No car in med school

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ViergeEnnuyeuse

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I'm not sure if this is the appropriate place to post this. I'm an MS1 and I don't have a car. Actually, I've never owned a car. I worked all throughout college but the money went to my tuition because it was an overpriced private university. Even with working, I still have undergrad loans that will eventually need to be repaid. My parents have money problems so they can't contribute to any car fund.

I've made it this far in med school without a car because I live with a roommate who has one. However, they actually work more hours at their job than I do at school so I have more free time. It's really hard to rely on them for transportation since they work so much.

I'm really REALLY tempted to get a small loan and buy a used car. Is this a good idea? With all of my loans from undergrad and med school, it will just be a drop in the bucket. I'll have to factor in car insurance into my budget but hopefully that won't be too big of a deal.

By the way, I live in a huge city but the public transportation system sucks.

Thanks!

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Depends...how far will you be living from campus? You say the public transport system "sucks," but does it at least run during decent hours and will it get you where you need to go?

Can you afford a car (via loans) with financial aid? Or a car loan?
 
Just curious... are you living in LA (the only big city I can think of that has bad pub transp)?
 
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I live 5 miles away from the school and I take a bus to get to and fro my apartment. It takes roughly 30 minutes to get to school. I don't have any real complaints about getting to school because at least there's transportation to get there, although the buses run 30 min apart from each other on my route.

It's a different story when it comes to running errands and grocery shopping. I would have to do a lot of waiting and bus hopping just to get to a grocery store. I don't even know how I would manage to carry all of the groceries home on the bus. There just isn't enough room plus I can't carry all of the heavy bags.
 
Looking a few years down the road, will you be able to function without a car in years 3 and 4? Will public transportation be able to get you to and from the hospitals you will rotate through at all hours of the day?
 
If the places where you need to run errands are closer than your school, get a bike (5 miles is bit far to ride). You can get a used one and fix it up with some panniers or baskets for less than $100. No gas, no insurance, and you get some exercise. If you have warm clothing, winter shouldn't be a problem. Just don't ride around during a blizzard.
 
I'm not sure if this is the appropriate place to post this. I'm an MS1 and I don't have a car. Actually, I've never owned a car. I worked all throughout college but the money went to my tuition because it was an overpriced private university. Even with working, I still have undergrad loans that will eventually need to be repaid. My parents have money problems so they can't contribute to any car fund.

I've made it this far in med school without a car because I live with a roommate who has one. However, they actually work more hours at their job than I do at school so I have more free time. It's really hard to rely on them for transportation since they work so much.

I'm really REALLY tempted to get a small loan and buy a used car. Is this a good idea? With all of my loans from undergrad and med school, it will just be a drop in the bucket. I'll have to factor in car insurance into my budget but hopefully that won't be too big of a deal.

By the way, I live in a huge city but the public transportation system sucks.

Thanks!

This is pretty much the same situation that I was (am) in. I have never owned a car in my life. In college it wasn't too hard to go without it because I lived on campus and I had roommates and friends who had them, and it was never hard to find a ride to any place.

I am nearing the end of MS1 and I still do not own a car (my parents can't help me with too much money so I need to wait until I can afford it on my own). I also live in a big city in the South where public transportation is not very good, and the city is *not* bike-friendly at all. So far I have managed, but it's hard. I HATE not having a car. I have found that it's much harder in medical school to rely on people for favors since everyone is so busy, the class size is smaller, and the city is big. I have no problems getting to school during the week since I live close by, but walking there still takes me ~30 minutes each way (advantage: built-in exercise program ;) ). I have the most problem when it comes to other things: going grocery shopping, being able to get out of my apartment once in a while, etc. I use taxis a lot but it can get expensive. I can't wait to get a car so I can stop having to ask for favors to unreliable and sometimes unwilling people...I'm sick of that.

Definitely get a car if you can afford it. Not having one is manageable, but it's not easy and you end up feeling very frustrated at times. Med school is hard enough without all the added frustrations that come with being constrained in terms of transportation.
 
