How far as too far to drive to college? how far would you drive ?

Saved_by_Grace · Aug 12, 2004

right now i will be driving 50 miles one way , and it takes me right at an hour each way. 5 days a week.in september i will be moving even further away from the school, and i will be driving 75 miles one way to the school and 90 miles to my clinical site. i also have 3 small children to get to school, daycare, etc. but i look at it like this, it's either drive a long way, or stay on the waiting list around here for 2-3 years. the school i am attending is in another state and admission was on entrance testing scores and i did well enough to get in w/ no wait time. it's not going to be a picnic, but will pay off for me in the long run. and moving towards the school is not an option. i feel sacrifices are necessary to obtain my goal:)

Chevelle · Aug 12, 2004

I am going to be driving about 40 minutes to school and around a hour or so to each of my clinical sites. I am in school 5 days a week and I live in Upstate NY where the weather changes every five minutes and snow falls by the foot. The weather alone between November and April will turn my one hour drive into two somedays...but I do it because I want to go to this school and I want to be a nurse. It is only for a short time period and I am not sure where you live. My only question is you mentioned driving two days a week for class-that is a great idea in my opinion but don't forget you have to have clinicals also..will they be on different days?

If you have the ambition then go for it! Maybe when you get there you may find someone from where you are (since it is the closest nursing school) and you can commute together.

Good luck!

LPNtoBSNstudent, BSN, RN · Aug 12, 2004

I drive an hour and a half to get to class. I do this 4 days per week. I have been doing this for 3 full semesters, with some time during 2 summers too. I am thinking of applying to their master degree program and do it another couple years.

Clinicals have worked out (occasionally) to be a little closer, because the school really tries to put us nearer to our homes, but not always. There have been times I've had to drive farther than I would have to the school. I would NOT recommend taping your lectures to listen to them in the car, especially not in the evening because it will can put you to sleep. I mean when you have to leave the house at 0630 for a class that starts at 0800, that puts you getting up at 5-or 5:30am..I get tired, especially after thinking all day.

I listen to books on tape, (but only very interesting ones) which is a nice way to 'think about something else' and give me my 'me' time.

The biggest problem that I have is that if clinicals are real early, the daycare is not open by the time I need to leave...and same thing about coming home. It is a long way but if you want it bad enough, you learn to just be very efficient with your time.

Definately is a problem with 3 hours per day cutting in to my study time...once I figured out to quit studying the stuff I already knew and worry about the stuff that I didn't, I was able to cut back a lot. (no idea why I did that, but I noticed a lot of other people do the same thing...keep going over the stuff they already knew)

Another thing that really helped keep me from being so exhausted in the evening drive was during lunch I would go running instead of sitting in the lounge. I mean, I was sitting so much, driving and classroom, I got hemorrhoids! And going for a run was a nice break from sitting so long and got me moving. And if you think that you will need to study during lunch, well, personally, running kept my mind more 'on' than more studying between lectures. But that is just me.

It is a big worry when the weather is bad and stuff. There have been a few times that I have had trouble with my car, and I definately recommend getting AAA if you don't already have it, plus a cell phone...oh and put an extra key hidden in one of those boxes under your car, and bring jumper cables. All these things have been a big help to me!! When you leave the house and it is still dark and get to the school in blinding sunlight, the last thing you think about are your headlights! Plus I've locked my keys in the car a few times, and once even totally LOST my keys somewhere in the school.

Another thing I've found is that I get so sick of getting gas. I am just too darn sick of being in the car by the time I get back in town to get gas...I rush home and think, "oh I'll just get it in the morning" and then I am rushing around in the morning, wishing I would have gotten it the night before. Plus the expense of gas sucks. But before I started school I bought a ford escort just for the commute which is pretty good on gas, I always keep the SUV at home. also keep in mind that you might have to leave even earlier because in the morning I have to have caffeine and then that leads me to need to stop on the way to pee!

Good luck, pm me with what you decide to do, I'm curious. I have one more semester. One thing about it is that I am 'well read' just by listening to audiobooks. You won't have time to read for pleasure during nursing school, any time you crack a book it will have to do with nursing. Similar to the story that someone wrote about the woman falling asleep with her nursing text in the bathtub, I was laying on my back in bed one night, reading my heavy as h*ll med surg book and I fell alseep. Luckily I woke up before the darn thing totally cut of my airway, it fell on my neck!!! I thought I was getting strangled.

