The "I think I'm going to BU MAMS, but I have some questions" Thread...can you help?

[etikit]

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Thought I would start this thread up for anybody who may be attending BU in September. I have a few questions for students past, present, or future that may be able to lend a helping hand.

1) Where is the best place to stay in terms of location, price, neighborhood, etc?
-------Any specific buildings or landlords? Good resources to use to find a place?
-------How much did you pay for rent?
-------How long was your lease?

2) Did you all have a car there in Boston, or use public transportation, bike, etc?

3) Did you all visit the campus and find your apartment right before school started, or earlier in the summer?
-------Is it hard to find a place out there?


Thanks a lot for your help. It's odd, I got my acceptance package today, all this stuff about housing and immunizations, nothing about the faculty, program, or university. I wonder how much the 2006-2007 tuition is??

 

[etikit]

By the way, sorry for starting another thread about BU, but I'm tired of reading the other ones and just reading people argue about why Gtown is better or worse than BU. I was hoping this may be productive and informative.

Please post up if you are attending BU, or will be, or have in the past.

 

[Vista04]

Thought I would start this thread up for anybody who may be attending BU in September. I have a few questions for students past, present, or future that may be able to lend a helping hand.

1) Where is the best place to stay in terms of location, price, neighborhood, etc?
-------Any specific buildings or landlords? Good resources to use to find a place?
-------How much did you pay for rent?
-------How long was your lease?

2) Did you all have a car there in Boston, or use public transportation, bike, etc?

3) Did you all visit the campus and find your apartment right before school started, or earlier in the summer?
-------Is it hard to find a place out there?


Thanks a lot for your help. It's odd, I got my acceptance package today, all this stuff about housing and immunizations, nothing about the faculty, program, or university. I wonder how much the 2006-2007 tuition is??

hopefully this will get you started. they're just my thoughts.

1) you'll get a different answer to "what's the best place to live in boston" question from everyone you ask. people are generally very adamant that where they live in boston is the best place to live in boston (fenway, back bay, south end, brookline, cambridge, somerville, dorchester, etc.) there are some good places real close to campus in the south end (ie harrison court), but they can run you between 800-1400 a month, which seems expensive to me. you definitely pay for the convenience of living right next to school. another thing to consider is whether you want to live right next to school. for me, i enjoyed the experience of living in a different part of boston so that i could leave the stresses of school behind when i left for the day. and i enjoyed only paying $600 a month for rent too. i lived in somervilled. then again, i had to take public trans 40 minutes each way to get to and from school, so there are definite tradeoffs. you'll have to think about these. bu has a good housing office that has a lot of great details about each of the neighborhoods and the gms office will help you find a roommate from the program if you ask them.

leases- almost all leases begin on sept. 1st and last 1 year in boston. there is a tremendous amount of student turnover each year at this time in boston and so i feel like there is no shortage of places to be found. start looking in june for the best places, but places can be found in august last minute as well.

2) i have a car in boston, but i almost never use it. although it has been occassionally great because it allows me to go on weekend trips, mostly all it does is collect parking tickets. i take public transportation everywhere. parking near school is difficult to impossible. it can be done, but it a lot easier to just take public transportation in my opinion that to deal with the hassles of parking around school while trying to get to class (will i find parking today? 10 min walk from campus? 25 min from campus? how shady is this part of roxbury anyway? how much of physio have i already missed? etc. it can be done, i just woudn't recommend it.

biking is also a great way to get to school until it gets miserably cold.

3) i visited campus and boston earlier in the summer to find my apartment. i feel like most people did this. there were some people who showed up to the first day of orientation w/o housing and the program was very helpful in helping them get places.

 

[howui3]

1) Where is the best place to stay in terms of location, price, neighborhood, etc? I lived in Back Bay in a 1bed/1bath for $1300/month. It was a great location, near all the restaurants, the Pru, close to the T, and is fun since many great bars are close by. Some of my friends lived right accross from the school which was convenient since you are just a block away, but after a while they were sick of it since your view is the BMC and the school. If you get a roommate Back Bay can be affordable. I found my place on craigslist. South End is also good, near the school, and a little cheaper. Beacon Hill is very pricy! Fenway is not bad as well, close to the BU other campus. Alston and Brighton are dirty since all the BU and BC undergds live and party there.

-------Any specific buildings or landlords? Good resources to use to find a place? craigslist is a good start. many of the renting places will charge you a fee 1/2 or full months rent.

