Commuting to UT

[Guest premed101]

Hey all,

I was wondering if anyone can share their experiences on commuting downtown (approx. 1 hour) while in UT Meds...around what proportion of the class lives at home? Does anyone that stayed at home really regret it? Is there enough time to study, go out to Meds events in the evening / get involved etc? Any insights would be great...

[Guest scrubbed]

Hi there,

 

I'll quickly defer to someone that lived at home this year, but as I imagine that you would like some feedback sooner rather than later, I'll give you my take, having friends that did commute from home.

 

I would roughly estimate that 15-20% of the class lived at home this year. I didn't hear anyone say that he or shes largely regretted living at home, though, of course, he or she may not have told me.

 

In terms of events, it does depend somewhat on what you want to do. Many of the club meetings and speakers are either at lunch or shortly after classes end (5-7 or 8), and use free food as an enticement strategy!

 

The only weekday event that goes later is intramural sports, which typically end at 10 or 11.

 

Coming in on the weekend is generally not required, though the anatomy labs are open on the weekend before an exam. To some extent, it may restrict your ability study in a group, if, say, the group goes later or studies during the weekend.

 

I think, too, that a large part of whether living at home will be a good decision is personal.

 

Some relevant questions that I can think of:

 

Have you lived at home and gone to school prevoiusly? How did you feel it went?

 

How would you feel waking up consistently for 8 am starts (M-F until February)?

 

Do you feel that you could study effectively at home?

 

Could you do some work while commuting?

 

How much support would you get at home? For example, you could make up some of your time communting compared to someone living downtown if you didn't have to do "home maintenance" things such as cooking, laundary, etc.

 

How much would you appreciate the increased peronal freedom of living away from home?

 

For the financial perspective, using a TTC pass ($80-90) and a rent of $900 for my calculation, excluding costs such as furnishing a place, living at home for 9 months would save you $7200, excluding whatever you value the time of your commute to be worth.

 

Anyway, living at home is definitely an option. It may place some restrictions on what you can do, though you still will have plently of opportunity to be involved with class events. If you can use your time effectively, I don't feel your specific situation, as opposed to the material itself, will prevent you from doing well.