Another question for previous interns

[knr1527]

As someone who has never lived in a city, is it truly possible to survive on an intern's salary? For example, AMC in NYC pays about 24,000 (before tax), and offers housing at 1000/month. I can live off of a relatively small amount, but I've never had to buy groceries in a big city and have no idea how much more it will cost.

Another example is Upenn. They pay about 26,000 before taxes. I'm not sure what kind of housing I can get with that and still eat, but I would like to live somewhere relatively safe...Philly has a bit of a reputation.

So do people actually make it by on this amount in big cities? I'm not married, so I don't have any second income to help me out. I'll get a room mate and all that, but still it seems a little unrealistic.

My family seems to think I'm insane to think I could survive on that in those cities....but people do it...right?

Thanks!!

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[jmo1012]

I honestly can't imagine that people survive on that unless every penny goes towards cost of living (and even then I'm skeptical). You are probably better off directly chatting with the interns at those programs and asking them bluntly about the finances -what they pay for food, rent, misc expenses, and then loans after the 6no Grace period

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Most interns I know have to live with a passel of roomies.

 

[knr1527]

That would be ok.....I just need to know if its actually possible to live off of just this income, or are these people needing to get help from family or spouses to make ends meet. I won't have access to anything else, so I just want to know it's doable

 

[jmo1012]

That would be ok.....I just need to know if its actually possible to live off of just this income, or are these people needing to get help from family or spouses to make ends meet. I won't have access to anything else, so I just want to know it's doable

i think the answer must be "yes" its doable, because surely not every single intern who has been to penn or AMC has family support, but i suspect there are a lot of trade offs involved. living with several people and eating very cheaply (this might mean eating a lot of lower quality foods) and having no extras (like tv and phone and internet and such). however you budget, be sure to keep in mind that halfway through the year, you will owe some sort of sum on loans every month. that may be a very small amount, but you need to budget for it. also, do you have pets? budget for them, and think about how you will handle if they need medical care.

i have also heard of people taking out small private loans to help with costs during internship...but that seems like a terrible idea unless you have absolutely no other way around it...

 

[knr1527]

I'm ok with skimping on stuff, I'm used to that. I won't take out private loans though....that's insane, and if that's the norm for some of those big city internships that might be enough for me to not rank them. So I guess that's what I'm here to find out. I'll contact some interns directly too though. Thanks for your response.

 

[SocialStigma]

I live in Toronto with an intern's salary of $30k (pre-tax). I'm paying $1400/month in rent for a bachelor unit, internet and hydro are an additional $70/month. My cellphone bill is $44/month. I don't have a tv/cable or a car. And I live within walking distance of the clinic so I don't need to pay for a bus/subway pass either.

I don't receive any financial support from my family or SO. I've definitely had to dive into my savings but it's not impossible - I go to the cheapest grocery store in the area, look at all the weekly flyers, use coupons, and make use of price matching policies, etc.

 

[david594]

I survived in Boston on a 27k/year salary as an intern 2 years ago. For housing I had a roommate which kept my rent to a mere $950 a month. Overall I'd say it was very doable. When you consider the 80-100 hours a week I spent at work, it left me little to no time to spend money on leisure activities. I had enough cash to keep the cat's bowl filled and her pet insurance covered as well as to go out for dinner or drinks a couple nights per week with my intern family.

The apartment heat may have been kept a little on the cool side.... and I may have ordered off the kid's menu on a regular basis..... but it was pretty manageable overall.