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Hey TLS,
I dont see many articles ever talking about students commuting to law schools. I know law school isn't like undergrad where everyone lives in close knit dorms, but it seems the majority of students live on campus of some sort. I live about 15 minutes outside of Philadelphia in New Jersey and if I were to get into UPenn, I am thinking I will be commuting. Does anyone see any disadvatange with commuting to law school?
Does the social factor of law school (study groups, bar scene after class, living near classmates) take a hit when commuting?

I have a similar setup and it's fine. Just make sure you turn up when your classmates are raging in the city and you'll be good. Law students only bond over their shared trait of severe alcoholism. The studying is ancillary.

15 minutes is nothing.

Desert Fox wrote:15 minutes is nothing.

This. I commuted between 45 mins. - 1 hr, and it was totally fine.

Mind you, I'm married and older wasn't particularly interested in what you call the social factor of law school, so, no, I didn't turn around and drive back to school at 10 pm to go out to the local bars with people on the weekends. But I certainly wasn't excluded from doing that if I'd wanted to. I suspect a lot of people at UPenn will live off campus, all over the place.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:

Desert Fox wrote:15 minutes is nothing.

This. I commuted between 45 mins. - 1 hr, and it was totally fine.

Mind you, I'm married and older wasn't particularly interested in what you call the social factor of law school, so, no, I didn't turn around and drive back to school at 10 pm to go out to the local bars with people on the weekends. But I certainly wasn't excluded from doing that if I'd wanted to. I suspect a lot of people at UPenn will live off campus, all over the place.

Yea at Northwestern, people live all around the north side of the city. 15 minutes is considered close.

The only thing that is limiting is that you can't really go out drinking since you have to drive home.

Desert Fox wrote:The only thing that is limiting is that you can't really go out drinking since you have to drive home.

False, just do PATCO to taxi to home.

This is reassuring for sure. Im positive most would agree that a 15-20 min commute is worth saving the 12-15k COL per year.

I'm a 0L starting in the fall, but 15-20 minutes seems like NBD. It's going to take me anywhere from 30-50 minutes to get to school depending on traffic (even though it's only 20 miles.)

15 minutes is approximately next door, not a commute. I lived 40 miles from school and it took a minimum of 40 minutes to get there, usually an hour or so. In morning traffic, it could take 90 minutes easy.

What is a 15 minute commute?



To answer your question, the people that actually do commute generally get to class and bolt out shortly after in order to beat 5pm traffic. Thus, less time to socialize in the commons area, stay for study groups, go drinking downtown etc...

Also, a lot of the people who live in the suburbs have families and would not be doing those things anyway.

Devlin wrote:What is a 15 minute commute?



To answer your question, the people that actually do commute generally get to class and bolt out shortly after in order to beat 5pm traffic. Thus, less time to socialize in the commons area, stay for study groups, go drinking downtown etc...

Also, a lot of the people who live in the suburbs have families and would not be doing those things anyway.

Why wouldn't you just stay on campus to do all of those after class and then head home once rush hour passes?

Devlin wrote:What is a 15 minute commute?



To answer your question, the people that actually do commute generally get to class and bolt out shortly after in order to beat 5pm traffic. Thus, less time to socialize in the commons area, stay for study groups, go drinking downtown etc...

Also, a lot of the people who live in the suburbs have families and would not be doing those things anyway.

When I had a 25 minute commute, I'd stick around more because I was too lazy to walk home.

goldenboy514 wrote:Hey TLS,
I dont see many articles ever talking about students commuting to law schools. I know law school isn't like undergrad where everyone lives in close knit dorms, but it seems the majority of students live on campus of some sort. I live about 15 minutes outside of Philadelphia in New Jersey and if I were to get into UPenn, I am thinking I will be commuting. Does anyone see any disadvatange with commuting to law school?
Does the social factor of law school (study groups, bar scene after class, living near classmates) take a hit when commuting?

I'm going to have a 90 minute commute from my home to school. I'm 33, have a family, and I'm also not really interested in the whole Bar Review/heavy drinking scene anyway. I plan to my commute time to learn Spanish and perhaps get some audio study guides for class. (Speaking of which does can anyone recommend a good one?)

A. Nony Mouse wrote:

Desert Fox wrote:15 minutes is nothing.

This. I commuted between 45 mins. - 1 hr, and it was totally fine.

