Cutting down school list, could use input on cities

[Rach83]

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So I still need to get rid of ~10 schools from my application list and was thinking of doing it based on cities. I keep reading that for dangerous cities, you just have to walk with someone, not walk at night, etc. I have dogs that I love walking as a stress-reliever but would probably have a hard time enjoying our daily walks if the area was really sketchy or very busy traffic-wise.... Unfortunately my dogs are not big and scary. I don't mind if the school is in a dangerous area as long as the suburbs are close enough that I could just commute to school and live in a nicer area (I've read that St. Louis is like this).

I know the topic of dangerous cities has been covered a lot, but I'd love some input on which schools are in cities that are no fun for long walks AND are just too big to be able to comfortably commute from quieter areas. Would love some input on schools in cities like Philly, DC, Cleveland, Baltimore, Detroit, St Louis, and some schools in NYC. If I am missing any, please fill me in. Thanks. 🙂

 

[derArzt]

Well, I don't have much time but I'll let you know a few things from cities I've been to quite a bit.

BALTIMORE- Although dangerous in parts, I love this city. I understand Hopkins and UMD are more near to the harbor, which is fine and much better than where Hopkins undergrad is...
The harbor walk is great, nice aquarium, Camden Yards, delicious crab, some shopping...

PHILLY- Haven't been to more than the nice parts, so with that being said the only schools in the nice parts are Jefferson and UPenn... not sure about Temple and Drexel

DC- The only word that comes to mind is traffic... the boroughs are great but that would be a long commute.

NYC- Becoming one of the safer cities, I wouldn't worry too much about any school here. Obviously Cornell in the UES is the "nicest", but again you can't go wrong with the city 🙂

Good luck!

 

[Rach83]

Thanks for the info. 🙂

Does anyone know if commuting into Philly is a possibility, or is the city so spread out that the drive would be too long and inconvenient?

 

[VincentAdultman]

The East Falls neighborhood where Drexel is located is relatively safe, but one still needs to remember to lock the doors and avoid parking on the streets. Lots of people commute from Center City or Manyunk which are pretty safe areas with little difficulty.

North Philly, where Temple is located, is a war zone.

UPenn Is in Wesr Philly in a nice area but if you stray too far from the campus it can get pretty shady pretty quickly.

Jeff is in Center City, which is downtown. Very nice, probably the safest of all the medical schools.

 

[flip26]

I have traveled to, and lived in, a bunch of places.

As always, it "depends" because there are parts of cities that are OK and then some that are not so OK. For example, consider NYC...MSSM is in the best location, followed by Cornell...not too crazy about Columbia's location...Einstein gets a bit of an unfair rap because it is not in the part of NYC most people fantasize about...NYU's location is kind of "meh" to me...

Same thing with Chicago. Living near Northwestern is great, near U Chicago is a problem...the others in Chicago, I have no opinion.

But, in general, for big cities with med schools that I am interested in, I rank 'em this way for livability, safety, mass transit / commuting, etc.

Chicago > San Francisco > Pittsburgh > NYC >> DC > Boston >>> Cleveland > Philly >>>>> Baltimore

I have zero interest in "car" meccas like Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami, etc.

 

[debbidala]

Just wanted to chime in about Baltimore - neither Maryland nor Hopkins is in a very good area (Hopkins SOM is actually in a much worse neighborhood than undergrad), but there are lots of nice and relatively inexpensive places to live/walk/play nearby. It's a great city, really, it's just unusual in that good neighborhoods are interspersed w/bad neighborhoods, rather than really separate "good" and "bad" areas.

 

[ar2388]

just wanted to say the NYU's location is one of the best places for 20-something year old. filled with bars, movie theater, restaurants, etc etc. NYU's location is partly why I am in love witht eh school so much.

 

[Rach83]

So from the comments thus far I guess there is no city that really wouldn't work (except maybe DC since apparently the traffic is terrible and the commute inconvenient). I appreciate the comments so far and if anyone has any opinion on Cleveland, Detroit, St Louis in terms of commuting from nicer areas, that would be great. Thanks everyone.😀

 

[lrkoehle]

My wife's sister-in-law goes to med school at SLU. Everything that I have seen from the times I visited seems totally safe. Also, commuting doesn't seem like an issue. I live in the Phoenix area and traffic here tends to get bad, but driving during rush hour in St. Louis seemed like a joke to me, everything was flowing fine. From what they told me, east st louis is the bad part, but that is across the river. My visits to St. Louis have been so enjoyable that I am going to apply to both schools their just for the city (and other things of course).

