How far do you live away from campus?

[gerrardsgirl]

My physiology lecturer told us on the first day:
"You will fail if you live more than 2 hours away from the campus".

Is this really that crucial? I live about an hour away from the campus - hence 2+ hours wasted. (Traffic just isn't too sexy these days)

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[cyclohexanol]

My physiology lecturer told us on the first day:
"You will fail if you live more than 2 hours away from the campus".

Is this really that crucial? I live about an hour away from the campus - hence 2+ hours wasted. (Traffic just isn't too sexy these days)

Well if you are graded on being close to campus, then you might fail. Otherwise, no.

 

[45408]

a mile and a half. Your lecturer is just being dramatic, but you certainly will spend a lot more time commuting than I will. If you need the time to let your brain just chill, or you listen to lectures on the road, then it's not bad. It would just be wasted time for me though.

 

[deleted77919]

I live in the same building as our classrooms. If I'm not careful waiting for the elevator might take 5 minutes, so I do my best to avoid rush hour.

 

[Blade28]

Well you just don't want to be spending TOO much time in traffic. I lived less than 10 minutes away from campus, which was nice.

But if you're spending 4 hours every day driving (roundtrip), well, that's a lot. Unless you learn well by listening to audio recordings.

 

[EM_Rebuilder]

For medical school, I lived in a house approx 5 mins from the parking lot. 10 mins at most to be parked and looking at a chart in the hospital.


As a resident, I am now about 20-25 mins from the hospital...and I live in the country.


I can not imagine someone having a 'one hour commute'. That would not work for me, but I am a small west Texas town guy. Jackson, MS is a HUGE city for me... and 30 mins you can be across the whole thing in 'rush hour'.

Its a personal preference and much of that stems from what you grew up doing. On the same token, I hear people saying that the Florida beaches are 'sooooo far way' (250-300 miles). Being from Texas, 300 miles is barely a good start... here, I can be 3 states away. In the Northeast, well you could be out of the northeast.. hehe.

 

[Sondra]

I am in Jackson, MS, too!

I live about 2 miles from campus. I love being able to run home for lunch everyday.

 

[harrypotter]

Not everyone will have the ideal 10-15 minute commute so you just have to deal with what you've got. I drive about 30-40 minutes each way and yeah, it sux at times. I've been grappling with moving out but... I save so much money by living at home. Licing closer to school would make it easier to be in a study group or just stop by the anatomy whenever I feel like it but.... no rent is good and living with mom and pop is not too shabby either...

It's really what works for you. I'm sure there are plenty of ppl who are living closer to school who won't do well either. your prof made a ****** blanket statement.. take it with a grain of salt.

g'luck!

 

[SltatryDduction]

I've always been a commuter since my husband and I split the distance. Now, in med school, I really like the time to listen to music and relax. And (yes I know it's not good) I use it to talk to my family on the phone. It lets me be a little more efficient when I do get home, so for me its not an issue. I will say that if I lived closer I could unwind at the gym, which more often than not I forego these days....

 

[alwaysaangel]

I live 3 miles from my school. About half the time I ride with my roommate and it takes about 5 min to get there. The other half of the time I ride my bike and it takes about 20 min in the morning and 40 min home but I figure I get my workout while commuting so its worth it.

 

[humuhumu]

Takes me about 1/2 hour one way, riding a bus and walking. Most of that time I'm previewing/reviewing notes (on the bus) or listening to Goljan for Step 1 prep (walking). If I were driving, I'd listen to Goljan the whole way. It's not ideal, but you can definitely learn stuff during a long commute.

 

[tacrum43]

About 30 minutes away. 22 on the Metro and then a short walk. Or sometimes I drive and it only takes 15 minutes. Being closer would be nice, but it just costs so much in the city.

I guess I should be more efficient with studying on the metro. Usually, however, it's the end of the day and I just want to stare blankly ahead and not think about medicine. Or read the newspaper/play Sudoku.

 

[humuhumu]

About 30 minutes away. 22 on the Metro and then a short walk. Or sometimes I drive and it only takes 15 minutes. Being closer would be nice, but it just costs so much in the city.

I guess I should be more efficient with studying on the metro. Usually, however, it's the end of the day and I just want to stare blankly ahead and not think about medicine. Or read the newspaper/play Sudoku.

Nothing wrong with a little down time. And I *love* playing sudoku on my PDA...

 

[DoctaJay]

Given the amount of studying you have to put in (at least as an MS1 when you don't know exactly what works best for you) i would say that 4 hours roundtrip communte would destroy my routine. I wouldn't have time to just relax, exercise, etc. I currently live 2 min. walking and 30 secs biking from our lecture hall. It really helps when I need to run home to eat or when I just want to stay home and study because my apartment is just as close as the campus library.

 

[lsumedgirl]

I live on campus, and love it. Even though it's a small place, I can't beat the rent, and I save a ton of money on gas. The building I'm in is about a ten minute walk from the MEB (where we spend most of our first two years, for lectures, gross lab, and clinical skills labs, etc...).