Mind you, I'm married and older wasn't particularly interested in what you call the social factor of law school, so, no, I didn't turn around and drive back to school at 10 pm to go out to the local bars with people on the weekends. But I certainly wasn't excluded from doing that if I'd wanted to. I suspect a lot of people at UPenn will live off campus, all over the place.

Was this socially awkward at all? I'll be 30 when I start law school, and while I might turn up at the occasional happy hour for a drink, I anticipate wanting to spend time with the wife at night/on the weekends instead of recreating undergrad by pounding shots in a shitty bar. Not looking down on that scene...I was there myself when I was 22-24. Just don't want to feel compelled to dive back in. Still, no one wants to seem like the class curmudgeon.

TheSpanishMain wrote:

A. Nony Mouse wrote:

Desert Fox wrote:15 minutes is nothing.

This. I commuted between 45 mins. - 1 hr, and it was totally fine.

Mind you, I'm married and older wasn't particularly interested in what you call the social factor of law school, so, no, I didn't turn around and drive back to school at 10 pm to go out to the local bars with people on the weekends. But I certainly wasn't excluded from doing that if I'd wanted to. I suspect a lot of people at UPenn will live off campus, all over the place.

Was this socially awkward at all? I'll be 30 when I start law school, and while I might turn up at the occasional happy hour for a drink, I anticipate wanting to spend time with the wife at night/on the weekends instead of recreating undergrad by pounding shots in a shitty bar. Not looking down on that scene...I was there myself when I was 22-24. Just don't want to feel compelled to dive back in. Still, no one wants to seem like the class curmudgeon.

Naw. I mean, I'm not the world's most social person, so my aspirations aren't very high, but it was fine. There were a lot of people at my school who also commuted from the city where I lived (or from other local towns), and a fair amount of married students, so while I wasn't really part of the immediate law school bar scene, lots of other people weren't either and no one held it against you (also, while that "recreating undergrad" social scene was there, it wasn't the only social scene). The occasional happy hour drink/after class social thing was sufficient. I got to know people most through extracurricular stuff - moot court, law review, other student group stuff (also through doing a clinic, though that was a class). I was by no means the center of the social scene, but I wasn't a pariah. (Also, I actually really really liked that my social life didn't depend on law school.)

If you're heading somewhere with very very very few non-trads and/or married students and/or commuters, your experience might be slightly different, though I still don't think it would have to be a problem.

I'm 60-90 miles away from the law schools in which I plan to apply. I'm a married woman without children, but due to my husband's job, we don't anticipate moving closer for me to attend law school next year.

Would it make sense to rent an apartment / room for the weekdays? Has anyone heard of commuters doing this?

crg0097 wrote:I'm 60-90 miles away from the law schools in which I plan to apply. I'm a married woman without children, but due to my husband's job, we don't anticipate moving closer for me to attend law school next year.

Would it make sense to rent an apartment / room for the weekdays? Has anyone heard of commuters doing this?

If I get into my top choice, I'll be doing something similar. I'd get a small apartment near school (basically just a place to eat, sleep and study), and my wife would be living about 200 miles away, close to her job in the city where I plan to end up working. I'd plan on coming home most weekends when possible. Pretty much the same thing that we did when I went to grad school, except we were 3,000 miles apart then.

I do 30-40 minutes each day depending on traffic.

It's fine.

That said, I kinda wish I'd lived closer, just to give myself an extra half hour of sleep/alcohol/reading/etc. per day.

crg0097 wrote:I'm 60-90 miles away from the law schools in which I plan to apply. I'm a married woman without children, but due to my husband's job, we don't anticipate moving closer for me to attend law school next year.

Would it make sense to rent an apartment / room for the weekdays? Has anyone heard of commuters doing this?

A lot of people at my law school commute 60 miles a day... each way. They took the train 1L and studied on it, to save time at home. Then they just tried to only come to school two or three days a week the other 2 years.

A few of them did move down here on weekdays. They seemed just as unhappy as the people who commuted. While they gained time every day, they lost out on even more family time by not going home.

Personally, I think long distance is asking for trouble if there is any way to avoid it... or if you have done it before and you know for a fact it can work for you.

Desert Fox wrote:

Devlin wrote:What is a 15 minute commute?



To answer your question, the people that actually do commute generally get to class and bolt out shortly after in order to beat 5pm traffic. Thus, less time to socialize in the commons area, stay for study groups, go drinking downtown etc...

Also, a lot of the people who live in the suburbs have families and would not be doing those things anyway.

When I had a 25 minute commute, I'd stick around more because I was too lazy to walk home.