-------How much did you pay for rent? 1300/month

-------How long was your lease? 12 months, but I was able to sublet for 3 months. this all depends on the landlord.

2) Did you all have a car there in Boston, or use public transportation, bike, etc? No car, it costs too much to park and there is no need for it. I used the T to get around and I got a bike for the summer/fall/spring months. It took me 5 min to bike to school from Back Bay. Bike is a great way to get arround, when I left I sold it to a buddy of mine

3) Did you all visit the campus and find your apartment right before school started, or earlier in the summer? I moved to Beantown a week before school to find a place.


I wonder how much the 2006-2007 tuition is?? Probably 40k.

Good luck in the program. if you have any more q's pm me.

 

[etikit]

Thanks for the help. Please post up if you have different experiences as well.

 

[SaturdayDwarf]

I am planning on living in Cambridge or Somerville, if I go to the BU program. I expect it will be a lot less expensive, and I like the area better.

 

[etikit]

As graduate students, are most of our classes held in the Medical School, or in the Charles River Campus?

Is it even worth it to try living in the Harrison Court Apts. from the University, or is it expensive, not a worthwhile area for MAMS students.

I'm trying to find a place close to classes, close to public transportation, and on the less expensive side. Please post if you have any input.

 

[howui3]

As graduate students, are most of our classes held in the Medical School, or in the Charles River Campus?

Is it even worth it to try living in the Harrison Court Apts. from the University, or is it expensive, not a worthwhile area for MAMS students.

I'm trying to find a place close to classes, close to public transportation, and on the less expensive side. Please post if you have any input.

ALL of your classes will be taken at the Med school campus in South End right next to the BMC. If you want to live near the school look for appartments in South End area, they are cheaper then lets say Back Bay or Beacon Hill.

Depending on what track you are you will be taking 2-5 classes with med students and the rest you fill up with other grad school classes and research credits. I suggest making sure you are signed up for Histo with med students for Fall semester that way you will be taking Physio, Immuno, Endo with first year med students.

 

[etikit]

ALL of your classes will be taken at the Med school campus in South End right next to the BMC. If you want to live near the school look for appartments in South End area, they are cheaper then lets say Back Bay or Beacon Hill.

Depending on what track you are you will be taking 2-5 classes with med students and the rest you fill up with other grad school classes and research credits. I suggest making sure you are signed up for Histo with med students for Fall semester that way you will be taking Physio, Immuno, Endo with first year med students.

I'm def. missing something here, why would signing up for Histo Fall semester mean that I will be taking Physio, Immuno, Endo with first year med students? Missing the logic. Seriously, thanks for takin the time to help out.

 

[howui3]

I'm def. missing something here, why would signing up for Histo Fall semester mean that I will be taking Physio, Immuno, Endo with first year med students? Missing the logic. Seriously, thanks for takin the time to help out.

Because of the large GMS class size, the students are split into two groups.

Group one: Fall: Histo (with med students), Biochem (just gms students), and what everelse you want. Then they take Physio and then in Sping they take Endo and Immuno all with med students.

Group two: takes Biochem and a long physio class (taught by the same professor as the med class but it will be just gmsers) and then you take Histo (also by same professor but not with med students) and in Spring you can take Endo and Immuno with med students. Basically, group 2 take Histo and Physio but not with med students, the material is the same but the class is through the GMS office not the med school.

Hope that helps.

good luck.

 

[chaeymaey]

Do you pick your group or are you placed in one by an advisor?

 

[howui3]

Do you pick your group or are you placed in one by an advisor?

they choose for you, but now that you know about the options, if you go there you can try to switch.

 

[etikit]

thanks for the heads up...its info that like this that really helps.

 

[etikit]

I'm thinking about flying into Boston to meet with some people from the program and get a feel for the faculty, school, and environment. Who do you recommend I meet with? I would like to meet with those who we would have regular contact during the program. I'm going to call the school in a few weeks to set this up.

Another thing, for those who take more than two semesters and a summer to finish the program, what exactly are they doing. Are they taking maybe only two classes during fall/spring semeter, and then finishing up classes the following fall? I know most people say the program is recommended for two years, but I'm having trouble figuring out why. I understand a year and a half, because lets say you do 24 hours fall and spring, thesis over the summer, then another 8 hours in the fall...that's only a year and a half.

It would be appreciated if anybody could shed light on the time frame's with specifics. Thanks.