Commuting to Vet School

[KarebearDVM]

I will be attending vet school at Oregon State this fall and I have an opportunity to move in somewhere without having to pay rent, but I would have to commute to vet school every day. The commute would be about 45 minutes there and 45 minutes back.

I am leaning towards commuting rather than moving to Corvallis because I would be saving a lot of money not having to pay rent (even when factoring in the amount of money spent on gas). However, that is also nearly two hours each day that I am wasting driving when I could be studying, spending time with friends, participating in activities on campus, etc. I know that I will have to be within a certain distance from campus for clinics fourth year, but that is something I could easily do when the time comes.

I am wondering if anyone has experience commuting to vet school, if you are for or against it, and why?

Any advice would be helpful!!!

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[britzen]

I will be attending vet school at Oregon State this fall and I have an opportunity to move in somewhere without having to pay rent, but I would have to commute to vet school every day. The commute would be about 45 minutes there and 45 minutes back.

I am leaning towards commuting rather than moving to Corvallis because I would be saving a lot of money not having to pay rent (even when factoring in the amount of money spent on gas). However, that is also nearly two hours each day that I am wasting driving when I could be studying, spending time with friends, participating in activities on campus, etc. I know that I will have to be within a certain distance from campus for clinics fourth year, but that is something I could easily do when the time comes.

I am wondering if anyone has experience commuting to vet school, if you are for or against it, and why?

Any advice would be helpful!!!

I didn't commute but also didn't spend much time on campus if I didn't have too - did a lot of classes from home, skipped lunch talks to walk my dogs most days to save money on a dog walker, and went home to hang out with my spouse as soon as classes were over in the evening. By second year I just watched lecture recordings most of the time instead of going to class.

It worked for me. I will say that I don't have a ton of good friendships in my school because I was not very social and this was fine for me. So that is a factor to consider for you (I'm also older than most of my classmates by 10+ years so honestly wasn't interested in being friends with a lot of my classmates. There was a lot of drama and I'm too old to have the patience for it lol)

If you live near school you'll probably have a 10 to 15 minute commute each way anyway so you're really looking at about an hour extra everyday of commuting. I'd view it as a 20 hour a month job that will pay for your rent for the whole year. That would have been worth it for me. Others may weigh their need social connection with their classmates more heavily and would prefer to live closer to school so that they don't have to figure out how to do that while commuting.

 

[WonderingStudent]

I will be attending vet school at Oregon State this fall and I have an opportunity to move in somewhere without having to pay rent, but I would have to commute to vet school every day. The commute would be about 45 minutes there and 45 minutes back.

I am leaning towards commuting rather than moving to Corvallis because I would be saving a lot of money not having to pay rent (even when factoring in the amount of money spent on gas). However, that is also nearly two hours each day that I am wasting driving when I could be studying, spending time with friends, participating in activities on campus, etc. I know that I will have to be within a certain distance from campus for clinics fourth year, but that is something I could easily do when the time comes.

I am wondering if anyone has experience commuting to vet school, if you are for or against it, and why?

Any advice would be helpful!!!

I personally don’t commute long distance to school but know many people who do. It is definitely doable and some really like being able to destress/relax during that time. At least most vet schools (if not all) record lectures so you do not need to come to school everyday for class. My school livestreams all of our lectures so that we are able to watch live from anywhere. It is more what you are comfortable with. If you want to get an idea of on average how often you would at least be required to come to campus, I would reach out to a current student at Oregon to ask about their schedule.

Additionally many students even if they live close to campus watch lectures from home.

There are a good amount of fourth years at my school that still commute long distances. At least at my vet school, the rule of being within X mins from campus is just for on call shifts where you can be called to come back to school at any point during the designated day. And students that commute usually crash that day at a friend’s house who lives close to campus. So it is definitely doable to commute all 4 yrs!

 

[DVMDream]

You can always download lectures, create your own podcast type study materials, etc to listen to during your drives.

When I was living in Scotland I had to use public transport to get to/ from school and it added up a lot of time spent just getting to school probably about similar to what you're looking at. Now, all my classmates had to do the same, so we still all lived closer to each other so it was still easy to meet up/ hang out when we wanted to.

Only really you can say if you'd be ok with commuting like that. If it will save you a ton of money might be worth it. Always remember if it isn't working out you can change it up and move at anytime.

 

[lemons24limes]

I go to oregon state and know some people in my class who commute about the same distance that you might. they dont seem like they are ever behind in any of our classes but they will stay after class is over and study in the library, anatomy lab, etc until they feel good enough to go home every day. also most clubs have their meetings during our scheduled lunch time so you wont have to miss out too much with that.
i will say tho that it seems like the people who live further away tend to not hang out with anyone in our class after school if we ever go out(at least from what ive noticed), but tbh id rather have free rent then go out to a bar about once a month

 

[katashark]

I will just say that during 4th year and possibly some of 3rd year (don't know how much they have changed SA and LA surgery), you will have to be closer to campus because you have to respond to hospital emergencies/be on call within 20-25min. Since you are just starting though, you definitely have time to either move closer for 4th year or one of my friends would just spend the night at a friend's house when she was on call.

You can listen to lecture recordings in the car if you need something for the commute, but a 45 min break after classes is fine to take! You can take your mind off of vet med, don't feel guilty.

Congrats on free rent. Even though you are living far, you can still have good relationships with folks and join study groups and go out every once in a while. It's important to have fun and commiserate with other vet students.

 

[DVMdreamcometrue]

I will just say that during 4th year and possibly some of 3rd year (don't know how much they have changed SA and LA surgery), you will have to be closer to campus because you have to respond to hospital emergencies/be on call within 20-25min. Since you are just starting though, you definitely have time to either move closer for 4th year or one of my friends would just spend the night at a friend's house when she was on call.

You can listen to lecture recordings in the car if you need something for the commute, but a 45 min break after classes is fine to take! You can take your mind off of vet med, don't feel guilty.

Congrats on free rent. Even though you are living far, you can still have good relationships with folks and join study groups and go out every once in a while. It's important to have fun and commiserate with other vet students.

I second that. I had a classmate who commuted ~40-45 minutes to school for the first two years. She still came to lectures/labs almost every day and stayed on campus till end of day to hang out or study with others. For 3rd and 4th year, she chose to move closer to campus. By that time she had met friends whom she could share housing with which worked out well.

 

[KarebearDVM]

@britzen @WonderingStudent @DVMDream @lemons24limes @katashark @DVMdreamcometrue
Thanks for your responses! I have decided to commute as I think it will be worth it in the long run to save money that could go towards tuition, loan payments, etc. I commuted to work during my gap year for a few months before moving closer and I found it to be somewhat relaxing, and as some of you mentioned, I think it could be a good way to decompress before and after classes.

It's reassuring to hear that you guys know of people who commute to vet school and they don't seem to have any problems with it. If it ends up being an issue for whatever reason then I can always reevaluate and look into something closer to campus.

Thanks again everyone, I appreciate all of your insights!!