I had an interview recently and i'll hear back soon about it. The problem is that it would be around 1h15m commute from where I will be living with my partner. Is it still worth it? It would be for at least a year (but probably 2) until my partner's situation changes.

What do you guys think? I'd also love to hear from anyone who is doing a similar thing currently. Cheers.

That's quite a normal commute in some areas of the UK. I did it whilst working for about 2 years, and then I got fed up and moved 5 minutes drive away from the office instead.

It's not ideal, but it's manageable, especially earlier on in the PhD when you will probably work shorter hours anyway. And if your PhD isn't lab-based, you will be able to work from home some days.

I think you'll be fine as long as your supervisor is a decent person and knows that you live further away and are being productive even when not at university.

My commute to uni is a 4.5 hour round trip, but I'm not required to be there every day. I did hope originally that the travel time could be used productively, but it hasn't really worked out that way due to busy/noisy trains, having a change of train and so on. I only go into uni about once a week. It's definitely worth speaking to your supervisor and reaching some kind of agreement about how often you'll be there.

OK thanks for your help guys :)

Was wondering the exact thing, except I was afraid 30-45 mins away would be too far, especially the first year when you want to "get familiar" with everything and everyone in the department. The upside of living in a "commuter town" as they call them is that I can knock £100-200 off rent :P

My university is 45 minutes away from me. I live in South Florida, where public transportation is practically non-existent. I did have to walk to take a bus to a train to a shuttle to get to campus a few times when my car was in the shop--it took nearly 3 hours each way!

Luckily, my program has an online component, so I only had to drive down once or twice a week while I was still taking classes (about 2.5 years). I liked to leave early to avoid traffic (grad classes are typically 6pm-9pm). So, I would head down around a few hours beforehand, use the gym, get something to eat, and work on papers. By spending a few extra hours on campus, I also felt my commute was made more worth my time. It can definitely be a headache sometimes, but I would say the commute is worth it if you really like your program.

Jen