Oh, I also forgot to mention Forest park. Forest park is bigger than Central park in NYC, and it is an awesome place to go. There is a bunch of free things there, like the zoo, science center, and art museum (I think). It is awesome, I can't wait to go back to St. Louis this summer.

 

[Appless]

I lived in a st louis for a few years and let me just tell you as long as you stay the **** away from east st louis theres no issue. As someone else said people there complain about "traffic" but its a joke...These people who say st louis traffic is bad would probably kill themselves living in s cali...

 

[flip26]

So from the comments thus far I guess there is no city that really wouldn't work (except maybe DC since apparently the traffic is terrible and the commute inconvenient). I appreciate the comments so far and if anyone has any opinion on Cleveland, Detroit, St Louis in terms of commuting from nicer areas, that would be great. Thanks everyone.😀

DC has the Metro (subway) system, and GW has a stop on it. It would be fairly simple to live in VA and commute to it via Metro...probably OK from MD too...

Georgetown is not on the Metro, but I think there is a shuttle from the nearest metro station - check on that. I think that of the 2, GWU is more conveniently located for commuting.

I am not a "DC" fan myself.

 

[lrkoehle]

I lived in a st louis for a few years and let me just tell you as long as you stay the **** away from east st louis theres no issue. As someone else said people there complain about "traffic" but its a joke...These people who say st louis traffic is bad would probably kill themselves living in s cali...

Haha, yeah my wife's brother and sister-in-law accidentally drove into east st. louis and very very quickly turned around immediately. They said it is terrible.

They also told us about people in St Louis complaining about the traffic, and the couple of times I experienced "rush hour" there I just laughed.

Living in St. Louis seems to be fairly inexpensive too, which is something you should really consider when choosing where to go to med school since it will affect your total debt. Somewhere like NYC will be much more expensive just to live there.

 

[ChiDO]

Chicago Schools:

NW: very nice part of downtown, but you probably can't afford to live next to it.
UIC-Chicago / Rush: Right next to each other, not the greatest places at night.
UC: South Loop - The worse location of all medical schools.
CCOM: West suburbs - very nice location
RFU: North Chicago - not that bad.
Loyola: Maywood, IL - between Rush/UIC and CCOM. Ok location, but not the best.

If you go to the UIC campuses not in Chicago, they are in Rockford and Central Illinois, which are both not a problem.

If I had to rank them in location:

CCOM > NW > RFU > Loyola > UIC/Rush > UC

Traffic in Chicago sucks, thus commuting to the downtown schools (NW, Rush, UIC, UC) from the suburbs will take 1 hour+ and is a waste of your time. Thus, students live around the schools and/or downtown, which is expensive.

 

[Rach83]

Haha, yeah my wife's brother and sister-in-law accidentally drove into east st. louis and very very quickly turned around immediately. They said it is terrible.

They also told us about people in St Louis complaining about the traffic, and the couple of times I experienced "rush hour" there I just laughed.

Living in St. Louis seems to be fairly inexpensive too, which is something you should really consider when choosing where to go to med school since it will affect your total debt. Somewhere like NYC will be much more expensive just to live there.

Yes, I've been seriously thinking about cost of living for different cities. I would love to be able to rent (or buy) a house or townhouse. I will be 27 when I start (assuming I get in with this application) and the thought of living in a cramped apartment with my dogs and having to go down a million flights of stairs to take them out to pee on concrete does not sound too appealing! I'm trying to think long and hard about which schools I would go to if I only got one acceptance, so I need to make sure to have a solid list of schools to apply to.

Thanks everyone for the advice so far. It's good to know that I might be able to pull-off a commute to most big cities (except maybe NYC).

 

[LizzyM]

Housing in NY is hideously expensive and so the schools on the East Side (NYU, Cornell and Mt Sinai) offer student housing. No way you'd be allowed to have a dog in student housing. I'd cross them off the list.

