Preparing to start med school in Chicago! After living alone during my gap year I've realized how much calmer and in control of my schedule I feel when living alone. I want to set myself up for mental success going into med school, but looking at rent prices I don't know if it is really feasible. Taking out the full loans available I'm looking at a budget of about 2,300/month. I also have some savings that I could start dipping into during school (~15,000). Studio/1 BR rent near my campus is at LEAST 1,300/month. I'm prepared to be frugal during these years, but can someone weigh in? Is this unrealistic? Should I just suck it up and join roommates (Save maybe 300/month)? I just don't know what to expect in terms of how much I will be spending outside of food/rent... Thanks for any help 🙂
Living alone worth the price?
- Thread starter zanadoo
- Start date
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2018
- Messages
- 285
- Reaction score
- 806
If the difference is only $300 per month to live alone, that is absolutely worth it. That ends up being ~15k before interest to be able to live on your own for 4 full years. Let's say that total amount goes up to 20K after interest, thats still only 5-10% of your annual salary as an attending (~1 months work). That is completely worth it in my opinion and a no brainer to improve your quality of life for a full 4 years.
If we were talking about ~$1,000 per month difference I might consider toughing it out and living with roommates, but I think for only $300 per month, you'll be very happy in the long run choosing to live alone, if that will make your life better/more comfortable in medical school.
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2016
- Messages
- 653
- Reaction score
- 1,591
The only reason to be excessively frugal during med school is if you plan to make a major purchase just afterwards (e.g., purchase a house for residency). This applies to MD/PhDs and older students with substantial savings from a past career or a spouse earning some money while you're in school.
Not sure I fully agree with @Dr. Doctor MD on the absolute numbers. You have to consider what that money would be worth if you instead invested it. A better perspective would be that you have $20K less to invest after residency. If you plan to work for 30 years as an attending before retiring (32 -> 62), then that money will be worth ~$150-160K at retirement, accounting for inflation. So you can think of it one of three ways.
Living alone for 4 years will cost you
1) $6,000 per year in retirement spending OR
2) An extra ~1/2 year of working before you retire
3) An extra $20K of belt-tightening at the start of your career as an attending (which is hard to quantify, because it's hard to say how much you "would have" spent without the extra debt).
This is a high estimate as there are ways to spread out payments strategically, avoid tax, get loan forgiveness, etc... There are always a million scenarios in personal finance, but overall the consequences of this are hashed out in terms of long-term wealth gains.
Overall, the numbers still point overwhelmingly towards spending the money and gaining peace of mind for 4 years (and likely better performance in school).
Not sure I fully agree with @Dr. Doctor MD on the absolute numbers. You have to consider what that money would be worth if you instead invested it. A better perspective would be that you have $20K less to invest after residency. If you plan to work for 30 years as an attending before retiring (32 -> 62), then that money will be worth ~$150-160K at retirement, accounting for inflation. So you can think of it one of three ways.
Living alone for 4 years will cost you
1) $6,000 per year in retirement spending OR
2) An extra ~1/2 year of working before you retire
3) An extra $20K of belt-tightening at the start of your career as an attending (which is hard to quantify, because it's hard to say how much you "would have" spent without the extra debt).
This is a high estimate as there are ways to spread out payments strategically, avoid tax, get loan forgiveness, etc... There are always a million scenarios in personal finance, but overall the consequences of this are hashed out in terms of long-term wealth gains.
Overall, the numbers still point overwhelmingly towards spending the money and gaining peace of mind for 4 years (and likely better performance in school).
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2017
- Messages
- 899
- Reaction score
- 1,722
It's a personal decision, OP, but I'd personally take a 1BR at $1300/mo over having a roommate at $650/mo, let alone $1000/mo.
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2018
- Messages
- 393
- Reaction score
- 558
Roommate is good if you know the person and is a study buddy.
Otherwise it's terrible trying to stay quiet at night or smelling the cooking distracting you or hearing all the farting through the thin walls....