I'm hoping to be in Chicago next fall (fingers crossed) and my folks live in the burbs. Would you recommend moving to the North Side and taking the brown or red line to class everyday or saving the COL and just living at home? I've been at home since graduating in May and working in the city. Insanity is ensuing already. Idk how I could do three years of law school with my mother asking me if I studied enough for contracts during the week.

crg0097 wrote:I'm 60-90 miles away from the law schools in which I plan to apply. I'm a married woman without children, but due to my husband's job, we don't anticipate moving closer for me to attend law school next year.

Would it make sense to rent an apartment / room for the weekdays? Has anyone heard of commuters doing this?

It might make sense. If your law school is in a large city, you can play it by ear: start out commuting and then look into shorter term rentals/renting a room/signing a lease with plans to look for a subletter later.

IAFG wrote:

crg0097 wrote:I'm 60-90 miles away from the law schools in which I plan to apply. I'm a married woman without children, but due to my husband's job, we don't anticipate moving closer for me to attend law school next year.

Would it make sense to rent an apartment / room for the weekdays? Has anyone heard of commuters doing this?

It might make sense. If your law school is in a large city, you can play it by ear: start out commuting and then look into shorter term rentals/renting a room/signing a lease with plans to look for a subletter later.

Under over on how long she discovers her husband doesn't appreciate here new career path, and isn't supportive, and her sectionmate moves into her new apartment? I say Dec 1.

Desert Fox wrote:

IAFG wrote:

crg0097 wrote:I'm 60-90 miles away from the law schools in which I plan to apply. I'm a married woman without children, but due to my husband's job, we don't anticipate moving closer for me to attend law school next year.

Would it make sense to rent an apartment / room for the weekdays? Has anyone heard of commuters doing this?

It might make sense. If your law school is in a large city, you can play it by ear: start out commuting and then look into shorter term rentals/renting a room/signing a lease with plans to look for a subletter later.

Under over on how long she discovers her husband doesn't appreciate here new career path, and isn't supportive, and her sectionmate moves into her new apartment? I say Dec 1.

Which is the DF way of saying:

spleenworship wrote: Personally, I think long distance is asking for trouble if there is any way to avoid it... or if you have done it before and you know for a fact it can work for you.

ETA: March 15th, DF. I'll take 3/15

John Winger wrote:

Desert Fox wrote:

Devlin wrote:What is a 15 minute commute?



To answer your question, the people that actually do commute generally get to class and bolt out shortly after in order to beat 5pm traffic. Thus, less time to socialize in the commons area, stay for study groups, go drinking downtown etc...

Also, a lot of the people who live in the suburbs have families and would not be doing those things anyway.

When I had a 25 minute commute, I'd stick around more because I was too lazy to walk home.

I'm hoping to be in Chicago next fall (fingers crossed) and my folks live in the burbs. Would you recommend moving to the North Side and taking the brown or red line to class everyday or saving the COL and just living at home? I've been at home since graduating in May and working in the city. Insanity is ensuing already. Idk how I could do three years of law school with my mother asking me if I studied enough for contracts during the week.

If I were you I would worry about saving money as a 2L and 3L.

spleenworship wrote:

Desert Fox wrote:

IAFG wrote:

crg0097 wrote:I'm 60-90 miles away from the law schools in which I plan to apply. I'm a married woman without children, but due to my husband's job, we don't anticipate moving closer for me to attend law school next year.

Would it make sense to rent an apartment / room for the weekdays? Has anyone heard of commuters doing this?

It might make sense. If your law school is in a large city, you can play it by ear: start out commuting and then look into shorter term rentals/renting a room/signing a lease with plans to look for a subletter later.

Under over on how long she discovers her husband doesn't appreciate here new career path, and isn't supportive, and her sectionmate moves into her new apartment? I say Dec 1.

Which is the DF way of saying:

spleenworship wrote: Personally, I think long distance is asking for trouble if there is any way to avoid it... or if you have done it before and you know for a fact it can work for you.

ETA: March 15th, DF. I'll take 3/15

My husband is a professional jazz musician. Needless to say, he's very enthusiastic about my career choice.

I do understand your points... being an [overly attached] newlywed, I have concerns with the long-distance thing myself. I'm curious if anyone else on here has done it and is willing to share how the distance effected their relationship. My husband and I have come to the conclusion that I'm going to be extremely busy studying anyway... unfortunately, that means less sandwiches for him.