 

[searun]

My wife's sister-in-law goes to med school at SLU. Everything that I have seen from the times I visited seems totally safe. Also, commuting doesn't seem like an issue. I live in the Phoenix area and traffic here tends to get bad, but driving during rush hour in St. Louis seemed like a joke to me, everything was flowing fine. From what they told me, east st louis is the bad part, but that is across the river. My visits to St. Louis have been so enjoyable that I am going to apply to both schools their just for the city (and other things of course).

Oh, I also forgot to mention Forest park. Forest park is bigger than Central park in NYC, and it is an awesome place to go. There is a bunch of free things there, like the zoo, science center, and art museum (I think). It is awesome, I can't wait to go back to St. Louis this summer.

Some very reputable people have lost their virginity in Forest Park. At night, when it is dark. So, yeah, Forest Park is great.

 

[lrkoehle]

Some very reputable people have lost their virginity in Forest Park. At night, when it is dark. So, yeah, Forest Park is great.

😕 I have enjoyed forest park, but I make no claims about its safety at night (if that is what you are referring to).

 

[Rach83]

Some very reputable people have lost their virginity in Forest Park. At night, when it is dark. So, yeah, Forest Park is great.

lol. I'll keep that in mind, since the info is from very reputable people and all. 😀

LizzyM, you mentioned 3 schools on the east side. Do you think housing is particularly unaffordable in the area surrounding those 3, or will it be impossible for your average student to afford independent housing for most of the NYC schools?

 

[Appless]

Haha, yeah my wife's brother and sister-in-law accidentally drove into east st. louis and very very quickly turned around immediately. They said it is terrible.

They also told us about people in St Louis complaining about the traffic, and the couple of times I experienced "rush hour" there I just laughed.

Living in St. Louis seems to be fairly inexpensive too, which is something you should really consider when choosing where to go to med school since it will affect your total debt. Somewhere like NYC will be much more expensive just to live there.

Just to give st louis more love personally I love the city I think its awesome, of the many places ive lived in many states, St louis is near the top. As far as cost of living is concerned its also very afforadable. SLU is honestly one of my top choices, i dont care if its not highly ranked id take SLU over most schools, unless a UC came callling lol🙂. Though im not sure about the whole jesuit thing........i guess tahts a topic for another time though

 

[searun]

😕 I have enjoyed forest park, but I make no claims about its safety at night (if that is what you are referring to).

The zoo is great in Forest Park, as is the Art Museum. It is close to Washington University and very safe.

 

[lrkoehle]

Though im not sure about the whole jesuit thing........i guess tahts a topic for another time though

Since you brought it up, I will quickly say that based on what I have heard from my wife's sister-in-law (a med student at SLU), the whole jesuit thing is not in any way a negative. She is by no means religious at all, so I don't think it should really factor into your decision.

 

[ThaliaNox]

I've noticed that nobody has chimed in with info about Detroit, so here's my two cents worth. First, it depends on if you're talking Wayne State or UMich.

UMich is in the far suburbs, not really in Detroit at all, and isn't at all dangerous or expensive to live near, with lots of nearby apartments; basically the whole city of Ann Arbor.

For Wayne State the important starter issue is that it is hideously expensive for out of staters, over 60k per year in tuition alone for those applying for 2010. But, on to housing, the medical school is RIGHT down town, and is in a pretty nasty area. Most of the students live either in university apartments downtown or in the Royal Oaks suburb, which is about a 15-25 min drive, depending on traffic. Personally, I turned down an acceptance to Wayne after getting into another school, purely because of location (I'm in-state, so the OOS tuition wasn't an issue).

Hope this helped!

 

[willington76]

I want to chime in on some of the schools in the Chicago area, especially The University of Chicago. Having attended the U of C for undergrad I can assure you that the neighborhood it is located in (Hyde Park) is gorgeous, relatively affordable and stretches from Lake Michigan to Washington Park. The Southside gets a bad rap, for good reason sometimes, but Hyde Park is definitely safe and has great access to public transportation (both the Metra and the CTA are accessible from HP). Though to be fair common sense dictates that just like in any big city it's not a great idea to walk around alone after about 9:00 pm, still having said that the campus and hospitals are right next to each other and there are shuttles that run well through the night in addition to city buses.
As for Northwestern, yes the medical school is downtown along Michigan Ave. right on the Lake, but there is almost no way in hell you can afford to live there, instead you'll definitely have to commute from somewhere on the Northside.
UIC and Rush are just southwest of the Loop and UIC has it's own stop on the CTA. The neighborhood is decent and very close to Chinatown, Greektown, Little Italy and the Loop of course.

