Columbia's Med Housing

[mdforlife]

I heard the area where Columbia's Med is sucks. It's 168th. Do most med students live there or they try to rent something in a better location?
Is it really that dangerous to live there?

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[shebangs]

The area is not great, but you get used to it. Spanish Harlem has improved over the last decade. There is less crime now. Lots of med students live in the area.

Your options are Bard Hall (a Pre-WWII building that is old and crappy with 10'x10' rooms with bathrooms shared by the whole hall (sometimes unisex). And the Tower buildings. which are apartment like complexes with a variety of room types (e.g. 3 bedroom 1 bath). The tower buildings are newer but they are mostly taken up by people with seniority there like faculty, residents, more senior students. These housing options are by far the cheapest option you have. Living in Bard might not be posh, but it can be lots of fun.

You could also commute, if you don't mind riding the A train or the 1 or 9.

 

[JulianCrane]

Would you guys say the area around P&S is better than that around Hopkins?

 

[Habari]

I heard the area where Columbia's Med is sucks. It's 168th. Do most med students live there or they try to rent something in a better location?
Is it really that dangerous to live there?

i go to cornell, but spend a non-neglible amount of time in washington heights, and am familiar with the towers housing.

the area relatively safe, there are lots of families and it gets very lively in the summer. there are always highschool track teams running around the neighborhood, getting ready for races at The Armory. my biggest complaint would be the lack of a variety of food options - it becomes annoying after a while. also, believe or not - the neighborhood is much colder/windier in the winter,fall,spring than the rest of new york. this also makes for a good breeze in the summer. my friend always jokes that the rich people around cornell have paid for nicer weather via a bubble.

bard housing is a dorm without a doubt, complete with communal bathrooms. but there are quite a few convenient facilities in the building - darkroom, gym, tv room, study lounge, cafeteria, music room.

i really like the towers housing - it's spacious and usually has great views of the GW bridge and south manhattan. the caveat is that there is a housing crunch, and there are a substantial number of ms1's who are not going to be able to move to towers next year.

it isn't unreasonable to rent in the area, but they will be more pricey than what columbia offers. you are not elligible to live at the downtown campus housing [some md/phd's are if they do their thesis down there].

regardless, there are a number of people that do live all over the city, and commute up to the compus on the A/C or 1/9. it is not as convenient as living on campus - but if you have the cash, it's a decent option.

i'm sure p&s students will comment ...

 

[appomattox]

The area is not great, but you get used to it. Spanish Harlem has improved over the last decade. There is less crime now. Lots of med students live in the area.

Never trust anyone on this topic who thinks Washington Heights = Spanish Harlem.

Here's a newsflash: NOT ALL LATINOS ARE THE SAME!!

Here's another: Those two places are about 3 miles apart!

 

[dara678]

Never trust anyone on this topic who thinks Washington Heights = Spanish Harlem.

Here's a newsflash: NOT ALL LATINOS ARE THE SAME!!

Here's another: Those two places are about 3 miles apart!

That's what I thought! Isn't MSSM at the edge of Spanish Harlem?

 

[idq1i]

The area is not great

Have you actually been to the area? I have been living a few blocks up from the hospital for 14 years - there is nothing wrong with this area. Not a single problem.

 

[souljah1]

I lived in Washington Heights for one year while completing a Master's up there. I loved the sense of community there. I used to walk by a little park on Fort Washington everyday on my home. It would be packed with families. Kids playing baseball, basketball; old men playing chess; little kids playing on the swings. In the summer they open up some of the fire hydrants and the kids have a blast and shoot cars that pass by with water directed from the hydrants by hollowed out coffee cans - lotta fun. I never had one bad experience while living up there. It can get kind of boring up there and there is not a great food selection. I lived about 8 blocks north of campus (176th) and had a decent apartment in a four story apartment building. After seeing places in Bard Hall, I'm glad I lived off campus. Bard Hall sucks in my opinion.

