Living arrangements in med school?

[MNsocsci]

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I'm curious about SDNers' living arrangement plans for med school. I'm trying to decide whether to get my own apartment or find a roommate. So... what are your plans?

 

[ND2005]

All by myself...

Here's why:

1) Don't want to have to deal with the freshman-year-of-undergrad-total-stranger-weirdo-roommate situation all over again, especially when I'm dealing with the stress of 1st year

2) Want my space -- want to have a sort of med-school-stress-free sanctuary I can come home to

3) Hoping to get pulled off a waitlist...easier to scramble for a last-minute place if I'm going it alone.

 

[browniegirl86]

I'm hoping to find a roommate:

- Bigger apartment for less money
- Split the bills
- Someone to *hopefully* help with my dog, and even better, who has a dog of his/her own
- The thought of living alone is kind of depressing to me (I've never done it)

 

[MNsocsci]

Thanks, ND and browniegirl. Yeah, I'm debating finding a roommate. I, like many people, have had some nightmare experiences with roommates in college and I'm not anxious to repeat that. I was sort of hoping that if I roomed with a fellow med student though, we would be more likely to have stuff in common and not have as many conflicts as a totally random stranger, but I realize that med students can be very different from each other. I agree that I don't want any added stress of living with a stranger on top of med school.

On the other hand, I've never lived alone, and I wonder if it would get lonely. It can be nice to come home after a long day and chat or make a meal with a roommate. Anyway... just some of my thoughts.

What about the rest of you? What is influencing your choices?

 

[thehero5000]

I'm alreay going to be paying so much money for school, why would I want to pay the extra $$$ for a single? Definitely living with roomate(s)

 

[jbrice1639]

i'll be living with my wife, but if i were single, i'd definitely get a place with a friend who wasn't in medicine so i'd have a life outside med school at home. i don't think i could handle living with another med student though...to much anxiety and stress for one apartment 🙂

 

[somewhere2010]

if i'm in ann arbor, i totally want a roomie to split an apt with...if i'm in NYC, i'll be in my very own teeny tiny dorm room with lots of other M1s around 🙂 i couldn't bear to really live by myself, so i feel like either situation would provide enough constant social interaction for me!

 

[Thundrstorm]

Will be living alone. I like having my own space, I've had bad roommate experiences in the past, I want to decorate how I want to decorate and clean when I want to clean and watch tv at 2am with every light in the apartment on if I feel like it. Plus, the only people I know out in Chicago are future classmates who I've met for a few days... not long enough to know if I'd want to live with them.

 

[IHaveLab]

Way too broke to live alone--roommate, here I come!

 

[Rogue Synapse]

Yeah, everything gets split when you live alone - utilities, rent, everything. How can you not have a roommate? Plus, I don't know about all you loners out there, but my personality is such that I have to have someone to bitch to at the end of a long day. Someone to goof off with. Another thing - I'm a guy who has lived with two girls for the past two years. They're my best friends, but when the fit hits the shan, you might want to keep someone of the same sex around just to have someone of like-minded consciousness to sympathize with you. That, and I'm freakin tired of soap opera, figure skating, and running out of hot water from their 40 minute showers.

 

[BlazerMed]

Will be living with my wife. If I was single, I'm not sure what I'd do. Living alone wouldn't be the most financially wise thing to do, but in 4 years of undergrad, I didn't have a single good roommate. There were some good friends in there, but none were good to live with.

 

[kalenakai]

I would like to live with a roommate(s), especially if I stay home in Hawaii. Given the high cost of living and ridiculously high housing market, it would be financially wise to either stay home or live with friends. I would prefer the latter. Ideally, some place close and convenient for school and rotations, shared common space, and a bedroom for each. That way, we could get the best of both worlds: company, companionship, privacy, sharing of costs. Now if I were to go away for school where I didn't really know one, I'd probably reconsider and go the "living alone" route, or conduct a roommate screening process on Craigslist or something.

 

[lookslikerain]

It depends on where I end up. At the school I'm considering now, I'd live in the dorms because it's the cheapest option and convenient. If I get in off the waitlist at my top choice, I'd want to live in an apt with 1 or 2 roommates (although it will be hard to find roommates if I get in late). Again because it's cheaper and I've lived alone before and didn't like it at all.