 

[witness23]

lol. I'll keep that in mind, since the info is from very reputable people and all. 😀

LizzyM, you mentioned 3 schools on the east side. Do you think housing is particularly unaffordable in the area surrounding those 3, or will it be impossible for your average student to afford independent housing for most of the NYC schools?

i'll chime in on this. subsidized housing at sinai is around 500/month. when i lived in a manhattan i ALONE was paying around 1600-1800 a month. I shared my bedroom. Shared the apartment with 3 other people total. we all shared one bathroom. My room, the bathroom, the entire room is smaller than everything offered by sinai's housing. At sinai you get your own room, and its pretty big. you would be pretty silly to turn that down. affordable housing would in near by queens or jersey. still would be more expensive than sinai housing. commute (while physical distance would not be far) would take around 40 minutes one way. people on the trains are mad sad looking. NYU med makes you live in their dorms, I believe. Cornell subsidizes. They are all really (more like ridiculously) cheap in comparison to avg rent. You probably would not be allowed to bring a dog. Sad, because everyone in that city seem to have atleast one really well trained dog (the smaller ones).

 

[GeoDoc]

As a Minnesota native I have to put in a few good words for Minneapolis. I think it is one of the truly great and nice cities to live in, though oft-overlooked. The first thing people always say is something about the weather - which admittedly is crazy - but it is really not substantially different than New England. But very solid people, highly educated, highest volunteer rate in the nation, etc. Just a thought; also the med school is easily reached from a bunch of different nice neighborhoods. NE Mpls is a rapidly gentrifying area, eg, right on the river bank and just a short bus ride away from school.

 

[Rach83]

You probably would not be allowed to bring a dog. Sad, because everyone in that city seem to have atleast one really well trained dog (the smaller ones).

That is sad. Look at this face, who wouldn't love him! 😍

Ok well I guess NYC is out of the running. I can't imagine giving my little guys away, and I can't imagine paying those kinds of amounts for housing.

Thanks for all of your opinions. From what has been included in this thread thus far it seems like the other cities you guys have told me about are pretty reasonable options for me.

 

[Appless]

Since you brought it up, I will quickly say that based on what I have heard from my wife's sister-in-law (a med student at SLU), the whole jesuit thing is not in any way a negative. She is by no means religious at all, so I don't think it should really factor into your decision.

Ah thats good. Im not against relegion in any way, I just dont want it forced down my throat if im not thei relegion. I know loma linda is big on that, though i was fairly sure the 4 jesuit instituations were not this way. I was always under the impression that their jesuit backround just means that place a large emphasis on caring for the whole person and community service.

 

[Appless]

While were on this topic also does anyone know much about the atlanta area? I was interested in applying to emory but ive always been under the impression that the ATL is very dangerous...though ive never been there so i cant say i know.

 

[Rach83]

While were on this topic also does anyone know much about the atlanta area? I was interested in applying to emory but ive always been under the impression that the ATL is very dangerous...though ive never been there so i cant say i know.

I've actually been to Atlanta a bunch of times and always really liked it. It would actually be one of my top choices in terms of location. I've never lived there so can't give any specifics on which areas are sketchy, but I've been out in the downtown area at night and never felt uneasy. Lots of nice "suburbs" pretty close to downtown so I think it would be fairly easy to live in a nice area although I don't think it would be necessary to try and get away from the school since I've heard the school is in a nice location.

 

[lrkoehle]

I was always under the impression that their jesuit backround just means that place a large emphasis on caring for the whole person and community service.

That seems to be pretty consistent with what I have been told.

 

[witness23]

That is sad. Look at this face, who wouldn't love him! 😍

Ok well I guess NYC is out of the running. I can't imagine giving my little guys away, and I can't imagine paying those kinds of amounts for housing.

Thanks for all of your opinions. From what has been included in this thread thus far it seems like the other cities you guys have told me about are pretty reasonable options for me.

as someone who lives in Philly now, I would totally encourage you to apply to schools here. Don't worry about all the people saying this and that is in a bad place/good place. Philly is the best place to live right now for people of our age. Living costs are not as high as NYC, but still one of the largest, most diverse cities.

