Commuting to Campus

[northstar22]

If I end up at the University of Minnesota for my Ph.D. (unlikely) I would just do the 80-mile drive from where I live now instead of moving to Minneapolis. My three main reasons for that are the astronomical cost of living in Minneapolis, my friends / church / social life are all around here, and the fact that I just plain hate big cities. I'm in the social sciences, so it's not like I'd need to be on campus every day, and I've commuted 60 miles before as an undergrad, so I'd be more than used to it. Plus, I just love driving.

However, if gas prices get back above $4 per gallon, it would make the commute cost prohibitive. I might scratch the U of Minnesota off my list for that reason (which is a shame, because it's a really good program).

Edited September 26, 2011 by northstar22

[butterfingers2010]

I lived at home when I was an undergrad and commuted about 20 minutes to campus every day. I didn't mind the drive at all, especially since it meant that I saved TONs of money on rent and thus, did not have nearly as much debt as I would have had I rented an apartment. In your situation it sounds like you would save a lot of money, too, so that is a definite plus.

I do have to say that there were times when this was inconvenient. A few semesters I had classes schedule very far apart in the day. One semester I had a class at 8 AM and did not have another class until 4 PM. I could not avoid this due to their only being one section of each class. So my choices were to either stay at school all day (which is nice because it forces you to study, but gets boring after awhile) or spend 80 minutes driving back and forth twice! As far as my campus experience goes, I don't think it made too much of a difference. I still made friends, but I did have to make a point to drive back to campus on the nights/evenings to hang out with them. It was fine, but I definitely put a lot of miles on my car and spent a ton on gas money. I think that if you do decide to do this, you are sacrificing convenience for a healthier budget, which you already acknowledged. I would say go for it, because when you are living on a student's income/lack of you have to do everything you can to stretch your dollars!

[ktel]

A 20 minute commute? Wow. It actually takes at least 20 minutes to walk across the main downtown campus here. I think everybody just compares to what they're used to. For me an hour is not even that bad.

[butterfingers2010]

An hour? Good grief! I may be in that situation next year though, as I am applying to a small school about an hour away from here and I don't think I'm willing to move there for grad school. I am a city girl at heart, plus there's no jobs there and I need some sort of income! I live in Wisconsin so that will be interesting with the snow, but you have to do what you have to do I guess.

[ktel]

I couldn't even get a short commute if I wanted. My department is located 45-60 minutes away from the main campus (depending on whether you take transit or drive and the time of day) and I have to be there for classes and research, and at main campus for rugby practice at least 3 times a week. Even those who live on or very close to the main campus are looking at a 20 minute walk.

[Behavioral]

You have my respect for being a rugged engineering grad student, ktel

[PsychGirl1]

I just started grad school this fall and I have a long commute- about a 15-20 minute drive to the commuter rail, then a 35-45 minute train into the city, then about 10 min of walking, depending where I'm going. With having to coordinate with train schedules and depending where I'm going in the city, my commute can take anywhere from 1-2 hours. I'm not used to a long commute at all, and I think a train commute is easier in some ways (can relax and study on the train, for example, so it's not lost time), it's also harder in the sense that you have to plan around the train schedule, worry about missing your train, etc. I've never really commuted to college or my jobs (lived in the city and had probably had 15-30 minute commutes to my job, and I lived on campus in undergrad), so this is pretty new to me.

Pros: I have a lot more focus in getting my reading, homework, emails, studying, etc. done. I spend a lot less money going out and eating/drinking/socializing/wasting time. I feel more mature and I have less to worry about (where to park my car, moving my car for street cleaning, money, etc.).

Cons: I feel like I've been missing out on some socializing and bonding. It makes going to events/parties more difficult, and I have to worry about where to park in the city, how many drinks I can have and safely drive, etc. It also can be tiring- if I have class 9-12 and a meeting at 6, then I know I have to stay on campus literally from 9-7. Add in my commute, suddenly you're talking about 7am-9pm day without going home or anything like that. I feel like it also makes me lazy with going into lab on off-days where I don't have to be downtown for any other reason, and don't have anything special to do in lab that I can't do at home = lose face time with my PI. The commute does tire me out a bit too.

Overall, I think you just have to decide what is best for your situation. For me, saving money was heavily heavily heavily weighted in my decision, so most of the cons I just decided to suck up for a year or two. If at this stage in your life, you expect/want long hours in lab, or more of a social life, then commuting probably isn't the best choice.