 

[OctoDoc]

Living with the wife. But if I were single, I'd get my own place. If I wanted company, I'm sure that friends/fellow classmates are in the same apartment building, or are within walking distance, a bike ride, or a short car ride away.

 

[Bluntman]

I'm renting a studio (hopefully) in UCLA-affiliated housing for the first year. Then I think I'm gonna try to buy a condo (with help from my family) and get one or two of my med school friends to move in with me to help with the mortgage.

 

[rup47]

I'm will be living in the same place as I am now with 2 roomates both of whom are working. I guess I got lucky and will be going to a med school less than 10 min away from where I live now.

 

[oxeye]

I'll be doing what I do now - living in my house with my husband, two kids, three dogs, parrot, and fish.

 

[Risa]

Mine wasn't an option in your poll... dorm room! 😱

 

[MNsocsci]

Mine wasn't an option in your poll... dorm room! 😱

Oops. Sorry, Risa. I guess I kind of got tunnel vision because the med schools I'm considering don't have dorms. Consider that "other."

 

[PurpleHaze]

I figure I'm going to have enough adjusting to do with a new place, new school, new state, etc... no point in adding a roommate to the mix. But at the same time, I've been living by myself for the past year and I love the solitude!

 

[SalseraDoctora]

Yeah, everything gets split when you live alone - utilities, rent, everything. How can you not have a roommate? Plus, I don't know about all you loners out there, but my personality is such that I have to have someone to bitch to at the end of a long day. Someone to goof off with. Another thing - I'm a guy who has lived with two girls for the past two years. They're my best friends, but when the fit hits the shan, you might want to keep someone of the same sex around just to have someone of like-minded consciousness to sympathize with you. That, and I'm freakin tired of soap opera, figure skating, and running out of hot water from their 40 minute showers.

Oh my gosh too funny! My boyfriend assures me that he loves watching ice dancing, shows about makeovers, and the latest self-help advice from Oprah, so I don't know what you're talking about. 😉

No seriously living with women definitely has its pluses and minuses. Women = much cleaner, possibly much more drama. Men=zero drama (usually) but also zero cleaning. Ideally I would have one female roomate and one male roommate (in a 3 bedroom 3 bathroom place).

 

[SalseraDoctora]

Although that said my worst roommate ever was female and she wasn't at all clean. So you never really know. Although the chances of my stumbling upon another nymphomaniac pschyopath for a roommate are relatively slim (I hope) 😳

 

[OctoDoc]

Yeah, everything gets split when you live alone - utilities, rent, everything. How can you not have a roommate? Plus, I don't know about all you loners out there, but my personality is such that I have to have someone to bitch to at the end of a long day. Someone to goof off with. Another thing - I'm a guy who has lived with two girls for the past two years. They're my best friends, but when the fit hits the shan, you might want to keep someone of the same sex around just to have someone of like-minded consciousness to sympathize with you. That, and I'm freakin tired of soap opera, figure skating, and running out of hot water from their 40 minute showers.

That sounds kind of girly! (I'm just having fun with you, no malice intended!)

 

[MoxieDO]

I am only child, I NEED my space! I had roomates for the past four years, no more! I hope to find an all bills paid kinda place to reduce the time spent worrying about water/electricity/waste, etc.

 

[SuziQ]

I don't ever want to live alone...I love having my own bedroom (and bathroom is nice too) in a shared apartment...living alone is too scary!!! 😳

 

[lilnoelle]

I'll be living with my husband and children but if I were single, I'd live alone. Its easy enough to go out and find people to hang out with, but I want to be about to go home and lock it out if I want to as well. And also, living in a crowded place with a husband, a VERY loud toddler and a colicky infant really made me realize how nice independence can be. 🙂

 

[pnasty]

a single for now because of waitlist stuff, could change if i find out things quickly tho

 

[ND2005]

Yeah, everything gets split when you live alone - utilities, rent, everything. How can you not have a roommate? Plus, I don't know about all you loners out there, but my personality is such that I have to have someone to bitch to at the end of a long day. Someone to goof off with. Another thing - I'm a guy who has lived with two girls for the past two years. They're my best friends, but when the fit hits the shan, you might want to keep someone of the same sex around just to have someone of like-minded consciousness to sympathize with you. That, and I'm freakin tired of soap opera, figure skating, and running out of hot water from their 40 minute showers.