You would be living comfy and safely in center city anyway and commuting to your schools. Commute isn't bad at all and if you want, you can even live a bit outside, like near PCOM/Nova/StJosephs at Lower Merion (where Kobe was born), and drive in. Lower Merion is one of the nicest place to live anywhere with access to everything.

I love NYC, always will since I grew up there, but after moving to philly and considering my age, finances, and the current economy, I think it is the best city to live in right now (and i've moved around a lot). Absolutely dog friendy too. Dogs are a bit bigger than the NYC ones. Good food, GREAT people (more talkative), diverse, moderately cheap, and great location. You will be an easy commute from king of prussia, the biggest mall on the east coast, 1.5 hours from NYC, 30 - 45 min from atlantic city, 20 min from tax free shopping at delaware, 2/2.5 hours from Baltimore/DC.

 

[witness23]

okay if you enjoy walking, I will say that midtown NYC (that would be NYU ) is the best location. It is absolutely the safest place, like ever. I think the average panhandler at Manhattan made high 20ks. You can walk at 3 am - 5 am and you would be safe and you would get to appreciate the work ethic of the people in NYC. Boston is nice too but Philly>>>>>

again, you would be living in center city or Rittenhouse area (maybe) and its really nice to walk around there.

http://www.rittenhouserow.org/index2.html

come!

Rittenhouse is amazing to walk around at anytime.

 

[Rach83]

I'm so glad I started this thread! I was sure I would cross off all Philly schools just based on location but now it sounds like a pretty cool city. Guess I need to take a closer look at the schools there.

 

[metalgearHMN]

Here's Forbes' list of America's most dangerous cites, starting with Philly in at # 15. Detroit is # 1 YEAH GO RED WINGS!

http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/23/mo...-american-cities_slide_2.html?thisSpeed=15000

 

[qmcat]

If safety is a big concern for you, I recommend searching for a crime log for each school that you're researching. Each school has to publish a safety statistic (I think it's by law? I'm not sure) and you should be able to find it somewhere on their site.

Here is an example that I looked up when I was looking up SLU:

http://www.slu.edu/x22927.xml

 

[LizzyM]

Crime stats legislation pertaining to colleges and universities was named for a woman with the last name of Cleary so you can google that word along with the name of the school and almost always find the university police reports of campus crime.

I wouldn't put too much emphasis on Forbes... big cities are big and some areas of the city may be very safe while others are sketchy.

 

[Rach83]

If safety is a big concern for you, I recommend searching for a crime log for each school that you're researching. Each school has to publish a safety statistic (I think it's by law? I'm not sure) and you should be able to find it somewhere on their site.

Here is an example that I looked up when I was looking up SLU:

http://www.slu.edu/x22927.xml

I'm not actually worried about crime rates or overall crime and would be willing to go to any school that might be in an unsafe area, as long as the city is set-up in a way that would allow me to live in a safe area (so that I can keep enjoying the things I do with my dogs) and drive/train/bus into school. This is why the info that everyone has posted has been really useful. Without visiting each city, it's hard to get an idea of how happy I could be living in/around each city.

 

[IHeartNerds]

Philadelphia is a fantastic city. Don't get me wrong, Temple is in the middle of an urban war zone, but Penn and (as much as it pains me to say this) Jeff are both great schools and shouldn't be dismissed just on the basis of location.

West Philly is fine. Yes, if you walk 20 blocks due west, the neighborhood begins to make rich kids who grew up in the suburbs uncomfortable. This does not mean you will get shot commuting to campus. The area directly around Penn is very safe, fun, and livable. And the school speaks for itself.

Jeff is in Center City stuck between a bunch of high-rises. If that's for you, awesome. I actually think CC gets too shining of a reputation for being "safe"; it's no Camden but it's no Havertown either.

Agree with what other people said on "live outside the city if you want". My commute this year is 20 mins on a comfortable, affordable train and well worth it (although I am a non-trad, dunno how well it would work socially in your first year if you were single 23 year old).

Summary: Philly is fun, come here. 👍

 

[Rach83]

Philadelphia is a fantastic city. Don't get me wrong, Temple is in the middle of an urban war zone, but Penn and (as much as it pains me to say this) Jeff are both great schools and shouldn't be dismissed just on the basis of location.

