Living with roommates vs living alone for M1

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parquetshorts

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Hey everyone, I'll be starting M1 this Fall, and was wondering if anyone had advice on whether it's best to get roommates to save on loan costs, or to spend a little extra to live alone and have more peace of mind. Obviously, this is fairly personal decision that I'm sure will vary based on folks' preferences, but I'm curious to hear about other people's living experiences during M1.

Personally, I'm a pretty frugal person and have always lived with roommates to save money, but I'll be moving back to my home state for med school, and as I'll be saving quite a bit in tuition compared to my OOS options, I'd be willing to ball out for a a nicer place if need be. Let me know what you guys think!
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I lived alone and I couldn't imagine things any other way. Zero distractions. Could study when I wanted. Did not have to work around anyone's schedule.

I think it lowered stress too especially if you're stuck navigating relationships with strangers and potentially walking on eggshells over music and guests or whatever.

I think it's okay to splurge on comfort during medical school. School is gonna make you uncomfortable the rest of the time, often deliberately.
 
parquetshorts said:
Hey everyone, I'll be starting M1 this Fall, and was wondering if anyone had advice on whether it's best to get roommates to save on loan costs, or to spend a little extra to live alone and have more peace of mind. Obviously, this is fairly personal decision that I'm sure will vary based on folks' preferences, but I'm curious to hear about other people's living experiences during M1.

Personally, I'm a pretty frugal person and have always lived with roommates to save money, but I'll be moving back to my home state for med school, and as I'll be saving quite a bit in tuition compared to my OOS options, I'd be willing to ball out for a a nicer place if need be. Let me know what you guys think!
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Exactly as bolded. Since the above perspective is represented, I'll give my two cents. I think that it's very smart to live with someone from your medical school. 2 Beds, 2 Baths is the way to go. You have similar schedules, have someone to semi-network and have small-talk with. I roomed with him all 4 years of medical school and would do it again. We were never best friends but he's now a friend I talk to from time to time. Never had a single complaint about noise when we were living together. I could always message him if I needed help with something on rare occasion and we could discuss it in the common area. The only thing that may be a concern is if you're both undercover gunners 🤣
 
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Have loved living with a classmate during med school. About to be an M4 and plan to stick with the same roommate next year too. 2 beds, 2 baths so we both have our own space, but it's great to have someone to come home to socialize with/vent to for a few minutes at the end of the day. I personally couldn't imagine how isolating it might be to come home to an empty apartment, but I'm very much a social person. We tend to study in the common space of our living room.
 
parquetshorts said:
Hey everyone, I'll be starting M1 this Fall, and was wondering if anyone had advice on whether it's best to get roommates to save on loan costs, or to spend a little extra to live alone and have more peace of mind. Obviously, this is fairly personal decision that I'm sure will vary based on folks' preferences, but I'm curious to hear about other people's living experiences during M1.
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I mean if I'm gonna be spending 300k whats the extra 30 or whatever? I prefer to live alone. So that's what I'll be doing.
 
As you'll see, answers will definitely vary. I lived with 2 second years as an M1, and got the lowdown on classes and surviving in general. Could not have done as well as I had otherwise. Had a solid friend group in both M1 and M2 years (their friends). I couldn't imagine living alone during one of the biggest learning curves there is. The personal interactions helped me survive a lot.
 
Depends on you as a person and if you’re tight on money.

I personally am difficult to live with and cannot imagine living with a peer. I like my stuff, I like where I put my stuff, and I like not having to factor another person into my schedule out of consideration.

However, one benefit of living with another person is if your school is known to form groups or cliques, which are most schools imho. Living with someone can help you “start” a clique. My school is a prime example.
 
sunshine859 said:
Have loved living with a classmate during med school. About to be an M4 and plan to stick with the same roommate next year too. 2 beds, 2 baths so we both have our own space, but it's great to have someone to come home to socialize with/vent to for a few minutes at the end of the day. I personally couldn't imagine how isolating it might be to come home to an empty apartment, but I'm very much a social person. We tend to study in the common space of our living room.
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It’s interesting to see everyone’s opinions. I don’t even think the dichotomy is introvert/extrovert. I’m a pretty big introvert and you seem like the opposite. I guess for me the savings is part of it. I honestly don’t see any downside to living with someone you can trust if we each have our own spacious room so I see it was a free 2K/year.
 
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onlyonestudent said:
Yup. The extra peace of mind (and flexibility if leaving near other students) is beyond worth it. If it translates into an extra 5 points on CK, less stress/drama, or better test scores (and possibly a more lucrative specialty making an extra $20k-50k/year) over 30 years that 30k investment pays off.

Boggles my mind sometimes seeing students pay $35-60k in tuition without question then question spending $500 on UWorld/B&B and considering squeezing 4 people into an apt to save a measly $300-$400/mo
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Genuinely curious to see how living alone can translate to all that. I think the people who spend less on housing/tuition (school of choice) are generally the same ones who tend to be frugal and don’t see the cognitive dissonance you pointed out. I went to my IS vs. my OOS, had a roommate but still lived comfortably and never cut corners on board prep, rarely ordered out, budgeted $100/week for gas/groceries/bills, but invested in a home gym, loans are repaid in full after 2 years of residency being frugal ($400/month with a roommate, similar budgeting) with all the remaining paycheck $ going to loans.

I also don’t think anyone here at least is trying to squeeze 4 into one apartment.
 