The one thing that is kind of a pain in the butt is having to carry so much crap that far. I have no idea how much my backpack weighs, but it's almost on the verge of making me tip over! That, plus the extra 2-3 books that I have to carry b/c they won't fit in my bag, is a pretty heavy load for that walk. But, I'm getting used to it and I just look at it as good exercise. And it's a covered skywalk, so I never have to worry about getting rained on.

I don't think a two-hour round trip commute will make you fail (sounds like a major over-exaggeration to me); but I personally like being close to school.

 

[8o8o8o8]

25 minute walk. It's perfect as I am about equidistant from the 4 main hospitals we rotate at & i live in center city so I don't need to take cabs to go out at night.

 

[DoctaJay]

25 minute walk. It's perfect as I am about equidistant from the 4 main hospitals we rotate at & i live in center city so I don't need to take cabs to go out at night.

Man, you aren't going to gain any weight in medical school!

 

[randomedstudent]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned it yet, but what about during 3rd/4th years? I cannot imagine if I had an hour commute and had to be at the hospital by 5:00 (or earlier - surgery). I was cursing my 15 minute drive on those days (which were often). And when you are post call and haven't slept in 30+ hours, a commute like that would be out-right dangerous for me. I don't really see the problem for 1st/2nd year, but that will really suck come 3rd year.

 

[Cirrus83]

My physiology lecturer told us on the first day:
"You will fail if you live more than 2 hours away from the campus".

Is this really that crucial? I live about an hour away from the campus - hence 2+ hours wasted. (Traffic just isn't too sexy these days)

You don't live more than 2 hours away, but optimally I'd try to cut that time down to 30 minutes or below.

I live about 15 minutes away (maybe 20 on a bad day), and I'm still jealous of the 5 minute crowd.

 

[Blade28]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned it yet, but what about during 3rd/4th years? I cannot imagine if I had an hour commute and had to be at the hospital by 5:00 (or earlier - surgery). I was cursing my 15 minute drive on those days (which were often). And when you are post call and haven't slept in 30+ hours, a commute like that would be out-right dangerous for me. I don't really see the problem for 1st/2nd year, but that will really suck come 3rd year.

Great point.

You DEFINITELY don't want to live more than 30 minutes away from the hospital during your MS-III year.

 

[virellia]

15 min from home.. so cool as it is the only excercise it get in a day.. other than that brain exercise no wonder i think my brain already grew bigger..

 

[Hurricane95]

I drive for like 45-50 minutes and then take a 18 minute metro ride. Total commute each way = like an hour and 15 minutes or so. If I were to drive the whole 20 miles or so to school and NOT take the train, it would probably take me closer to like an hour and 45 minutes or so, which is too much. Even then this commute sucks, but I make the most of it by relaxing with music and listening to lectures during critical times (pre exams).

Of course these times are during the worst rush hour traffic hours. When I do rotations and have to get to the hospital like at 7am, the drive will be like 35-40 minutes.

 

[maestro1625]

I live across the street... in an on campus place. my room is hardly bigger than my bed, but it works for me. I'll probably find someplace else next year.

 

[LifetimeDoc]

a mile and a half. Your lecturer is just being dramatic, but you certainly will spend a lot more time commuting than I will. If you need the time to let your brain just chill, or you listen to lectures on the road, then it's not bad. It would just be wasted time for me though.

Same here; about a mile and a half from school. During post-bacc I spent an hour on the road (each way, two hours total, both uphill) going to school and I sure as hell wasn't going to repeat that in medical school.

 

[Pontifex Maximus]

5 minutes away. Crucial for me, anyway.

 

[MSKalltheway]

35 min door to door at rush hour, 15-20 minutes if no one is on the road. Should take longer, but I'm from NY, what can I say?

Hurricane, who is that in your avatar?

 

[Hurricane95]

mercedes terrell, a model.

 

[stiffany]

About a three minute walk...ah the joys (and sadness) of the medical student dorm! It's great for rolling out of bed in time for 8am lecture and for going in as necessary outside of lecture, but it'd be nice to get off campus at least a little regularly!

 

[MSKalltheway]

mercedes terrell, a model.

Yet another reason to hurry up and graduate!

 

[randomedstudent]

I drive for like 45-50 minutes and then take a 18 minute metro ride. Total commute each way = like an hour and 15 minutes or so. If I were to drive the whole 20 miles or so to school and NOT take the train, it would probably take me closer to like an hour and 45 minutes or so, which is too much. Even then this commute sucks, but I make the most of it by relaxing with music and listening to lectures during critical times (pre exams).

Of course these times are during the worst rush hour traffic hours. When I do rotations and have to get to the hospital like at 7am, the drive will be like 35-40 minutes.

7 am!!!! Where do you go to school?!? The only rotations where I could come in at 7 or later were psych and family med. I think the latest for all other rotations was 6 and usually closer to 5. Boy am I jealous.