Advice on Living at Home or Uni for Graduate (A101) Medicine

I have 3 options at this point
1) Go to St Georges London, live away from home.
Struggle financially but have the massive help of fellow medics around me (and i know having done my undergrad living away from home, i need the motivation sometimes and i'll miss the freedom and constant support 24hr lib etc)
2) Go to Nottingham and commute everyday.
Easier on the wallet, but won't have the "uni life" anymore, loss of independence etc, no chance of getting a parking permit so will have to take the train, and the first 2 years are based at the Royal Derby and not Nottingham University Hospitals
3) Go to Nottingham and live in Nottingham/Derby
Would be "the best of both worlds" except it's using a lot of money I could save on just commuting everyday.

Would really like to hear you opinions on what you would choose in this situation. I think I'm going to miss university life terribly, and that's why I want to live in halls, but the cost is so high (especially given this would be my second degree). Commuting doesn't sound like a horrible option, but I'd like to know how you guys can deal with 1-2hr commutes and whether it's worth the trade off.

Reply 1

mnot

Universities Forum Helper

20

Original post by hopefulklw

I have 3 options at this point
1) Go to St Georges London, live away from home.
Struggle financially but have the massive help of fellow medics around me (and i know having done my undergrad living away from home, i need the motivation sometimes and i'll miss the freedom and constant support 24hr lib etc)
2) Go to Nottingham and commute everyday.
Easier on the wallet, but won't have the "uni life" anymore, loss of independence etc, no chance of getting a parking permit so will have to take the train, and the first 2 years are based at the Royal Derby and not Nottingham University Hospitals
3) Go to Nottingham and live in Nottingham/Derby
Would be "the best of both worlds" except it's using a lot of money I could save on just commuting everyday.

Would really like to hear you opinions on what you would choose in this situation. I think I'm going to miss university life terribly, and that's why I want to live in halls, but the cost is so high (especially given this would be my second degree). Commuting doesn't sound like a horrible option, but I'd like to know how you guys can deal with 1-2hr commutes and whether it's worth the trade off.

I guess this is really how much you value the experience side of uni.

You could potentially live @ uni in Nottingham/Derby for 1 year then live at home and commute the rest of the degree....
TBH if your going to be in the later years of medicine degree your going to be on placement/clinical work quite a lot anyway, yes they'll be opportunities to party etc. but its not gonna be like the first 3 years. I suspect you may at times not like the student atmosphere if you are getting up early for a long shift on a ward...

Reply 2

Liverpool Hope University

Official Rep

19

Original post by hopefulklw

I have 3 options at this point
1) Go to St Georges London, live away from home.
Struggle financially but have the massive help of fellow medics around me (and i know having done my undergrad living away from home, i need the motivation sometimes and i'll miss the freedom and constant support 24hr lib etc)
2) Go to Nottingham and commute everyday.
Easier on the wallet, but won't have the "uni life" anymore, loss of independence etc, no chance of getting a parking permit so will have to take the train, and the first 2 years are based at the Royal Derby and not Nottingham University Hospitals
3) Go to Nottingham and live in Nottingham/Derby
Would be "the best of both worlds" except it's using a lot of money I could save on just commuting everyday.

Would really like to hear you opinions on what you would choose in this situation. I think I'm going to miss university life terribly, and that's why I want to live in halls, but the cost is so high (especially given this would be my second degree). Commuting doesn't sound like a horrible option, but I'd like to know how you guys can deal with 1-2hr commutes and whether it's worth the trade off.

Hi

I would recommend weighing up whether saving money or living away from home is more important to you, as well as where you would rather be studying.

If you are worried about the length of the commute, perhaps try doing the commute at peak travel time (as this is when you would likely be travelling) to get a feel for what the commute would be like and if you would be comfortable doing that every day.

I would also note that, even if you are living at home, this does not necessarily mean that you will be missing out on the student experience. Perhaps, if you do live at home, you could look into joining some clubs or societies as a way of gaining a wider social group outside of your course.

I hope this helps. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.

Best wishes,

Melissa :biggrin:

Reply 3

MilMed2020

8

Original post by hopefulklw

I have 3 options at this point
1) Go to St Georges London, live away from home.
Struggle financially but have the massive help of fellow medics around me (and i know having done my undergrad living away from home, i need the motivation sometimes and i'll miss the freedom and constant support 24hr lib etc)
2) Go to Nottingham and commute everyday.
Easier on the wallet, but won't have the "uni life" anymore, loss of independence etc, no chance of getting a parking permit so will have to take the train, and the first 2 years are based at the Royal Derby and not Nottingham University Hospitals
3) Go to Nottingham and live in Nottingham/Derby
Would be "the best of both worlds" except it's using a lot of money I could save on just commuting everyday.

Would really like to hear you opinions on what you would choose in this situation. I think I'm going to miss university life terribly, and that's why I want to live in halls, but the cost is so high (especially given this would be my second degree). Commuting doesn't sound like a horrible option, but I'd like to know how you guys can deal with 1-2hr commutes and whether it's worth the trade off.

Many graduate medics are in relationships and live with their partners rather than other students, so you certainly wouldn't be alone in not recreating the undergrad life. The workload can be a barrier to that anyway, and some graduate medics take an atittude that they've done all of that, and just get their heads down.

You also might find that "halls" are not available to you, if priority is given to undergrads, so you would potentially be looking at a house share rather than halls, which brings its own considerations. It's possible to put together a group for a house share that's all grad medics, but there's a chance of living with other students whose timetables/attitudes are not in line with yours.

Most grad meds at Nottingham live closer to the Notts campus and 'commute' to Derby for the first two years (there's a hopper bus) and all advice I've been given is that you don't want to live in Derby, there's really nothing going on there.

In my opinion, there's a big difference between a 1 hour commute each way, and a 2 hour commute. It takes me 45 minutes to get from home to work, which I don't even really think about. But if your train is over an hour, and then you have to factor getting from home to the station, and from Nottingham station to the Uni campus, or over to Derby, I think that could be a lot more draining.

If you go to Nottingham, there's nothing stopping you from starting out living at home and commuting, and if you find it too much, moving closer to uni.

Advice on Living at Home or Uni for Graduate (A101) Medicine

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