I totally feel ya. I'm in same position except I live in Chicago so the public transit system is pretty decent, though it is hell during winter. I think you can easily get by m1 and m2 year with no car but you definitely might need a car 3rd and 4th year if all your rotations aren't in one place. I'm an m2 and I still have never owned a car in my life, but I am considering setting aside some loan money that I have left over to invest in a used car for m3 and m4 year.

Being in this situation now will make us appreciate that first car so much more. I'm all for adversity.

I'm not sure if this is the appropriate place to post this. I'm an MS1 and I don't have a car. Actually, I've never owned a car. I worked all throughout college but the money went to my tuition because it was an overpriced private university. Even with working, I still have undergrad loans that will eventually need to be repaid. My parents have money problems so they can't contribute to any car fund.

I've made it this far in med school without a car because I live with a roommate who has one. However, they actually work more hours at their job than I do at school so I have more free time. It's really hard to rely on them for transportation since they work so much.

I'm really REALLY tempted to get a small loan and buy a used car. Is this a good idea? With all of my loans from undergrad and med school, it will just be a drop in the bucket. I'll have to factor in car insurance into my budget but hopefully that won't be too big of a deal.

By the way, I live in a huge city but the public transportation system sucks.

Thanks!
 
Don't know if you have considered this, but have you thought about getting a motorcycle or moped. I know the stereotypes of these forms of transportation, but you can find either really cheap and they will get you to and from places like the grocery store/bank/... If you plan accordingly, you can pick up small loads of groceries, every couple of days to keep the load down and use a backpack and/or saddlebags. I have a neighbor that has done this for years (he also rides his bike the 10 miles to and from work everyday).

Just an idea I hadn't heard others say yet.

*Totally feel your pain on the crappy pubtrans, where i live we barely can call ours public transportation
 
Yeah, if you live in a relatively warm climate, I think a motorcycle or decent scooter is your best choice. If you live in a place where it ever snows, I'd get a car. Check out http://craigslist.org and pick your city and look at the car ads. You can definitely get a car that will be in reasonable driving condition for $3000. I certainly don't think it's an irresponsible financial decision if it will save you a lot of time otherwise spent navigating your city's poor public transit.
 
If the places where you need to run errands are closer than your school, get a bike (5 miles is bit far to ride). You can get a used one and fix it up with some panniers or baskets for less than $100. No gas, no insurance, and you get some exercise. If you have warm clothing, winter shouldn't be a problem. Just don't ride around during a blizzard.

Agreed. Most big cities with bad public transit are in warm climates anyway. Five miles is a 30 minute ride at a reasonably leisurely pace, so you don't save time, but you'll be amazed at how much nicer it is to ride than to take the bus or a car. If you're not going to change on each end, I'd recommend finding a bike with a chain guard so you don't smear up your pants. Or go to nashbar.com or performancebike.com and get some cheap velcro ankle bands. Also consider getting some bolt-on skewers so you don't have to lock up your wheels on each end, and get a small u-lock and just lock up any part of the frame to whatever's around (or look up the "Sheldon Brown method"). Saves time and the weight of a big lock.

Ari
 
You are most likely going to need a car for your third/fourth year. Even if you managed to have ALL of your rotations at the same nearby hospital that you could walk/bike/get public transport to (which is highly unlikely), you would probably have to go to some satellite locations on certain days (especially for outpatient) that wouldn't be as accessible. And do you really want to be walking/biking to your surgery rotation at 4 in the morning when public transportation isn't running yet? It would be nice to walk/bike/take public transportation to work, but as a third/fourth year med student your schedule is so variable and you have so little control over it that attempting to do so without having a car as a backup plan would be more work than its worth. Every one of my classmates who did not own a car in first or second year had to buy one for rotations. Save yourself the headache of trying to get all of your errands done on foot/bike during the first two years of med school and get a car (or motorcycle if you wish) now as you will need one later.
 
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