Incoming M1: Advice on housing, commuting, and time demands

[EmDeeAZ]

I'm an incoming M1 at a mid-tier metropolitan school. It's time to start considering housing options if I want an off-campus place. My two main options on-campus or about 35 min public transport commute away. I would be living with slightly cheaper rent and good friends if I commute, and I know other students often live in this area. The commuting option is most comfortable for me, but I'm worried primarily about additional time demands that may be caused by commuting. This ties into a few other questions that may help inform my decision: (1) I'm unsure how much of class is mandatory in-person versus recorded and posted online. This is a specific school, but does anyone have insight into whether recording lectures is standard practice? This would ease the demands of commuting. (2) From your experience, how are time demands during the M1 year? As with presumably many other incoming students, I'm pretty confident in my ability to study efficiently, but med school may be a whole different beast. (3) Would I be missing out on any important experiences from living on-campus? Perhaps the value of greater interaction with med school peers is worth consideration. Thank you for your experience and input!

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[CuriousMDStudent]

It depends on you. I chose to live on campus and I've been in medical school when it was remote and when it was in person. When it was remote, I was kinda miserable because I had a smaller apartment and paying more. But when it came to in person, it paid off. 35 minutes of a commute is a big difference when it comes to early morning required pbl classes. I have 8 am classes a few times a week and there have been so many times where I literally wake up at 7:50 and just run to class. On the other hand, people who need to commute, wake up at 6:30 or 7 to ensure they'll make it on time. It doesn't sound like a big deal but when you've been studying for hours the night before and staying up. It makes a big difference in my opinion. It's up to you honestly though. You gotta think about what kind of person you are.

 

[mrbreakfast]

In my med school there was someone who lived in their home city, which was about 120 miles away, during pre-clinical years. Came to campus only for exams and mandatory in-person things, otherwise stayed at home. An extreme example, but people do stuff like this.

Personally, for clinicals and beyond, living close to campus or wherever you do your rotations is nice. Being at the hospital from 4 am - 6 pm already sucks enough without a long commute.

Also, without knowing anything about the city, relying on public transport to get to campus could be risky.

 

[stickgirl390]

I think you should answer this based on your clinical rotations in M3/M4. Preclinical years are generally very flexible in terms of when you have to be on campus, and there are plenty of mobile study options to make that long commute productive. As @mrbreakfast stated above, it’s common for clinical rotations to start very early in the morning, and waking up at 4am to commute vs 5am might be a dealbreaker depending on the type of person you are.

 

[CuriousMDStudent]

@stickgirl390 makes a good point. Check where your clinical rotation spots are too relative to your location and try to choose a place for 4 years. My apartment is a 5 minute walk from 3 of our major rotation hospitals and it's awesome because I know I won't have to move for the rest of my time at my medical school. Moving really can be super annoying tbh.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

My commute to the hospital for almost all of third year was 20-25 mins. For one rotation I was 3 minutes away. Personally, I didn’t feel like it was that big of a deal. In fact, the 20 min drive home was good time to decompress before I got home, and I didn’t have to wake up significantly earlier to get to work on time.

 

[Cornfed101]

If it’s public transport then you can just smash some Anki on your way to school, that basically makes the commute for preclinical irrelevant