal in a city setting like Richmond anyway. I did have a roommate who dates a girl at VCU and they saw each other very often, so I think it will work out. Just know that they are about an hour apart by drive.
Good luck

I was wondering how realistic it would be to go to VCU med school while my boyfriend attends UVA for grad school. Is there a good place to live in between? Is this type of commute feasible? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[amy2003uva]

UVa is centered in Charlottesville; VCU is in Richmond. The commute between the two is something like 30 minutes. That is not a terribly long commute, in my opinion, and if he lives 10 minutes from UVa and you live 10 minutes from VCU, then you will be apart by only 10 minutes.

VA 😍 is the best. 😉 🙂

It's more like 60mi (so give or take an hour depending on rush hour traffic). There isn't much in between the two cities, though, and since both C'ville and Richmond are GREAT places to live, I'd pick one of the two.

For convenience with school, I'd recommend you live in Richmond. People definitely commute between these cities daily, but I wouldn't recommend it if you're going to be a med student. If you want to live with your boyfriend then I think he'd have to make a huge sacrifice and just commute from Richmond to Charlottesville every morning. I don't know how rigorous/frequent his classes will be in grad school, so I don't know if that's realistic.

If you're okay living an hour apart, you'd still be able to see each other all the time. Tons of people commute 1hr+ to work every day from the cities, and it's really not that bad.

There are rural (read: tiny) towns in between the two cities, and if you really want to compromise on the distance, you could get a place that would split the travel time and also save you money in housing costs. Honestly though, the drive to Richmond from UVA is nothing but rows of trees (no stores, nothing), and it would be pretty painful to find a place to live.

Bottom line: Definitely doable. The distance between C'ville and Richmond is half the distance between C'ville and the D.C. area.

Good luck!

 

[wrknhard123]

Come on now, I live in between the two ... There is some civilization!!! 😛
Anyway, hundreds of people make that commute each day. It's definitely doable. Takes me about 50-60 minutes to get door to door. Louisa County and Goochland County are options for living in the middle...especially if you are interested in renting a house instead of an apartment. good luck!

 

[TheFlash]

people do it all the time. the commute is under an hour and both richmond and cville are great cities in their own right. uva has the full "undergrad" feel, probably more so than anywhere else in the country. and vcu offers richmond, one of the premier cities in the south with many aspects of urbanity that cville lacks. so you'll get the best of both worlds. enjoy!

 

[DOCTORSAIB]

My suggestion is you stay in Richmond and let him live in Charlottesville. Study hard during the week and drive up to see him on the weekends. If you do this and you actually go to class, you'll probably pass your classes and maybe even honor them. I'll leave that one up to you depending on how important grades are to you and your future.

If you skip class altogether, you'll definetly not only have time to see him but it's likely that you'll actually do very well in your classes. In fact, you can stay in Charlottesville most of the time and study together with your b'friend. You'll only have to drive back to Richmond to take exams. The only exception is when you have anatomy. Anatomy lab is not really something you should/could skip. Unless things have changed, you'll take anatomy early during your 1st year.

When I did grad school at MCV in 2001, Dr.Heldberg told me of a student who lived in Northern VA (about 1.5 hours away) who would study at home and then drive down to take her exams. Once I started med school, I also didn't go to class after anatomy ended. Life is really good when you skip. Not only do I get 8 hours of sleep every night but I also leave Philly on Thursday to drive down to Northern VA (about 2.5 hours away) to see my family and g'friend. It's a 3-day weekend every weekend, except weekends before exams. I've been doing 90+ in all my classes and having fun. It can be done!

 

[jeg5q]

I was wondering how realistic it would be to go to VCU med school while my boyfriend attends UVA for grad school. Is there a good place to live in between? Is this type of commute feasible? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Oilville, VA 🙂

 

[BaylorGuy]

I used to live in virginia and for some reason i felt that traveling between those two cities took forever.

Now, i live in houston and commute to galveston....easily a 30 mile drive....no biggie though...everything is bigger in texas (and longer if you are talking about driving time)

 

[Alfa Diallo]

it's feasible....
while i was at uva med, a couple of people i knew would do the cville -> richmond commute b/c of sig. others in cville. one guy actually commuted from cville to d.c. while his wife was finishing up uva med....
but another classmate who ended up staying in cville for residency (and wife in richmond) ended up transfering residencies to get closer to his wife...

first year med should be feasible; second year will be pretty tough; and third year (with the notoriously rigorous VCU clinical preparation) would also seem very tough....overall you gotta look out for yourself b/c few full-time jobs will rival the intensity of the medical school existence. plus with so much time devoted to books and class, makes two hours a day in the car is a tough haul....

I was wondering how realistic it would be to go to VCU med school while my boyfriend attends UVA for grad school. Is there a good place to live in between? Is this type of commute feasible? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Gut Shot]

I was wondering how realistic it would be to go to VCU med school while my boyfriend attends UVA for grad school. Is there a good place to live in between? Is this type of commute feasible? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

I just graduated from VCU SOM, and a number of my classmates had sig others in C-ville. Commuting is possible, but it would make life unpleasant for both of you.

True, you could always just drive down for exams and for FCM (once a week), but they also pepper in just enough afternoon stuff (required ethics seminars, etc.) to make that plan really irritating.

You would also be abandoning the prospect of developing any real friendships in your class, which would be a damn shame.

So my advice would be to do what most of my colleagues did when faced with a similar dilemma; live in Richmond. You'll be able to visit your boyfriend a lot during years 1,2 and 4. You can probably do your FP clerkship in/near C-ville as well.