enough about programs, let's talk cities

[Trisomy13]

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anyone have personal experience living in or near:

Cleveland
Winston-Salem
Birmingham

please post your thoughts on living there while in residency... cost of living (financially, physically, mentally), things to do (restaurants, venues, members of the opposite sex), general vibe of the area, potential for happiness living there as a single person vs. raising a family, etc.

I can give you the scoop on Pittsburgh, Philly, New Haven if interested.


or chat up any other city. i'm realizing that so many programs are essentially the same, and the cities are different. i went to WVU recently, and regardless of what I felt about the program, it was a nice surprise that they gave us a tour of Morgantown - an actual "let's go downtown, walk around, and get a feel for the place" tour. a really good idea, i thought.

 

[Stillwater45]

On a similar note, what were peoples impressions of the programs in the "big name" cities like....Denver, Seattle, San Fran, LA, Salt Lake City...I would love to live in any of those cities.

 

[Stillwater45]

On a similar note, what were peoples impressions of the programs in the "big name" cities like....Denver, Seattle, San Fran, LA, Salt Lake City...I would love to live in any of those cities.

OR maybe not 🙂 I somehow missed the title of the thread that reads "enough about programs" oops

 

[Claymore]

This is from an earlier post about Winston-Salem that I made previously...(I went to Wake undergrad)

Overall I'd say the city is just ok, but it depends on what you're looking for. I'm from Chicago, so Winston had a much slower pace for me. It is a small city, almost feels like a suburb, with really nothing downtown of interest. It is really not a college town either, with only a handful of bars and clubs. There are a few decent restaurants, but not much else.

The advantage of this area, in my opinion, comes down to 1) weather, 2) proximity to a lot of other, more fun places. In the winter, it rarely dropped below about 20 degrees and the fall and spring were always very nice and mild. And, the natural surroundings around Winston are really nice. It's only about a half hour drive to some nice small mountains and hiking trails, only about 1.5 hours to the Blue Ridge Mountains in VA. There are a lot of opportunities for outdoor activities within an hour of the city. Charlotte, Chapel Hill/Durham, and Raleigh are also within about an hour or so, and are all pretty cool places. There's not too much in Greensboro, but I went out there occasionally for a change of scenery. Finally the beach is about a 5 hour drive, but really is worth it if you can make it out to the Outer Banks or Myrtle Beach when it's nice.

Overall the immediate location leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion, but Wake is centrally positioned enough that other things are accessible if you want them. Good luck!

 

[lvspro]

I know sumya may think I've lost it, but Detroit is a fun place to live.
It's close to royal oak, birmingham, and about a 1/2 hr from novi... all are very fun, alive, safe places. Plenty of singles, bars, and boutiques for all you fashion hungry label-******.

Detroit has a ton of bars, some stores, and the baseball field downtown, so if you just wanna stay w/i walking distance you can do those things... although it's a little more dangerous.

Flame-on.

 

[Pir8DeacDoc]

Claymore..wonder if I know you. I'm Wake Forest c/o 2000...

I'll comment on Winston-Salem as well.

I'd agree with much of what is said above. W-S is a nice place if you want a great cost of living, few traffic hassles, a decent selection of restaurants, a pretty good mall (was the largest in the state at one point, not sure now), and a nice hospital. As mentioned above, it's not far from Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, and Greensboro.

It is not a great place in terms of night life, although I went back this year for homecoming and it was better than when I was there. There is a weird mix of young people and "townies".. Schools there are Wake, Salem College (all girls school), NC School of the Arts, and Winston-Salem State (HBC). There are also a fair number of townies which include what you'd expect from the home of NASCAR. Nearest decent airport is in Greensboro or Raleigh. Winston has a pretty small airport which can be annoying.

Overall, I enjoyed my time in Winston although my view is definitely biased because I was there during college which means frat parties and the like. If anyone has specific questions, feel free to PM me.

 

[militarymd]

8 years in Cleveland....fun if you can handle the winters.


Currently 2 hours north of Birmingham...which is fun also if you can handle the summers.

 

[me454555]

I know sumya may think I've lost it, but Detroit is a fun place to live.
It's close to royal oak, birmingham, and about a 1/2 hr from novi... all are very fun, alive, safe places. Plenty of singles, bars, and boutiques for all you fashion hungry label-******.

Detroit has a ton of bars, some stores, and the baseball field downtown, so if you just wanna stay w/i walking distance you can do those things... although it's a little more dangerous.

Flame-on.

I live in detroit right now and I'd have to diagree w/you're assessment of the city. IMO, the actual city itself isn't a real safe place to chill or live. The bars are nice but you've gotta stick to certain areas. A block or 2 in the wrong direction and you go directly to the ghetto. The suburbs like royal oak, birmingham, and novi are a lot of fun and have tons of stuff to do. If you're going to live anywhere, try to live near them.

 

[Trisomy13]

8 years in Cleveland....fun if you can handle the winters.


Currently 2 hours north of Birmingham...which is fun also if you can handle the summers.

18 years of Pittsburgh, 4 years upstate NY, 5 years of CT - I can handle the winters 😉

I guess Cleveland is much like Pittsburgh, but with misguided and unfortunate football fans. I couldn't get a strong vibe of the place when I was there.


Are you in Chattanooga, TN? That's about 2 hours north of B-ham isn't it?

