Commuting--How far is too far?

[sd45]

Question:  How far would you/do you commute to school? 

Looking ahead, I applied to some close-ish schools.  If I am accepted into one of the programs (I hope) I am contemplating commuting rather than moving closer.  A few schools are just a few minutes over an hour away according to mapquest.  However, I am worried with traffic it will be longer.  I do not want to have to leave my house at 6AM everyday and not get home until late at night to have to wake up and do it all again the next day.  What is the typical grad school schedule?  How far is too far?  Any input will be helpful!

Thank you

[rising_star]

How far is too far is really person-dependent. I hate driving so driving an hour each way would make me miserable. By comparison, my brother does that every day and doesn't mind it.

Whether or not there will be traffic depends on a lot of things. Typically, if you're going out of a major city to a smaller area in the morning, then there will be less traffic.

[jmk]

I live in the Bay Area, CA, as do my parents. For undergrad, I currently commute 50 minutes into the city by train, then have a 10 minute bus ride. I like the train over driving due to the fact that I can study, and the time passes quickly. Some days it is a pain, but the amount of $$ saved will be about 15k a year on housing. I have established friends, so socialization is not a problem. I plan my time wisely with my commute, and squeeze in plenty of observation, clubs, and volunteering with my schedule. Convenience factor? Not always. Early mornings? One day a week. Money saved? To me, it is worth it. I will have no loans from undergrad. 

For grad, I would be willing to commute up to 1.5 hours away by car or public transit to save on housing costs. I will be taking out loans for grad school, and want to keep the costs down as much as possible. I have also looked into programs with lower cost of living than the Bay Area, and good public transit systems (Portland, Seattle). 

Edited November 4, 2015 by jmk

[jpiccolo]

I know some people in my program did it briefly during summer term who were up to an hour away. And when I visited northern Illinois a good number of them said they commute. If you can, I would check out current class scheduled for those schools. My classes are all at 8:30 but the clinic opens at 8 am so you could get scheduled for then and that might be tough. One lady in my program had a teenager but she lives up by school during the week and heads home an hour away on the weekends. It sucks on Mondays but I know she'd hate to do that daily. I think if it's substantially cheaper, consider it. Otherwise I personally wouldn't want to deal with a long drive several times a day on top of studying. If you're riding a train at least you could study. 

[curly_girl]

For me it depends a lot on how I am commuting. 

Public Transport: 1 hour, maybe up to 1.5 hours

Driving: Preferably no more than 15 minutes, up to 30 in unusual traffic.

I should also note that I am single with no kids and have no reason not to move closer to school. I don't like driving, so spending more than an hour a day doing so would severely impact my happiness with my choice in grad schools/ not moving. I really don't mind public transport, or sitting in a car if someone else is driving. When I studied abroad, my commute was minimum 45 minutes on public transport plus 15 minutes of walking. I regularly did this leaving at 6:30 in the morning and standing the majority of the trip. I would still rather do that than drive 45 minutes every day.

 

Also, you can look up directions at the time you think you would leave for school for a couple days to give you an estimate of how long it will take. 

[TakeruK]

In undergrad, my commute was 1.5 hours each way, by public transit. It sucked but worth the money I saved by being able to live at home. It meant that my summer and part time work all went towards paying tuition and I graduated with no debt and a decent amount of savings. The weather there was temperate, but a lot of rain, so as long as I had good raingear, it wasn't so bad.

For a PhD program, I think it's possible to live much further away. I had a friend that commuted about 1.5 hours by car to get to work, including a border crossing from the US into Canada. They worked four 10-hour days instead of five 8-hour days, picking days so that they are around the department for important things like seminars. Depending on how flexible your program is, you may or may not be able to arrange your meetings and TA commitments to be only 4 days a week (or maybe even 3). I think near the end of my friend's program, they were able to come in only 3 days a week on some days. I would think the first year would be very difficult to operate under a reduced schedule though, because of classes and because you want to be physically present to create good relationships and collegiality. But after that, you can reduce your presence. Some people may just telecommute every day, depending on the nature of their work.

Edit: Oops, I just realised that this is for a SLP program, which may be a lot less flexible than research PhD programs. Sorry if that was not helpful after all

Edited November 5, 2015 by TakeruK

[SLPosteriorCricoarytenoid]

I'm a current graduate student, and I would estimate that around half of my cohort commutes. One person even drives two hours each way. I have a 40 minute commute, which I find annoying.  Grad school schedules differ from undergrad in a few ways (in my experience, maybe all are not like this). Each of my classes are 2-3 hours long (depending if 2 or 3 credit class) and meet once a week. I have clinic on top of that as well. I am also a graduate assistant for 10 hours each week. I usually find myself on campus from around 9am until 5pm (at minimum). I personally don't like dealing with a drive after mentally exhausting days (most days), but the money I save by living at home is worth it.