Finding housing

[surge]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I'm looking for general advice and thoughts on finding apartments as and incoming MS1.

How did you guys find your place? Did you do it once you came, or did you apartment browse before?
Pros and cons of living alone vs. having a roomate? How do you find that first roomate anyway?

Thanks! 😀

 

[CaptainAmerica]

If you can swing it, I recommend coming out beforehand and finding a place. It made my arrival in August a lot smoother and less stressful. This is especially true if you're attending in a city with a tight housing market. You don't want to still be stuck looking for a place once orientation/classes start.

CA

 

[Kazu]

Whether it is better to live off or on campus depends on your school. But having another med student for your first year is a good idea.

 

[J-Brow]

Sometimes med admissions offices keep a list of potential roommates - contact the person at the front desk to see if they have any such list. Also, you may want to try a website like rent.com to look for apartments.

 

[Dodge This]

I was having a horrible time finding a place (but I had something pretty specific in mind) that I caved and paid an agency for rental listings. Turned out that there were a lot of availabilities that weren't listed in the local newspaper and that I wouldn't have had any idea about without paying for the listing.

 

[surge]

Thanks guys!

Hey, DT, how much are we talking here (I've never used a listing agency before)?

 

[USeF]

I had mad hook-ups
(1) The med school office compiles a list of potential roomates from the class, with living, cleanly, and $$ preferences
(2) There is a listhost for the class made in the summer to discuss potential places to live/how to get there etc.
(3) an on-line marketplace with places for rent: marketplace.uchicago.edu

Though I would've been happy living with many of my classmates, I'm SOOO much happier living with the two 2nd year MA students I'm with now. Meeting a whole different crowd of people, have a couple guys to speak about everything BUT medicine with and they already knew the area.