Should I commute 1 hr to dental school or move closer?

[brunetteandtoothy]

Hi everyone.

I currently live 30 minutes away (no traffic) from campus with my parents and 1 hour (with traffic), which is usually how long it takes me to get to school.

I am starting my D2 year and considering moving closer which would make my commute about 12 minutes. Some pros of living at home include free food, no rent, not having to do my own laundry, etc.

I am worried D2 will be really time-consuming and stressful and don't know if moving closer to school would be a smart decision or not.

I would love to hear any thoughts you guys have. Thanks in advance!

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[Pablo Sanchez]

Hi everyone.

I currently live 30 minutes away (no traffic) from campus with my parents and 1 hour (with traffic), which is usually how long it takes me to get to school.

I am starting my D2 year and considering moving closer which would make my commute about 12 minutes. Some pros of living at home include free food, no rent, not having to do my own laundry, etc.

I am worried D2 will be really time-consuming and stressful and don't know if moving closer to school would be a smart decision or not.

I would love to hear any thoughts you guys have. Thanks in advance!

Definitely stay living at home!! I commuted 3 hours per day for all four years of dental school. It is manageable and you will thank yourself in the future when you have a lot less debt which frees up your income so that you can do what you want with it.

 

[OncePreDent]

Definitely stay living at home!! I commuted 3 hours per day for all four years of dental school. It is manageable and you will thank yourself in the future when you have a lot less debt which frees up your income so that you can do what you want with it.

holy cow... Did you feel like you had enough time for studying your first 2 years? Also how many hours of sleep did you average a night?

 

[Pablo Sanchez]

holy cow... Did you feel like you had enough time for studying your first 2 years? Also how many hours of sleep did you average a night?

Yeah I had enough time to study. I mainly used the weekends and nights to do the bulk of my studying, but if time was particularly tight I could study on the train ride into the city.

I probably averaged 6 hours of sleep on school nights? Once again, used weekends to catch up on sleep, too.

But because I was disciplined in living at home and commuting I’ll be set to pay off my student loans ~1.5 years after graduation. Being in my twenties with a full dentist income at my disposal makes the lost sleep during the school years worth it!

 

[brunetteandtoothy]

Definitely stay living at home!! I commuted 3 hours per day for all four years of dental school. It is manageable and you will thank yourself in the future when you have a lot less debt which frees up your income so that you can do what you want with it.

Wowww 3 hours! I feel bad for complaining about my 2 hours now :') Did you ever wake up early to beat the traffic? Was thinking of doing that maybe..

 

[juniordentist]

I'm all for keeping debt low, but sorry, commuting 3 hours a day is so dumb. Who knows how unhealthy you became during that time of poor sleep and commuting stress. You sacrificed your health. Plus, living with your parents for your whole university experience? Kinda lame to be honest. You would have missed out on so much fun and character development.

 

[Pablo Sanchez]

I'm all for keeping debt low, but sorry, commuting 3 hours a day is so dumb. Who knows how unhealthy you became during that time of poor sleep and commuting stress. You sacrificed your health. Plus, living with your parents for your whole university experience? Kinda lame to be honest. You would have missed out on so much fun and character development.

Went away from home for undergrad so I got a great university experience. Healthy as can be. Managed to work out no less than 5 days per week during the whole thing and eat very healthy. What’s lame is everyone in hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt now while I’m not.

 

[Pablo Sanchez]

Wowww 3 hours! I feel bad for complaining about my 2 hours now :') Did you ever wake up early to beat the traffic? Was thinking of doing that maybe..

I took the train for most of the commute so I didn’t have to deal with traffic!

 

[Saddleshoes]

One of my classmates did the 45 mile commute. He turned out fine. He ate better then all of the rest of us!!!

 

[Firik]

If I were you I would live a D2 year closer to campus, then for the rest of the school at home since most of the D3/4 years is in clinic.
Ultimately, the question here is do I want to sleep better or save money. It's a preference.

 

[AONLINE]

I posted this in another thread. I lived 7 minutes away from campus for the first 2.5 years of dental school. I’m glad I did that because I had to stay late in the sim lab very frequently. In 2020 I was a D3 when COVID hit and I moved home to live with my parents. I drove 30 minutes (20 miles) each way every day to school for my entire D4 year. It was ok because I just had clinic so I got out of school by 4:30pm every day. I ate way better in my D4 year living at home (and gained a few pounds because of that but oh well).