Get the single room... for the love of AT stills
Otherwise it's terrible trying to stay quiet at night or smelling the cooking distracting you or hearing all the farting through the thin walls....
Get the single room... for the love of AT stills
Last edited:
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2008
- Messages
- 40,962
- Reaction score
- 24,965
You do have to take the city you’re living in into account, and Chicago is obviously one of the more expensive places to live in the country. I would really try to live alone unless you really know the person you’d be living with, but of course the bottom line is you need to live within your means and decide how to allocate your budget.
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2010
- Messages
- 5,049
- Reaction score
- 6,078
I come into this conversation with the experience of having lived with 10 roommates over the span of my life so this might be interesting/useful to someone thinking about a roommate. Ultimately, it's an individual decision, but my approach always has been to live with someone I find easy going who I don't really consider as a best friend. It saves a decent amount of money over this span (undergrad-fellowship) to have a roommate and I personally like the ability to walk out of my room and encounter another human. If you're not sure how you'll do, you're better off picking the safer option and living alone because most times the sanity will be worth the cost and transitioning mid-year could be chaotic and you can always change your mind between years.
The quality of my roommates has varied, but I have always picked someone in the medicine going through the same cycles as me so they're chill about a few dishes piling up because they understand what the study-exam cycle or working 6 days a week is like.
If you choose to live with a roommate I'd recommend:
-Finding someone in your class/program or someone who's going through the same cycles as you (study, exams, fun, repeat)
-Getting a 2bed-2bath arrangement to minimize common space and because two people keep bathrooms differently.
-Having some mutual agreements on guests. If you like studying quietly, watch out for those sneaky ones who seem quiet but host weekly board game parties with EtOH (Big Bang Theory mimickers). Not judging that lifestyle, just saying it can get loud.
-Having some common sense agreements on common area cleanliness.
-Trying to keep rules to a minimum (ex. avoid rules like: I take trash out this odd weeks, you do it on that even weeks) and be more flexible/forgiving about cleaning up when you get a chance and 10 times out of 10 (at least in my case), your roommate will take a mental note and return the favor. Things get busy, seasons change, moods change, habits fluctuate. The last thing you need is a passive aggressive sticky note from someone reminding you to do something. If for example, you're the type of person who is bothered if someone puts things on your side of the fridge or steals a random snack here and there (or if hearing flatulence is irksome as state above), you're probably better off living alone.
-Limiting codependency (ex. I shop this week, you shop that week) for the same reason as above. Buy your own ****. If you don't want your $3 protein bars eaten, put them in your room.
Above is just one way to do it. Others have roommed with people intending to be BFFLs and I have seen bimodal results (i.e. those who now are getting married with their roommates as a maid of honor vs. those who moved after a semester and don't want to talk about it).
The quality of my roommates has varied, but I have always picked someone in the medicine going through the same cycles as me so they're chill about a few dishes piling up because they understand what the study-exam cycle or working 6 days a week is like.
If you choose to live with a roommate I'd recommend:
-Finding someone in your class/program or someone who's going through the same cycles as you (study, exams, fun, repeat)
-Getting a 2bed-2bath arrangement to minimize common space and because two people keep bathrooms differently.
-Having some mutual agreements on guests. If you like studying quietly, watch out for those sneaky ones who seem quiet but host weekly board game parties with EtOH (Big Bang Theory mimickers). Not judging that lifestyle, just saying it can get loud.
-Having some common sense agreements on common area cleanliness.
-Trying to keep rules to a minimum (ex. avoid rules like: I take trash out this odd weeks, you do it on that even weeks) and be more flexible/forgiving about cleaning up when you get a chance and 10 times out of 10 (at least in my case), your roommate will take a mental note and return the favor. Things get busy, seasons change, moods change, habits fluctuate. The last thing you need is a passive aggressive sticky note from someone reminding you to do something. If for example, you're the type of person who is bothered if someone puts things on your side of the fridge or steals a random snack here and there (or if hearing flatulence is irksome as state above), you're probably better off living alone.