West Philly is fine. Yes, if you walk 20 blocks due west, the neighborhood begins to make rich kids who grew up in the suburbs uncomfortable. This does not mean you will get shot commuting to campus. The area directly around Penn is very safe, fun, and livable. And the school speaks for itself.

Jeff is in Center City stuck between a bunch of high-rises. If that's for you, awesome. I actually think CC gets too shining of a reputation for being "safe"; it's no Camden but it's no Havertown either.

Agree with what other people said on "live outside the city if you want". My commute this year is 20 mins on a comfortable, affordable train and well worth it (although I am a non-trad, dunno how well it would work socially in your first year if you were single 23 year old).

Summary: Philly is fun, come here. 👍

20 minutes on the train sounds perfect. I will definitely keep a few of the philly schools on my list. I'm also non-trad so I don't think living away from school will really bother me much. 🙂

 

[afkari]

can someone please comment on the dc/georgetown area?

 

[Bacchus]

20 minutes on the train sounds perfect. I will definitely keep a few of the philly schools on my list. I'm also non-trad so I don't think living away from school will really bother me much. 🙂

You will have to take public transportation. Getting to Penn or Jefferson during the morning rush hour could take you over an hour. So definitely look for a place, if you come to Philly, that is readily accessible by regional rail.

 

[tom1504]

NYC- Becoming one of the safer cities, I wouldn't worry too much about any school here. Obviously Cornell in the UES is the "nicest", but again you can't go wrong with the city 🙂

NYC is great but going to school there for four years is very different than going there on vacation. The city is very expensive, and being in med school you probably won't have time to get a job to support yourself. I wouldn't recommend NYC for graduate school.

MSSM is in the best location.

LMAO! Mount Sinai borders the projects in Morningside!

just wanted to say the NYU's location is one of the best places for 20-something year old. filled with bars, movie theater, restaurants, etc etc. NYU's location is partly why I am in love witht eh school so much.

The med school's location isn't that great. I'll give you that the main campus is nicely located, but I wouldn't say that the East lower 30's are filled with restaurants and bars for 20-something year olds. Plus NYU just steals people's money in order to buy real estate. Haha

 

[flip26]

LMAO! Mount Sinai borders the projects in Morningside!

???

Look on a map, chief. MSSM is upper east side...Morningside is upper west side...

LMAO!

 

[scrambizle]

Philadelphia is a great place to live. We've already covered that Jefferson and Penn are in great locations, with tons of restaurants, bars, shopping, coffee places to study, etc. Temple itself is in the worst neighborhood of Philly, but it is very easy to get to from center city. Its about a 20 minute drive (because of traffic) from center city, or a 15 minute subway ride. Granted the subway is a little sketchy, but I've never had a problem with it. Also, the campus itself is safe and the new building looks pretty cool. None of the temple students I've met have had any problems with the location. Don't know much about Drexel's location, so I won't comment.

My undergrad was in a very rural area, so it was a bit of an adjustment living in Philly. I've come to like it so much that I'm definitely applying to some philly programs for residency.

 

[mca]

The med school's location isn't that great. I'll give you that the main campus is nicely located, but I wouldn't say that the East lower 30's are filled with restaurants and bars for 20-something year olds. Plus NYU just steals people's money in order to buy real estate. Haha

The area immediately bordering NYU SOM is pretty nice but the real value of its location comes from being able to *walk* 20 minutes north to the heart of midtown or 20 minutes south to Union Square/Flatiron/the Village etc.

Oh and you definitely do not have to live in NYU's dorms. I don't know where that rumor came from.

 

[FlowLimited]

I'll comment on Drexel.

The medical campus is located in the East Falls neighborhood of Philly. It's very residential and peaceful. East Falls has a quaint little "downtown" area with a number of bars, restaurants, etc. and the whole neighborhood sits on the banks of the Schuykill river. Kelly Dr., the scenic road that follows the Schuykill is ideal for bikers and walkers. On weekends during the warmer months, they close West River Dr. on the opposite bank of the Schuykill to cars. There are loads of picnic areas and paths for people to enjoy the outdoors. You've also got Fairmount Park.

You're also not that far removed from Center City. You've got the R8 line right by campus, and the R6 line just down the street. There are also buses, and the free Drexel shuttle that runs on weekdays.

