How far would you commute to nursing school?

[SlaveHeart]

I live in a town where there are three nursing schools but two are private schools that cost 30k plus a year and one is a community college with a three year waitlist! There are three community colleges about two hours away and one state university that is two hours away. So would anyone be crazy enough to commute this far for nursing school? Or would you wait the three years for the community college? I just became a CNA and plan to work as one until I get to start school or possibly take an EMT program part time and work or volunteer as an EMT too...

What would you do?

[Elladora]

I did an hour commute (each way) and it was less than ideal. I can't imagine driving 4 hours every day. The worst part (for me) was during clinicals. I had an 8:00 class most days and clinicals ran until 9:00 at night. You get home late, you leave early. It makes for a very long year! There were many nights I thought about staying at a hotel just so I could get two more hours of rest. (Never did though - the budget was too tight while in school).

Good luck to you whatever you decide to do!

[Cali_Nurse_209]

I've been going to the university for 2 semesters and start their BSN program this month and I only commute 25 miles each way. It's not bad.

[peachshan, BSN, RN]

I have been going through this same dilemma. My issue though has been that I would have quit working fulltime to go to the schools near since all are fulltime. The only part time program offered in my state is a hour drive from me. Even though I would only have to be on campus two nights a week, like another poster said I am factoring in clinicals( which would be on the weekends). The other reason I am considering the school is because the school is a BSN program. The school is still in the running but I am going to hate that drive. Good Luck!

[i♥words]

Commuting that far is not ideal at all. I commute 45 minutes (which means I need to leave roughly an hour before class, unless I'm trying to get to an 8 o' clock class, and then I need to leave almost an hour and a half early because of traffic), have done so for two semesters so far, and will most likely be doing for the next three years. I enjoyed it the first semester because I had a lot of time to think and de-stress in the confines of my car, but the second semester was a pain, and at the end of long days I wished I had Scotty to beam me home. If it is your only option (as it was mine), then you can do it, but it cuts a ton of hours out of study time. I'm debating on the possibility of moving before I actually start nursing school, because I know clinicals will make my commute at least a half hour longer both ways.

[itsmejuli]

A couple of things to consider:

Given the current nursing job market there's no rush to finish nursing school.

Avoid student loans.

There are many threads in the forums on these issues.

[Clodhopper]

Where I live there are four nursing colleges, the furthest one being about 40 miles away. When taking prereqs, we students would ask each other about which schools we were applying too. No one I queried was willing to drive to the school that was 40 miles away, even if that was the only one they were accepted to! It is a very good school too.

[nef203]

i am one hour from school... 16 mon program and i have to go there about three days week. Some of the clincial sites (two days) will be a closer commute. I would say two hours is a bit far.

[NayRN]

I commuted 90 miles each way for 14 months for my ADN program. There were four of us who did this, so we carpooled. Our program was 4, sometimes 5, days per week. (This was in the summer of 2008 when gas was over $4 a gallon.) I didn't work, but the others did-full time on the weekends. It's do-able. Depends on how bad you want it. I also found that I got a better clinical experience since I commuted to a larger town with more hospitals. Good luck!

[Reese2012]

The school I will be attending is 2hrs away. But I am going to try to plan it out to go to school three days in a row and the rest of the time commute back home to work on the weekends. My BSN program is only 20 months

[willowita, ADN, RN]

Is moving not possible for you? That's ideally what I would do if I was accepted to a school 2 hours away. It just wouldn't be worth the grief and cost of operating a vehicle for that kind of distance.

[peanutsauce]

I did an hour and a half door-to-door during my BSN. It was far from ideal, and if I would have been financially able to rent in the area my school was, I would have done so in a heartbeat. I was able to take public transit, which meant I was able to study, so I could be productive during my commute. One crucial thing to think about are clinicals. To be on the floor by 6:45AM, I had to be on the train at 5:15, and wouldn't be home until 9PM.

I'd say it depends on what kind of student you are, and how pre-req's have gone. If they were a struggle, I would consider not commuting if possible, or opting to move closer to your dream school. Do you have to work, too?

[PacoUSA, BSN, RN]

My commute to nursing school was 10 minutes each way. I did that on purpose especially for the clinicals, and even then it did not matter because some of my clinicals were at other hospitals and was as much as 30 minutes drive from home. It was nice to just have to be at school almost around the corner, less stress and less gas used.

I recently moved and now my commute to work is 30 minutes each way (hospital is part of my school). Not happy to be driving more, but I really had little options when I moved. Never would I commute an hour one way, that's ridiculously far.