Bottom line: the neighborhood used to be really rough back in the 80's but it is chill now. it is a good neighborhood to work on your spanish. the A/C and 1/9 run right up Washington Heights so it is quick (the A) to get downtown. and i agree, i wouldn't listen to anyone who calls washington heights ---spanish harlem.

 

[bluejay60]

Hey, I'm from the midwest, I don't know anything about NYC, but I might do a summer fellowship at Sloan Kettering, do any of you know any good (i.e. safe) places I could try to find housing?

 

[Dr Who]

NYC is now one of the safest cities in the US. Pretty much all of manhattan is safe to live in. The more "dangerous" neighborhoods are mostly in the outer boroughs (Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx), places you will probably not be visiting anyway. So i wouldnt worry.

 

[Lara]

The more "dangerous" neighborhoods are mostly in the outer boroughs (Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx), places you will probably not be visiting anyway.

Since you mentioned this...can anyone comment on the area of the Bronx where Einstein's Montefiore Children's Hospital is (and how safe/feasible a communte from NYC using the "D" or "4" train is)? Thanks! 🙂

 

[SarahGM]

I heard the area where Columbia's Med is sucks. It's 168th. Do most med students live there or they try to rent something in a better location?
Is it really that dangerous to live there?

The area is called Washington Heights (not Spanish Harlem-- that's on the east side and about 50 blocks south)... and it's definitely not dangerous. For one, we're all in the vicinity of a major hospital. There are cops and ambulances everywhere. It's just a lower class, largely Dominican neighborhood... very residential.

I wouldn't say I've felt any more scared at night in Washington Heights than I have anywhere else in New York. You take every precaution you would everywhere else.

I would also say that the majority of students live on campus, in Bard or the Towers.

 

[saanjana]

though i'm not from new york, i visited my friend and stayed with her at her dorm....i thought the housing was fantastic....the area was pretty good....food joints, coffee shops, and the fact that all students in the health sciences were staying in the same region....good atmosphere....the subway station was right there, and didn't take too long to go uptown, etc...i liked it....the area wasn't Beverly Hills or Manhattan, but it was decent and had a very "student" feel to it....I loved it!

 

[dewzen]

I'll be a freshman next year...
My friend owns an apartment in midtown (56th and 6th) - really really nice, huge living room, two bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms and kitchen - with whom I could probably stay for really cheap (at least equal to rent at Bard)

Would you guys stay there or get a room in Bard hall and then maybe move in with him my second year.

It seems ridiculous to say, but it is a far commute and I definitely want to get to know all the kids in my class. I'm still young (21) and don't have any problems living in a dorm for another year. Plus there'll definately be a lot less distractions in Bard. What do you guys think? Anybody who lived in Bard and didn't like it or really did?

Thanks for any feedback

 

[JulianCrane]

I'm a first year living in Bard right now, and honestly it's not that bad. I would suggest you live here (at least during your first semester) because it is a cheap option and very convenient.

I'll be a freshman next year...
My friend owns an apartment in midtown (56th and 6th) - really really nice, huge living room, two bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms and kitchen - with whom I could probably stay for really cheap (at least equal to rent at Bard)

Would you guys stay there or get a room in Bard hall and then maybe move in with him my second year.

It seems ridiculous to say, but it is a far commute and I definitely want to get to know all the kids in my class. I'm still young (21) and don't have any problems living in a dorm for another year. Plus there'll definately be a lot less distractions in Bard. What do you guys think? Anybody who lived in Bard and didn't like it or really did?

Thanks for any feedback

 

[Bigsheed920]

Since you mentioned this...can anyone comment on the area of the Bronx where Einstein's Montefiore Children's Hospital is (and how safe/feasible a communte from NYC using the "D" or "4" train is)? Thanks! 🙂

This area is much safer than where columbia is.....Boogie Down Bronx has its nice parts too......but just as an overall opinion on the safe neighborhood issue.....if somethings gonna happen to u, its gonna happen....so dont worry about it much and focus on ur studies.