 

[witness23]

Mount Sinai is about 10 blocks away from East Harlem. I understand people have that mid 80s NY mentality that Harlem is some kind of a sh%thole but its not. Sinai borders Central Park. For people who love to walk, its perfect. The projects? Seriously? That city is ridiculously hardworking. You will be safe at all of those schools and get a good education. It may not be for everyone but egh. If you go to NYU med why would you not live in Rubin? Finding housing in NYC is annoying in itself. I would recommend NYC for med school for anyone. As I said, housing is subsidized for most of the schools. It is great to take advantage of that. FOOD IS ACTUALLY CHEAPER compared to philly or boston, because of the amount of competition local businesses have to go through. You will definitely find chinese food that lasts you 2-3 meals for $5-6. If not just go to chicken and rice. People are great. Sure, there is a wall (unlike Philly) but if you keep going to the same small businesses and support them, they will get to know you and support you back. It really made my day. For grad schools in general, NY would be first on my list for MD/PhD or PhD since you have stipend.

NYC is basically a hub for immigration. You will see a lot of different races and hear a lot of different languages. Because of the way I grew up, I enjoyed that. The thing about Philly is that it is less segregated than NYC (probably because it is less diverse). When I go out at night, I love the fact that you will find all kinds of people at the same bars. In NY, business finds benefit in targeting one specific market, ie bars/clubs/events that really focus on one group of people - asian/indian/gay/lesbian bars. But if you get comfortable and make different friends, its a fun time. Again, I personally feel Philly is less segregated.

 

[witness23]

just to comment on the crime in philly. its not the safest city, true. but it is kinda insulting for us to defend it so many times.

do the police get slain once in a while? yes, 2 of them happened right infront of me behind temple hospital. literally behind temple university hospital. does that bother me? no, im numb. you will get numb too, after all, 7-9 police get killed every year. You will learn to respect their duty. It's a shame that it happens. Other crimes - rape. Is it common to hear students getting raped? Yes. Once every 3 months, I would say. They are not really med student related but more undergrad. The last one I remember was on the west side of Penn's campus w/ 2 girls (where I currently work). Again, you can check the reports that each campus has.

Penn's med campus is second to none, sure. Its not really an "area" though. It's a bunch of buildings clustered. There really can be no crime here, except for people getting run over by ambulances. Its absolutely amazing (I work there). You will feel like you are the sh%t, overlooking people from buildings. However, PENN, by far, has the ugliest people on campus, undergrad and grad. If you fill a pretty campus with ugly people, then... idk. A lot of upperclassmen, grad students I talk to get really jaded by Penn though over time. I used to think it was really pretty, but I actually like walking around the city more. 40th + and Pine is gorgeous.

Temple med (I have worked here/shadowed too) is, again, in a bad part of Illy. There is a benefit to that. Its kind of like Boston, where 19 different hospitals compete for a patient population and BMC makes business from the "bad neighborhoods". In the same way, Temple and affiliated hospitals cater to that audience and stabilizes themselves w/ some activity. There are so many hospitals in Philly with each of the childrens hospitals (w/ CHOP dominating), Pres, Hanhemman, Jeff, Temple, Einstein, etc that competition is pretty steep and atleast Temple manages to hang on. Some of the academic hospitals, however, have been sold around a bit more. Anyway, that doesn't matter. What I am saying is that you will see a different patient population at Temple. One w/ more chronic problems and less support. I personally relate to them. So I like. Temple also has a new building. Really, when interventional cardiology developed the business at Temple went down since they were the premier CT surgery hub, and then were taken over by Penn (like everything else). I think jeffereson Ortho is still the sh$t though and sports medicine in Philly is great.

Oh and Philly sports teams make the playoffs in all sports. Tickets are cheap too! and we riot! W/ that said, I'm a huge knicks fan.

anyway, if you find philly to be your home, you will find residency in Philly too. I find faculty in one philly school knows everyone else at other schools so thats really convenient.

 

[witness23]

where's all the Cali people at?

 

[Rach83]

I know that living in Boston is crazy expensive so I was thinking of crossing those schools off the list as well (in favor of more reasonable locations $-wise) but was wondering if it is possible to get a nice place for less by moving outside of the city. Is the school in a location where this would be possible?

Also, for Albert Einstein, is the Bronx similar to the other NYC school locations in terms of cost for housing? How is cost and availability of housing, as well as safety?