NYC IM housing

[wzrds23j]

Hi Guys,

I'm looking to go to one of the NYC IM programs (Columbia, Cornell, or other) but it seems like housing takes up most of your salary. How do people make ends meet? Anyone doing residency there who can share their experience? How much do people normally pay?

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[voidlogin]

Not in residency, but lived in nyc my whole life. You get two other roomies and live in a cramped apartment above 80th street. Good rule of thumb: the higher your street #--> the worst the neighborhood (in some cases it might be the "hood")--> the cheaper the rent. Initially you should not live above 125th street till you get used to the city. (Columbia Pres is 168th street). Dont be an idiot and live below 50th street (in order to live the glamorous NYC lifestyle) as it will bankrupt you very soon.

*Another rule of thumb, the lower your street #, the more tail you get. And if you live in a street with a name not a number (ie Chamber's Street, Wall Street, near all the invest banks) you will be golden. When you come to NYC, the first thing women will ask you is "Where do you live?" which is code for "how much do you make?"

 

[gutonc]

Hi Guys,

I'm looking to go to one of the NYC IM programs (Columbia, Cornell, or other) but it seems like housing takes up most of your salary. How do people make ends meet? Anyone doing residency there who can share their experience? How much do people normally pay?

Many of these programs have some kind of housing available for house staff. Cornell has, far and away the best housing options of all programs in the city. House staff are guaranteed housing and, while not "cheap" (from the perspective of anybody who doesn't currently live in SF, Tokyo, Moscow or Shanghai), it's about 1/2 the local market price and within a 5 block walk of the hospital (which is both a plus and a minus).

Columbia has some housing but that part of town is much cheaper than the rest of Manhattan.

MSSM also has a fair amount of housing available but it's not guaranteed, nor as nice, or cheap as Cornell's. But still pretty decent.

Einstein/Montefiore has house staff housing that ranges from borderline ghetto to very nice and is cheap...but in the Bronx.

NYU doesn't have housing at all...they spend all their money providing housing to undergrads and some med students.

 

[nstemi]

Cornell has the best housing.

 

[Cornell IM]

It's quality, but very expensive. Contrary to what is posted above, the cost is only marginally below market value nowdays. Ten years ago, it was a bargain. Some of my colleagues choose not to live in Cornell housing as they have gotten comparable deals a few blocks away. Expect housing to be 75%+ plus of your resident salary. Also, they increase the rent every year out of proportion with inflation and your pay increase for those continuing on here, and they apply a premium surplus on top of that for the new people coming in. There are people in my building with the same apartment and paying $500 less in rent per month because they started ~5 years before me. In short, they are making out like bandits. Hope that helps the OP.

 

[voidlogin]

I know as residents, people want to live as close to hospital as possible. But why dont you live in Queens or Brooklyn or in NJ near Manhattan. It's MUCH cheaper and the subway ride is approx 40 mins. Many of those places are nicer, more residential and even safer than certain parts of Manhattan. I know out-of-towners gasp at the thought of living anywhere other than Manhattan (seems to be some sort of dream of theirs), but you should look at other places.

 

[Doctorverardoll]

I know as residents, people want to live as close to hospital as possible. But why dont you live in Queens or Brooklyn or in NJ near Manhattan. It's MUCH cheaper and the subway ride is approx 40 mins. Many of those places are nicer, more residential and even safer than certain parts of Manhattan.

I have to second this. I'm only a medical student, but I live in Queens and it takes me 40min-1hour to get uptown and I'm a bit east. LIC and Astoria are closer. My neighborhood is quiet with some green space, but with plenty of options to shop and go out. Plus there are so many great ethnic restaurants in Queens that are often family run and quite inexpensive.
I have a car and street parking is generally not too bad and it's easy for me to get to the city (I used to drive @5/6am to get in and it would take me 20min. I know a car is an additional expense and isn't necessary for most parts of Queens unless you go real east (closer to LI).

 

[NOsquid]

Expect housing to be 75%+ plus of your resident salary.