See...that's where I'm opposite. I think I could actually live with a girl -- I've just always gotten along better with girls (my next door neighbors on one side growing up had 3 girls; on the other side had 4 girls; across the street had 2 girls; maybe that has something to do with it?). But I don't think my girlfriend would be very comfortable with the idea of me living with another girl while she and I are doing the long-distance thing for a year, so I'm not really considering that option (the only way I'd consider it was if I was in a house or something with more than 1 roomie).

 

[happydays]

I would live away from myma, but I haven't been weened. 🙁

 

[n3ur05ur930n]

Thanks, ND and browniegirl. Yeah, I'm debating finding a roommate. I, like many people, have had some nightmare experiences with roommates in college and I'm not anxious to repeat that. I was sort of hoping that if I roomed with a fellow med student though, we would be more likely to have stuff in common and not have as many conflicts as a totally random stranger, but I realize that med students can be very different from each other. I agree that I don't want any added stress of living with a stranger on top of med school.

On the other hand, I've never lived alone, and I wonder if it would get lonely. It can be nice to come home after a long day and chat or make a meal with a roommate. Anyway... just some of my thoughts.

What about the rest of you? What is influencing your choices?

I've done both in NYC during both my postbacc program and during this past lag year following. While I was in school I was in a small (read: tiny) dorm room on an all girls floor with common bathroom and kitchen on the floor. I thought the arrangement was perfect because I could always have my space and independence and my room was arranged as a studying sanctuary (I can't study in the library) so that was absolutely paramount. However, I had the best of both worlds because there was a common living room and you were never alone because there were always floormates around. Plus, with university housing you are billed by semester to your university bill, which is HUGE in terms of being a student since you pay your rent in a lump sum with your finAid at the beginning of the semester and then no longer have to worry about it.

Later after my program I had to move out of university housing and I moved into a huge 1 bedroom by myself. It was a gorgeous apartment but very expensive and I really had to watch my finances to pay rent every month. It was nice to have total freedom and independence to have male friends over, or run around naked, etc, but it was definitely lonely. I have a cat so that lessened the loneliness but overall yes you do get lonely (I don't have a boyfriend so that wasn't there to buffer the loneliness.).

Since January I am living with a roommate whom I found on Craigslist and though ordinarily we would never have been friends because I'm med school bound and she is a dancer and never went to college and we are just from different worlds, I absolutely adore her. I thought it would be tough to be subject to someone else but the only time it was a problem was when I was studying for interviews and she is the kind of person who ALWAYS has the t.v. on 24/7. When I study I have to have total silence or I can't concentrate and I can only study at home, so this was a concern for me. However, I spoke to her about it and she was respectful and reduced the volume and I closed my door. All in all, it is really nice to come home and not be alone, and I have become fond of regaling her with stories of all of my adventures (I don't have many female friends). Cleaning and chores are much easier too when you can share the responsibilities. And living is soooo much cheaper this way that I am able to really get out and enjoy NYC so much more since I've moved in with her. Plus she has a little dog and I think it is nice for my cat to have company too. I always felt guilty he was home alone all day while I was at work.

So all in all, I think having a roommate is just fine as long as you are able to study, since that is the reason you are there and should be your number one priority. On the downside, it is tough to bring boys home but I will be the first to tell you it *can* be done respectfully. I do think it is worthwhile to save the extra money and not be lonely!

Personally, I would be fine with a roommate as long as I can have silent study time. The deciding factor for me will be whether I am allowed to have a pet in dorms, which is usually a problem.

I'd say if nothing else, try it out at first. You will be new there and it will be nice to have someone around before you become established and build your own new friendships. You can always opt out later.

Either way, don't worry about it too much because you can always change later on. Generally though its easier to switch from roommate to single than the other way around, since with a roommie you may not have to commit to signing a one year lease.

Good luck!