Moving to Sydney

[Saint_Ryan]

I will be moving to Sydney in mid to late January to begin med school. Can anyone give any advice about where/how to look for an apartment, how much I should expect to pay and...most importantly, how much should I expect to take out in loans? (Cost of living + cost of med school.)

Any and all help is much appreciated.

I couldn't find too much information on the 'Clinical Schools', so I chose Central (1st) and Northern (2nd). What can I expect?

Cheers,
Ryan

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[Dapo]

I'm a Sydneysider and hope to be going to do the GMP next year (find out tomorrow hopefully!)


Depends on what you like when choosing an apartment. If you like inner-city living, then there's heaps of places around USyd. But if you like a more "leafy" and less gritty existence, there's heaps on the lower north shore which would be good. A ten minute or so train trip to near USyd away. Depends on what you're after as to what you will have to pay. If you're sharing you're looking at anything from AUD100 to AUD200 per week. If one bedroom apartment, you're looking at anything from AUD190 to AUD400. Check out www.domain.com.au, which has heaps of apartments advertised. Near Sydney Uni some good places can be found in Newtown, Camperdown, Annandale, and Glebe. On the north shore (which I personally much prefer), Crows Nest and St Leonards (right near Royal North Shore), as well as Waverton, Wollstonecraft, North Sydney, and Kirribilli are good.

Re the clinical schools - RPA (Central) is right next door to USyd and is a big hospital with a good rep. RNS is right near St Leonards station and is a big hospital with a good rep too. At RNS and RPA new facilities are being built as we speak. I've spoken to people about both clinical schools, and to be honest they've said that both have positives and negatives. I've heard at RPA an advantage is that the tutors are actually specialist consultants, whereas at RNS they may not necessarily be that. However, I've also heard RNS treats its students better (I went to the "open day" and was suitably impressed with the "set-up"). So I really think it's hard to separate them, and depends on what is more convenient.

If you have any more questions just drop me a line at [email protected]

Cheers.

 

[Dapo]

Cost of living - depends on what style of "living" you're used to obviously. Not sure where you're coming from (if U.S. then you're at an advantage already due to exchange rate), but Sydney isn't as expensive as some people think. Good quality and cheap food abounds. Transport is reasonable, especially for students. A movie costs AUD10.50 for a student. A draught (tap) beer costs about $2.50 or so for a schooner (think that's about 2/3 of a pint). Food and drink at USyd is also cheapish, as it's subsidised to a certain extent by the union. Weekly train tickets from the North Shore to USyd are about AUD12. Private health insurance for a relatively healthy young single is about $10 a week. A decent meal (entree and main) in a middle of the road but quite nice restaurant would probably be about $25. Probably your biggest expense will be accomodation.

 

[Scalpel]

I, too, am a Sydneysider hoping to get into medicine next year.

Has anybody received their acceptance letter yet?

 

[Dapo]

Nah, is sent this arvo and should get to you tomorrow if you're in Sydney (not sure if you're out in the sticks of Sydney, but I'd say anywhere within 15 or so km's you should be fine).

Good luck!

 

[Scalpel]

Good luck to you too, Dapo.

Yes, I finally spoke to a human voice today (after having listened to a recorded message for the n-nth time) concerning the above. The admissions officer indeed mentioned that letters would be sent out this afternoon.

Can't wait...the culmination of several years of study coming to a (happy ) close.

 

[Dapo]

Yep, fingers crossed. It's out of our hands now anyhow, so suppose we've just gotta wait and see!

 

[Saint_Ryan]

Good luck guys...waiting is such a mind killer.

 

[Scalpel]

Guys, I'm in!!!!

I just received my letter and I have finally made into medicine. (Hopefully) it can only get better from here.

 

[Dapo]

Hey congrats Scalpel!

I haven't received anything yet. I in inner-Sydney and I rang them and they said that they'd sent all of them at 4pm on Thursday afternoon.

Guess I'll have to wait 'til Monday!

 

[freesia]

Hi Ryan and congrats to all of you on your way to Sydney next year.
I'm just coming to the end of the first year of the course--it'll be really nice not to be a first year soon..
It's a good time of year to look for accommodation in Sydney because a lot of studes are moving out in the next few weeks and places and rooms are becoming available.
Saturday's Sydney Morning Herald, crappy parochial rag that it is, has a huge real estate section. Looking in the rentals section ("Flats or Houses To Let") will give you an idea of what's available for what price.
I think Sydney's hell-expensive myself, but I'm living on a student benefit with occasional bits of extra work. Certainly housing close to campus in Newtown and Glebe is pretty poor value. Some of the places are in barely livable condition. But you can get lucky, it's a renters market. If you're lucky enough to be coming from the States you'll find prices are about the same but your money's worth twice as much.

 

[The Pill Counter]

hey, I like the Morning Herald, try lilving with the Courier Mail and you'll be thankful.

 

[Doctoring]

Worse still, try the Adelaide advertiser....
Good luck everyone, my only advice if you get in is to remember how it feels, in a few years time when you're facing a God awful set of exams it's nice to remember how excited you were to get in at all!!!