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I definitely plan to live alone. To me, home is solely a space to come back to at the end of day, decompress, and control things in the way that I want. I’m not even an introvert, but as someone who has had roommates all my life, I don’t see the benefit. It often becomes a lot of (a) hovering (b) clashing of how to maintain spaces and (c) shuffling of strangers in and out of the apartment in my experience. Don’t want to deal with it. I thrive on socializing, but it’s not needed in my few late night hours of personal time and space. So I’ve never understood the argument. If I want to see and talk to people, I would simply get out of the house. If you are sociable person, you will find a way to connect with people in your class.
 
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parquetshorts said:
Hey everyone, I'll be starting M1 this Fall, and was wondering if anyone had advice on whether it's best to get roommates to save on loan costs, or to spend a little extra to live alone and have more peace of mind. Obviously, this is fairly personal decision that I'm sure will vary based on folks' preferences, but I'm curious to hear about other people's living experiences during M1.

Personally, I'm a pretty frugal person and have always lived with roommates to save money, but I'll be moving back to my home state for med school, and as I'll be saving quite a bit in tuition compared to my OOS options, I'd be willing to ball out for a a nicer place if need be. Let me know what you guys think!
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If you're a bachelor I'd just get your own place.

If money is a concern, then just share with some classmates. The experience will be a huge toss-up depending on how you get on with your flatmates.

I lived in a Vietnamese homestay for a year during med school.
 
onlyonestudent said:
Live alone but in the same apartment building as other students. The $2-4k/year you'd save during M1 by living with roommate(s) is NOT worth it IMO. 4/5 of my med school friends ditched their roommate and lived alone after M1. Two were friends from undergrads. Peace of mind could be the difference between honoring, passing, or failing a block, and IMO its not worth the little savings.

There are so many small things that you/they might do that could irritate the other person. For example, I plan on walking up at 4 am, playing some music and cooking some food. If the roommate is a light sleeper and likes to wakes up at 11 am (our school is very flexible) then this could pose a problem.
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This right here!! I live alone but I have talked to a few classmates who are moving out and getting their own place because the roomate thing didn’t work for them. One specific person feels like it actually hindered them from doing their best due to personality clashes making things awkward. Personality and habits really matter to make a conducive living environment. You don’t realize how much you actually need to be successful in med school into you get in and start doing med school. It’s up to you but keep it in mind you can’t kick them out or tell them to do something different too often because they pay rent there too!
 
parquetshorts said:
Hey everyone, I'll be starting M1 this Fall, and was wondering if anyone had advice on whether it's best to get roommates to save on loan costs, or to spend a little extra to live alone and have more peace of mind. Obviously, this is fairly personal decision that I'm sure will vary based on folks' preferences, but I'm curious to hear about other people's living experiences during M1.

Personally, I'm a pretty frugal person and have always lived with roommates to save money, but I'll be moving back to my home state for med school, and as I'll be saving quite a bit in tuition compared to my OOS options, I'd be willing to ball out for a a nicer place if need be. Let me know what you guys think!
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I live with my fiancée who’s not a medical student. Most of my classmates live with other med students. I envy their ability to study and practice with each other. Also most of the apts here would yield closer to $500 in savings per month with a single roommate, more with more roommates. I hadn’t thought of it until reading this post but it’s very nice not to have to work with other people’s schedules or personalities. I’m not sure which I would prefer given the choice. Probably having a roommate if I knew them ahead of time.
 
Definitely alone if you can afford it. Keep in mind some schools will limit how much you can take out for rent unfortunately.
 
parquetshorts said:
Hey everyone, I'll be starting M1 this Fall, and was wondering if anyone had advice on whether it's best to get roommates to save on loan costs, or to spend a little extra to live alone and have more peace of mind. Obviously, this is fairly personal decision that I'm sure will vary based on folks' preferences, but I'm curious to hear about other people's living experiences during M1.

Personally, I'm a pretty frugal person and have always lived with roommates to save money, but I'll be moving back to my home state for med school, and as I'll be saving quite a bit in tuition compared to my OOS options, I'd be willing to ball out for a a nicer place if need be. Let me know what you guys think!
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I did both, in ms1-2 lived alone and Ms3 and 4 had two roommates. Both were great; alone as I would have my own space and could study without distraction and during clinical I would have friends to keep me sane/ go out with, etc
 
I will be living with my fiance, and it's sort of a hard sell to try to have a roommate when you are an established couple. We will be living alone for M1 year, which was a little difficult to deal with when everyone is saving with multiple people, but ultimately as a couple we should have the luxury of being able to live alone, especially since he has a career.

I have had way too many situations in undergrad of randoming my roommate and it not working out. People can be nice, but it's one thing being friends and another roommates. I would advice living alone M1 year just to find a real friend and see their place, how they live, etc who is compatible with your lifestyle and consider them for your coming years. At this point, most of us have played the roommate game in undergrad and we can allow ourselves the luxury of comfort in our living spaces in professional school.
 
My roommate is probably not someone j would have sought out to be friends with because I don’t think our social circles would have crossed at all. But we have lived together since M1 year (Almost M3 now) and I simply couldn’t be more grateful.

Your experience will greatly vary depending on the pairing(s) that I think you should consider how much of a hindrance other factors are and then work around that. E.g what is a realistic budget for you? Then see if that warrants a roommate or not.

Honestly I could not have foreseen how much I appreciate my roommate and even given the choice between my dearest friends in med school, I’d still pick living with him.

side note: with the whole make friends first and live with them after, I would caution not take lightly the risk of ruining a relationship with an established friend after living with them.
 
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