-Limiting codependency (ex. I shop this week, you shop that week) for the same reason as above. Buy your own ****. If you don't want your $3 protein bars eaten, put them in your room.
Above is just one way to do it. Others have roommed with people intending to be BFFLs and I have seen bimodal results (i.e. those who now are getting married with their roommates as a maid of honor vs. those who moved after a semester and don't want to talk about it).
Last edited:
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2020
- Messages
- 72
- Reaction score
- 153
I lived alone during first year, moved further away to stay with my parents during my second year, and then moved in with 2 of my classmates during 3rd and 4th year since we were in the same area for rotations.
Tbh all years were great for me in terms of living. I loved my living in an apartment right next to school during first year since there were a ton of required days/classes, and I got to meet and hang out with my classmates at school, but could just got home myself and decompress. During second year, living at home was great cause I only had to go in occasionally and rent was free. And moving in with 2 classmates during rotations was great because they were awesome.
I think really any living situation is fine. It's definitely nice to save a buck, but I think that living with people you don't know is kinda like a box of chocolates - you just never know what you're gonna get.
Tbh all years were great for me in terms of living. I loved my living in an apartment right next to school during first year since there were a ton of required days/classes, and I got to meet and hang out with my classmates at school, but could just got home myself and decompress. During second year, living at home was great cause I only had to go in occasionally and rent was free. And moving in with 2 classmates during rotations was great because they were awesome.
I think really any living situation is fine. It's definitely nice to save a buck, but I think that living with people you don't know is kinda like a box of chocolates - you just never know what you're gonna get.
It's all a matter of cost benefit. If the mental health benefit to you of living alone is huge, then you should do it. If the marginal $300 means a lot, then take that. I know you don't have an income now but a good rule of thumb for residency and beyond is that rent should be 30% of your gross income. Any more and you're paying too much (excepting certain high COL areas where it's not going to be possible to meet that). It's not the worse thing in the world to be paying too much but in terms of budgeting, it does mean that you have less money for other things.
At the end of the day, whichever option you choose, you will be able to sign a 12 month lease on it and re-examine your situation in a year. You'll still have time since you're in pre-clinical and if you need to move, you can.
At the end of the day, whichever option you choose, you will be able to sign a 12 month lease on it and re-examine your situation in a year. You'll still have time since you're in pre-clinical and if you need to move, you can.
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2009
- Messages
- 8,866
- Reaction score
- 8,266
Something to keep in mind, whatever decision you make, you aren’t locked into for all 4 years.
- Joined
- May 6, 2019
- Messages
- 431
- Reaction score
- 843
Sounds like you have a good grasp of budgeting, which is a skill that many people don’t have. I would just caution that whatever you think something is going to cost in Chicago and budget for, expect to add at least 10% extra to that cost now. Chicago is expensive and Illinois as a whole loves the policy of taxing more and more to try to save its horrible financial state.
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2019
- Messages
- 51
- Reaction score
- 95
I think a roommate works well if you know you're compatible. So basically if you already know someone or you get to know them well in advance. Make sure they have similar values on cleanliness and are on generally the same schedule. Ive had a roommate for the last two years and probably will keep the same one the next two years, it's been great for me but I'm sure there are horror stories from others. Just depends on the people trying to make it work.
On another note, not sure if you're originally from around chicago but I've been there my entire life and currently a med student in the area. Feel free to PM me if you want information on the city if you're a new transplant.
On another note, not sure if you're originally from around chicago but I've been there my entire life and currently a med student in the area. Feel free to PM me if you want information on the city if you're a new transplant.
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2021
- Messages
- 4,923
- Reaction score
- 4,497
Depends, for some people that 300 could wind up being negative savings at some point. If ever had to live with a roommate again it would end up costing more because I know that I would be staying at a hotel 8 times a month or so when I’m annoyed or stressed or something. So if this is like you, it would be a net loss
