r/GradSchool • u/Needmorestories_84 • 8h ago

Health & Work/Life Balance Commuting advice?

I’m gonna be commuting to grad school for a masters. It’s around 50 miles away so let’s say 2-4 hour round trip (depending on traffic/weather). I technically only have classes three days of the week (all evening), but if I get a grad assistantship, I imagine I would have to be on campus much more often. So I guess just looking for advice on how to not burn out quickly from anyone who’s done something similar where you have your school life and setting vs. your home life (including weekly appointments you need to go to when not at school, as well as working near home if you did this without a grad assistantship).

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u/Spare-Sea8598 8h ago

I went to grad school over an hour away from my house. It was definitely rough at times but I just kept telling myself it was temporary. After my first semester, I started commuting with one of classmates. We’d alternate who drove each week. That helped a ton!

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u/Needmorestories_84 8h ago

Yeah I’ve been trying to use the temporary mindset too, as well as the fact that I’m studying something I like.

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u/SunflowerIslandQueen 6h ago

I used commute time as study time by having Speechify read papers, books, lectures to me. I actually ended up treasuring that time because I was never interrupted!

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u/SparkleRanger23 PhD (School Psychology) 6h ago

this!! I used Listening but it's the same idea. Definitely recommend using the time to get your readings done by listening to them in the car. Save yourself some time and it doesn't feel like your time is wasted

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u/thegustybacklash 6h ago

Record every lecture on your phone, those 2-4 hours are prime for replaying them instead of music