😱😱😱😱😱😱😱

 

[mdc1027]

Sorry to bump this old thread, but I have a related question.

If I were to go to one of the bigger academic programs in NYC (Columbia, Cornell, Mt. Sinai, NYU) for residency, would it be at all practical (or even possible) to live outside the city and commute in to work? My girlfriend will be in Newark, NJ for school and we were thinking we might try to find a place halfway in between to live together and save money on rent. Public transit from NJ to Manhattan seems really impractical based on travel times. Do these programs even have parking available to residents, and if so how much does it cost? Has anyone accomplished anything similar to what I'm trying to do?

 

[StudentDoctor55]

It's quality, but very expensive. Contrary to what is posted above, the cost is only marginally below market value nowdays. Ten years ago, it was a bargain. Some of my colleagues choose not to live in Cornell housing as they have gotten comparable deals a few blocks away. Expect housing to be 75%+ plus of your resident salary. Also, they increase the rent every year out of proportion with inflation and your pay increase for those continuing on here, and they apply a premium surplus on top of that for the new people coming in. There are people in my building with the same apartment and paying $500 less in rent per month because they started ~5 years before me. In short, they are making out like bandits. Hope that helps the OP.

What is the actual cost per month to live in Cornell or Mt. Sinai housing? What is the average take home pay of a internal medicine resident after NY taxes? I just don't understand how you are expected to live if your housing is 75% of your income.

 

[gutonc]

Sorry to bump this old thread, but I have a related question.

If I were to go to one of the bigger academic programs in NYC (Columbia, Cornell, Mt. Sinai, NYU) for residency, would it be at all practical (or even possible) to live outside the city and commute in to work? My girlfriend will be in Newark, NJ for school and we were thinking we might try to find a place halfway in between to live together and save money on rent. Public transit from NJ to Manhattan seems really impractical based on travel times. Do these programs even have parking available to residents, and if so how much does it cost? Has anyone accomplished anything similar to what I'm trying to do?

It would be very difficult but probably not impossible. You can certainly find somewhere to park your car but it's going to run you several hundred bucks a month depending on where you end up. I'm not certain about parking availability at all of those places but I had friends who were students at Cornell who had parking spots in their garages.

Why not just live somewhere in the city that she can commute from? Newark is a short trip on the Path from WTC or NJ Transit @ Penn Station (20-ish minutes) or by bus from Port Authority. From lower Manhattan you could easily get to any of those places by subway which is totally practical at any hour of the day. I commuted by subway from Brooklyn to the UES for my surgery and Psych rotations...I didn't read as much for any other rotation as I did for those.

But seriously, if you get housing from one of the places that offers it, live there and make her commute...it will be worth it.

 

[Esquire JD]

Sorry to bump this old thread, but I have a related question.

If I were to go to one of the bigger academic programs in NYC (Columbia, Cornell, Mt. Sinai, NYU) for residency, would it be at all practical (or even possible) to live outside the city and commute in to work? My girlfriend will be in Newark, NJ for school and we were thinking we might try to find a place halfway in between to live together and save money on rent. Public transit from NJ to Manhattan seems really impractical based on travel times. Do these programs even have parking available to residents, and if so how much does it cost? Has anyone accomplished anything similar to what I'm trying to do?

Last year, while my wife was an intern at Columbia, we lived in NJ, I commuted to Newark and we managed decently well. We live close to the GWB so my wife can get to Columbia in about 15 minutes without traffic (25-45 minutes with). My commute to Newark was around 30 mins. That being said, I agree with gutonc: it would have been just as easy (maybe easier) to live around midtown. But my wife is not a fan of living in the city.

I don’t think commuting to Cornell, Mt. Sinai or NYU would be advisable from anywhere in Jersey (add at least 30-60 minutes because of traffic on the FDR or West Side Highway). Parking actually isn’t that expensive but the tolls double the cost (might not be the best way to spend part of your resident salary, if your girlfriend is in school).

Feel free to PM me for more details about her or my commute.