Maggie in NC · Aug 12, 2004

I am driving an hour and a half to school for ONE class I can't get at my local community college! Is it worth it? Heck yeah! I used to drive 93 miles one way to work before being laid off.

I don't think its too far but, it's YOUR decision. You do spend ALOT of in the car so be prepared for that, it can get REALLY old if you don't tape lectures or listen to books on tape. Also, Mapquest is not alway accurate. If you haven't actually taken the drive, you should. It could be shorter or longer and the road may be worse or better than you imagined. Good luck to you.

mariedoreen · Aug 12, 2004

in all honesty that is way too long of a drive.

actually, with all due respect, whether or not it's too long of a drive is completely relative. i made that drive for a year (and sometimes due to ice and snow it was longer) while doing my pre-reqs and this year for nursing school i will be driving at least an hour in one direction to another college. this seems like too long of a drive to someone who doesn't have to do it and yes, i'll be honest, that if i had a choice i certainly wouldn't choose to get up before the rooster's even thought about crowing to drive to school but... for some of us what's the alternative? you don't get an education? you don't become a nurse? it didn't become old in a month, or two months or even six because it was all about obtaining my goal and each time i made that drive i was that much closer. so in answer to the question of "is this too long of a drive?" the answer is, "what are your alternatives? if you don't make this drive, what happens to your goals? is that okay with you? after all sometimes goals do have to be altered..."

in actuality though the op can only answer this question for herself.

RedSox33RN · Aug 12, 2004

My drive is over an hour, without traffic. Since I'm travelling from the boondocks to the city, I'll be dealing with traffic also, come September. But like someone said, it is relative. I have no other choice. The nearest nursing schools ARE an hour away from where I live. Moving? I have 4 kids, so I can't. The only thing I did was make sure I did as many pre-req's as I could beforehand, so as to limit the amount of time I spent travelling to school. I'll be going 4 days a week, 1 of those days at a clinical site in the same city, but the other 3 days are only for a few hours each day.

txspadequeenRN, BSN, RN · Aug 12, 2004

My thought is if you get in then DO IT!! It is so hard to get into nursing school these days. If you dont want to put thoses miles on your car get a el cheapo rental!!! That is what I was going to do but I changed schools.:)

CrystalRose25 · Aug 12, 2004

If this is the school you want to attend then this is not to far... I just recently graduated this Aug. The nursing program that I got into was 54 miles away so I know that this can be done... Plus there is down time for you to do alot of thinking and and just winding down before you get home ... I did have concerns about the weather and yes there were icy roads and lots of rain but driving is driving even if it is just a little bit further away so you do what you think is right and you will be the one to benefit..

Agnus · Aug 12, 2004

I want to go to this college so bad and I can't move there because I have a family so moving is not an option for me.I use mapquest to map directions to a college.The drive is 74.82 miles and an hour twenty nine minutes to the college so I will be on the road three hours everyday. I thought it is a waste of my time if I go college and I'm too tired to study when I get home. The only solution I can find is having all my classes on two days. What do ya'll think? I appreciate your time and advice.

The question is not how far is too far to drive. The real question is how much do you want this and what are you willing to do to get it. I went to school where some of our students lived in very isolated towns far from any school. They wanted to be nurses and they drove the 100+ miles every day to our community college and got thier degree.

If you find it a "waist of your time," IT IS.

purplemania, BSN, RN · Aug 12, 2004

In Texas that is not considered "too far". However, I like your idea of restricting the drive to two days. You could go early or stay late at school to study. One hour of uninterrupted study time was worth 2-3 at home with kids and home responsibilities for me. You could use the driving time to listen to taped lectures. I used to study out loud, record my musings, then listen to them later. You might even find a travel buddy, even if for only part of the distance, with whom you can study on the way.

CNMtobe2012 · Aug 12, 2004

Like most of the other poster have said, it all dependenes on how bad you want it. The first school I attended was about 1 hour and 15 minutes one way. I made this commute 5 days a week and for me as time past the commute became easier. What was an hour and 15 minute commute begain to feel like 30 minute. During my commute I would literally talk to myself :rolleyes: reviewing material out loud going over and over concepts (this was great on test days). I also listen to taped lectures but only when I was alert. I recently applied and was accepted into two BSN programs. One university is about a half an hour away and the other is about hour. I choose the school that is further away because although the commute will be longer this university had a better nursing program. You can do it if you feel it is worth it.:)