This was a major concern for me as I am currently going to dental school somewhat close to where I grew up (about 30-40 min away) in Cleveland. I went to undergrad a few states away and had the typical college experience in the dorm.
I eventually decided to live at home. My fiancee lives about 20 minutes from me (who I see each weekend), I have several lifelong friends from high school in the area, my brother lives with me, and I have the support and connection of my family on a daily basis. Moreover, I am saving a ton of money on both rent (around 1000 a month, the rent close to school), utilities, and food. Some of that is subtractedby fuel costs, but not nearly as much as I save. Add up the savings for four years and I'll save about 65,000 before interest.
That said, all of this comes at a sacrifice. Most of the other dental students live close to school, mostly all within 2 or 3 different apartment buildings. They hang out on nights and weekends. I'm generally outgoing and have a group of friends at school... but it's like the friends you have at a job, we joke around/talk at school, hang out on occasion, but in general they are much closer with each other than they are with me. This isn't inevitable though.... if you make yourself available, plan stuff, hang around school/friend's apartments, attend parties/events you are invited to, and/or join a club/frat, you will experience a social life much more comparable to undergrad (although it won't be the same, as you will have to go home at some point, and unfortunately you can't just stop by rooms with open doors and mingle in the hall like in undergrad). I, on the other hand, tend to keep dental school and my social life separate. It's a choice I made bc of my fortune in having close friends and family nearby.
In summary, my advice to you is.... 1) if you are a naturally social person, if you are a kind of person that likes to get to know people, says yes to parties, going out to eat, and NOT IN A HURRY TO GET HOME, then your social life won't suffer too much OR 2) if you have close non-dental school friends nearby and are close to your family (and they won't get on your nerves)...If you answered yes to both of these questions, or a strong yes to one of the two, I'd lean towards staying home.
One last thing to think about though, the NYT columnist David Brooks often quotes several studies that find that only 9-11% (i forget the exact figure, but close to it) of students drop out of school because they can't afford it, the remainder do so in large part because they do not feel an emotional connection to the school and their work there. This contributes to the large difference in drop out rates between commuters and those who live at school. If you have the emotional resources and support at home, then you're fine, but if you plan on finding those resources at school, live close by.
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
