How far from campus do you live?

[noodles.galaznik]

Right now, I live exactly 10 miles away from campus, and traffic is pretty bad sometimes, so it takes about 20-30 minutes no matter the route I take. It's kind of far, but we worked it out so that we were right in between school and my husband's place of work. It's kind of nice living away from school, because it's a very quiet and nice neighborhood we're in! Plus, campus is right next to downtown so a lot of the really close housing can be pretty pricey!

[ktel]

On the flip side, I think there is such a thing as living too close to campus. Several people I know lived right across the street from the engineering buildings, and they said they never wasted so much time in their life. All of a sudden you can go home even if you have a 1 hour break, but the likelihood of you being productive during that time is low. It's also nice to have some sort of separation between your home life and your school/work life.

[TheSquirrel]

On the flip side, I think there is such a thing as living too close to campus. Several people I know lived right across the street from the engineering buildings, and they said they never wasted so much time in their life. All of a sudden you can go home even if you have a 1 hour break, but the likelihood of you being productive during that time is low. It's also nice to have some sort of separation between your home life and your school/work life.

Well, that may be the case, but IMO it's better to waste all that time, than to face the stress/exhaustion of commuting... been there, done that... it's terrible... I live across the street from my department and while I don't deny that I have often not been very productive after coming home, it has helped me a lot sometimes, when I needed a nap or some time off because I was stressed and needed some quiet..

[NYnicole726]

I actually take courses online so ... I am only a few feet away from my "campus" at all times (laptop) OR .... I will frequently login using my iPhone or iPad - so I basically always have my classes in my pocket or at my desk - sometimes even in my bed!

Joking aside... I DO have to travel to the campus 3x throughout my Grad classes for 3-day residencies. The campus is about 3-4 hours away. I am in New York (Long Island) and the campus is upstate (Saratoga Springs) so - travel time depends what time I leave..

7-8AM on a Sunday = 3 hours;

5-6PM on a Monday = (probably close to) 5-6 hours...

[Behavioral]

I live 5.5 miles from campus - a 25 minute bike ride here. Probably longer on the bus or Caltrain. I would love to live closer, but is it worth $300 extra per month to cut that down to 5 minutes? I think not! I am a bit worried about time, but I rode 20 miles a day for work & school for the past 3 years, so it should work out!

I bike (A LOT), and considered moving further out of campus, but coming from California (and moving to Chicago), I want to get acclimated a bit to the new winter before deciding anything so rash

[Just me]

I have to stay in campus housing, which usually is only a super-tiny walk from the housing to the school. I just hated the housing I was stuck in this year because it was an uphill walk in 90-degree or more heat every morning. It wasn't the walking that bothered me - I love walking. But uphill in the heat ensured I was a gross, sweaty mess by the time I took my seat. I actually really liked the housing I was in last year - had my own room and only had to share a bathroom and there was a cafe with (albeit crappy) coffee right in the lobby.

My one classmate is a local - she lives only a few minutes' driving distance away from campus, so why she stayed in housing is way beyond me. Oh well, to each their own.

[nehs]

My commute is the only concern in my grad school life! School is around 12 miles from where i live and the subway train takes me 1.5 hours to get me there(one-way).

[long_time_lurker]

My commute is the only concern in my grad school life! School is around 12 miles from where i live and the subway train takes me 1.5 hours to get me there(one-way).

You'll get used to it, it's not bad! Especially if it's only one train (no changing) then you can get a good chunk of reading done if you can snag a seat.

[nehs]

You'll get used to it, it's not bad! Especially if it's only one train (no changing) then you can get a good chunk of reading done if you can snag a seat.

I hope so too. well, it is 2 trains for me and I do try to read some stuff, not necessarily for school though, on the train

[Behavioral]

Ew, snow! I didn't even apply to any programs in or around snow!

I missed the deadlines to all the good schools in California!! hahaha

[MoJingly]

See, you need to live close enough that you can stop into lab quickly but far enough away that you feel you can escape.

I live about 1.5 miles away, but I have a large yard covered in huge trees, so it kind of feels like a refuge

[Herbie]

I live ~4.5 miles away from the building I need to be at every morning. By car, it's roughly a twenty minute ride. By walking to the T Orange Line, to a bus connection, to walking again, it's about 45 minutes barring any unforeseen travel issues. I can avoid the Green Line in this case. Walking is an hour and a half, and if I decide to only bike, it's a 30 minute commute. I've decided to do the second choice, and will blossom into a biker perhaps in the Spring semester. I'm still terribly unfamiliar with roads not along the T.

I feel I made the best choice (financially and sanity-wise) by not living in Allston/Brighton, because it's much cheaper to rent a room in JP, force myself to meet new roommates, and the community is extremely diverse. I need diversity. That, and I would have to pay out the ass to bring a dog and cat with me, but not so in JP. So yes, because I consider my pets family, I was extremely against moving without them.

Realtor: "Iz it absolootly imperahtiv daht you bring ya dag?"

Coming from Atlanta, I'm not miffed about the commute time. Actually, I'm very excited about learning how to "no-hands" the T while reading a book. Will I be successful? Who knows! I am also working on campus, so I won't be inclined to return immediately home once my classes are over.

[mnturk]

Mine is 13 miles away, but I don't have a car and take public transportation. So it takes me an hour to get there. However, two of the research facilities associated with the school are only a couple stops away, so I'm hoping that my research will take me to either of those.

The reason I live so far without a car is my boyfriend goes to med school an hour's drive away from my school, so we chose a place exactly halfway. I'm also very good at studying while on public transportation, so I don't really mind.

ETA: It's also way nicer than when I lived off the train line, and had to bike an hour to school back in undergrad.

Edited August 4, 2011 by mnturk

[singlecell]

We have a nice data set going on this poll! I am surprised at the percentage of folks who live more than 10 miles away. Not too surprised the majority live within 3 miles.

I ended up taking an apartment 2 miles from my campus, so I am in the majority as well.

[starmaker]

According to Google Maps, I live 7.2 miles from campus, which is an hour on public transit (it requires a 12-minute walk and a transfer between trains, which add on time), and honestly, probably not so very much less by car during heavy traffic hours. At least on the train I can do work or read a book.

The commute isn't fun, but my husband and I have a bunch of constraints on where we can live (one of them being "within a reasonable commute of our actual paying jobs" - I live only 1.65 miles from work).

[newage2012]

I live 38 miles from campus, and take the train every day. This is because I got stuck with the mortgage that my dad made before he passed, and it is hard to sell without a deficiency judgement (i.e. break even), and no extra money for renting somewhere close, even I work part-time on campus plus an external fellowship.

[long_time_lurker]

I don't think that will work in Chicago. Rents are astronomical in Chicago compared to outlying areas.

[eklavya]

2.9 miles, according to google maps. i bike to school, and will continue to do so till it starts snowing. then i'll take a bus (stops 3 blocks from home) and about the same distance from the stop i get off to campus. as someone told in their post, i too prefer to leave my grad student life back in campus when i go home, hence a little distance (but not too far) was what i had in mind while searching for an apt.

[Sigaba]

I've lived right across the street from campus and twelve miles away. The biggest advantages of the former are that one can get to class (or the library) almost before one leaves and one can really get the most out of time between classes. (On especially hot days, a classmate would notice during the afternoon that I'd changed clothes since that morning.)

The biggest advantages of the latter are that the distance requires one to be more focused during campus visits (unless one does not mind sitting in traffic) and that one will have distance from the student body when a flu virus runs through the campus.

Edited August 13, 2011 by Sigaba