Living 35 miles away doable during sa rotating internship?

[DVMdreamcometrue]

I got matched to my #1 choice for SA Rotating Internship. Yay! The location is 35 miles from my parents house. I know given the crazy hours during internship, I should live closer to the hospital to cut down on commute time, and I don't know if I want to drive that far with an exhausted mind and body after a long shift.

But....rent is really expensive in the area plus there are utilities, internet and other expenses. Given the salary of an intern, it's not very economical. If I live at my parents house, I don't need to worry about food or anything else (I can live there practically rent free). I can just go home and crash on my bed.

I can start by living at my parents house and if it really doesn't work out I can look for a place nearby then. But I'm afraid once I start the internship I won't have time or energy to do anything else, not to mention apartment hunting and move.

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[JaynaAli]

Does your program require you to live within a certain area? Have you asked them? Mine had on call duties for emergency surgeries and I needed to be close to the hospital on those nights. They didn’t formally say I had to live within 15 minutes of the hospital, but you were expected to arrive within 20 minutes after they called you in.

I will say that I would have absolutely hated having to drive or take public transportation 35 miles every single day. And in a city, 35 miles could take significantly longer than 35 minutes. Has someone done it before? Yeah I’m sure they have. Would I recommend it if there’s another option? Definitely not. I am absolutely an advocate for saving money but when you’ve worked a 14+ hour intern shift, you’ll appreciate living close. Maybe your parents can send you with enough leftovers on weekends to tide your meals over for the week haha.

 

[nyanko]

living that far away during internship would have only given me more opportunity to fantasize about driving my car off a cliff or rolling into a ditch so i could get a break for once. ha. haha. just kidding, kind of?

 

[stealthoscope]

Does your program require you to live within a certain area? Have you asked them? Mine had on call duties for emergency surgeries and I needed to be close to the hospital on those nights. They didn’t formally say I had to live within 15 minutes of the hospital, but you were expected to arrive within 20 minutes after they called you in.

I will say that I would have absolutely hated having to drive or take public transportation 35 miles every single day. And in a city, 35 miles could take significantly longer than 35 minutes. Has someone done it before? Yeah I’m sure they have. Would I recommend it if there’s another option? Definitely not. I am absolutely an advocate for saving money but when you’ve worked a 14+ hour intern shift, you’ll appreciate living close. Maybe your parents can send you with enough leftovers on weekends to tide your meals over for the week haha.

I 100% agree with this. Find out what the on call requirements are to know whether it’s even feasible.

I would also practice the drive during rush hour and make sure it actually is 35 minutes. If you’re late once because you live far away, people might excuse it. If you’re running late all the time, not so much...

Also find out about parking; my internship had no staff parking so if you drove you would have to pay for a parking garage, so nobody drove (Manhattan)

 

[SocialStigma]

I also had to live within 20 minutes of the clinic when I was on call as a intern. I paid $$$ to live in an apartment that was an 8 min walk from the clinic, but it was worth it. There was no feeling like realizing I was only 8 mins from my bed when leaving after an overnight ER shift on a stat holiday!

 

[DVMdreamcometrue]

Thank you for all your replies. I asked my internship program director and she said that their program has no required on-call time. Woohoo!!!
Although there's still long overnight and swing shifts, that might make living at my parents house a little more doable. But I'll see......