I was wondering specifically if there is a decent enough "scene" for a single male medical resident in Birmingham. I'll be 36-37 by the time I finish residency so I'm thinking I need to spend part of that time looking for someone blind and deaf, or just stupid enough, to settle down with me. I'm thinking about flying into B-ham a couple of days early just to check out the town, in the event that I like the program enough to rank it.

 

[rn29306]

Are you in Chattanooga, TN? That's about 2 hours north of B-ham isn't it?

I'm thinking about flying into B-ham a couple of days early just to check out the town, in the event that I like the program enough to rank it.

Chattanooga is a pretty neat town, but Mil ain't here. Close though.


Two of our most recent MD hires are from the UAB program, straight out of residency. They have jelled very well with staff / new hospital mileu, have made the transition quite well and are both outstanding clinicians.

 

[Noyac]

I know sumya may think I've lost it, but Detroit is a fun place to live.
It's close to royal oak, birmingham, and about a 1/2 hr from novi... all are very fun, alive, safe places. Plenty of singles, bars, and boutiques for all you fashion hungry label-******.

Detroit has a ton of bars, some stores, and the baseball field downtown, so if you just wanna stay w/i walking distance you can do those things... although it's a little more dangerous.

Flame-on.

I must agree. I went to med sch in D-town. 👍

 

[rugtrousers]

Would love to hear about Philly, if anyone's got the time.

Can offer opinions about SF, New Haven.

 

[bigeyedfish]

18 years of Pittsburgh, 4 years upstate NY, 5 years of CT - I can handle the winters 😉

I guess Cleveland is much like Pittsburgh, but with misguided and unfortunate football fans. I couldn't get a strong vibe of the place when I was there.


Are you in Chattanooga, TN? That's about 2 hours north of B-ham isn't it?

I was wondering specifically if there is a decent enough "scene" for a single male medical resident in Birmingham. I'll be 36-37 by the time I finish residency so I'm thinking I need to spend part of that time looking for someone blind and deaf, or just stupid enough, to settle down with me. I'm thinking about flying into B-ham a couple of days early just to check out the town, in the event that I like the program enough to rank it.

IMHO, Birmingham rocks. I lived there for a couple of months one summer while I was dating this girl in college. There are a couple of big colleges there and one of them is close to the downtown area, so the five-points area dowtown is full of bars of all types, along with people to fill them. Don't worry though, it's not all college kids. There's plenty of variety. I was hoping for B-ham...... but they didn't want to interview me. 🙁

 

[veetz]

Anyone interested in UT-Southwestern, Dallas is a nice place to live, with lots of nice eye-candy!!

 

[supahfresh]

I can offer plenty of current info on Denver and New Haven.

 

[usnavdoc]

Anyone with insight on Atlanta?

 

[Stillwater45]

Anyone with insight on Atlanta?

I would love some info on Denver...living costs, city and outdoor activities, ect. Thanks

 

[supahfresh]

Denver:

City: great night life, although not the music/club scene of chicago or new york. great singles city. nice advantages of a big city although it still is not a huge city.

Activities: tons!! you can ski year round if you're hardcore like me. otherwise the ski season is strong from october to may. excellent climbing as close as 20 minutes from downtown. whitewater right downtown in the playpark next to REI. ice climbing, hiking, mountain biking. then there are team sports that go on all year in the parks. as the weather is fairly benign in the winter, you can do almost everything year-round...even kayaking. fly-fishing, camping.

costs: depends on what you compare it to. less costly than the east coast.

what else do you want to know?

 

[Molly Maquire]

What's with Pittsburgh? Is it really a terrible place for singles?

 

[DrRobert]

What's with Pittsburgh? Is it really a terrible place for singles?

I have no firsthand information, but I assume you've seen that Pittsburgh was ranked the worst city in the US for singles two years in a row.

 

[xjohns1]

Would love to hear about Philly, if anyone's got the time.

Can offer opinions about SF, New Haven.

i'd like to hear about sf.

 

[Trisomy13]

What's with Pittsburgh? Is it really a terrible place for singles?

Not that bad, in my opinion. I believe the "ranking" as the worst city for singles, in addition to being subjective, is such in part because that there has been some movement of youth away from the city. not a good trend, but it's certainly not a ghost town full of old fogeys. Everytime I go out, I see a fair amount of potential.

 

[rugtrousers]

i'd like to hear about sf.

Okay, here goes, from the perspective of someone who lived in the Oakland area and worked in SF:

Pros:
-weather: it's pretty temperate all year round (i.e. not too hot, not too cold), though SF tends to be 10-20 cooler than the rest of the Bay Area. It's something like 50-60 degrees most of the year.
-food: amazing food from all over the world, and the produce can't be beat (esp. if you want organic). A great place to be a vegetarian.
-people: tend to be very chatty, warm and friendly.
-outdoors: absolutely F*ing gorgeous with ocean and mountains in your backyard and skiing a couple of hours away.
-diversity: breakdown is white (less than 50%)> Hispanic ~ Asian> Black
-sightseeing: GG Bridge, wine country, Alcatraz, Fisherman's Wharf...

Cons:
-money: MEDIAN home price is 700K; hope you like renting. Apt rates similar to Boston.
-transportation: dining and parking is difficult, and public transportation is expensive with spotty coverage.
-earthquakes: you get used to them, they don't happen THAT often.
-dating: better for single straight or bi- men than for straight women.

Other:
-SF is very gay-friendly (which I love), but it is something to know about
-politics lean WAY to the left (see above)

Hope this helps!