Would it be better to get a roommate for medical school, or live alone?

[GoPenguinsGo]

Hey guys, new incoming M1 this upcoming school year. I was curious if anybody could provide some thoughts on the idea of getting a roommate to live in a 2 person apartment with, or if it would be more beneficial to just live alone. I can financially afford to live alone, so money is not a problem in this scenario. I lived alone in grad school and I found it to be really quite nice and better than in college when I had a direct roommate who shared the same bedroom as me all 4 years of undergrad. I know in med school it won't be the same because we would have two separate bedrooms, but I digress.

Here are some of my thoughts:

Pro to living alone:
-I control everything in the apartment (ex: thermostat, noise level, etc)
-Dont have to worry about my sleep schedule and how that might inconvenience a roommate
-Essentially, I can do whatever I want whenever I want

Pros to having a roommate:
-Have someone to talk to or discuss challenging school topics
-Have someone to practice physical exam techniques on most of the time

What are your guys' thoughts? Is there something I overlooked?

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[esob]

My 2 cents (which is worth 2.7 cents Canadian) is that you first find someone you want to room with. All of the "pro's" that you list come with the assumption that your random roommate will want to help you instead of slowly undermining your studies in order to get a leg up on the competition.

In the eternal words of Goro, "med school is a furnace" and going through it without someone who fully supports you would be rough. That said, going through it while living with someone you don't jive with would be worse than going it alone. Hence, I would start out w/ a 2+ bedroom unit until my found my med school buddy and make arrangements to be roommates only after I was sure that person was going to be someone that I really wanted to share my medical school experience with.

 

[pierty]

It's personal preference. You can have strong friendships with people who aren't your roommates, will give you the same benefits you listed. Most people I know who get the chance prefer living alone/with their partner because schedules and preferences can conflict.

All of the "pro's" that you list come with the assumption that your random roommate will want to help you instead of slowly undermining your studies in order to get a leg up on the competition.

I suppose this is based on the school culture, but I've never had an issue with this. If your school has P/F unranked preclinical curriculum (and ideally P/F clinical, or no cap to Honors in clinicals) this should be less of an issue.

 

[RangerBob]

Unless your roommate is or becomes a good friend, the odds of them wanting to sit around and talk about school/let you do the physical exam on them is low/lowish. A lot of people just want to be left alone. On the other hand, a lot might want to go on and on about politics/current events or stuff not relevant to med school.

I had a housemate for a few months that eventually got arrested for stalking Uma Thurman. My wife (then girlfriend) told me something was really off with the guy. (Not that I picked him--it was graduate housing with assigned housemates).

It's always best to find someone you want to room with first. Many don't have that option because they can't afford to live alone, so they room with a stranger (usually another med student in the same class). Sometimes they become buds, sometimes they find better friends and move out the following year.

Finding people to talk med school shop with/practice your exam on should be fairly moot. Unless you're skipping lecture all the time, you'll have lots of time (downtime and scheduled) to do all those things at school. Some people on the other hand want to study at coffee shops, etc. Then ask the cute barista (or baristo?.. not sure if that's a word) if you can buy them a coffee and practice non-creepy/non-invasive exam techniques on them.

 

[DarkBluMage]

Hey guys, new incoming M1 this upcoming school year. I was curious if anybody could provide some thoughts on the idea of getting a roommate to live in a 2 person apartment with, or if it would be more beneficial to just live alone. I can financially afford to live alone, so money is not a problem in this scenario. I lived alone in grad school and I found it to be really quite nice and better than in college when I had a direct roommate who shared the same bedroom as me all 4 years of undergrad. I know in med school it won't be the same because we would have two separate bedrooms, but I digress.

Here are some of my thoughts:

Pro to living alone:
-I control everything in the apartment (ex: thermostat, noise level, etc)
-Dont have to worry about my sleep schedule and how that might inconvenience a roommate
-Essentially, I can do whatever I want whenever I want

Pros to having a roommate:
-Have someone to talk to or discuss challenging school topics
-Have someone to practice physical exam techniques on most of the time

What are your guys' thoughts? Is there something I overlooked?

Live alone. Don’t set yourself up to deal with unnecessary stress during med school, there’s enough stress already.

 

[Billiam95]

Interest rates are >8%, do your future self a favor and save some money.

 

[cj_cregg]

No one right answer for this and it probably depends on the roommates. Some thoughts/experiences:

• It definitely saved me a ton of money even in a relatively low COL area and kept me from taking out additional loans, which I appreciate.
• I am very introverted and I actually liked having roommates in medical school because there was rarely time to go out...sometimes watching GOT with my roommate on Sunday nights was the only social interaction I had outside of school stuff that week, had somebody to go grab a quick bite with, etc. In residency/fellowship, I had a little more free time to go out on some rotations (and frankly closer friends I was working with daily in residency) so I didn't mind living alone as much.
• My roommates the last few years of medical school were good friends with similar cleanliness preferences/lifestyles. I enjoyed living with them and would do it again. However, we did have some minor conflicts over stuff like lawn maintenance expectations, so you also want to be cautious of not spoiling the friendship if you have different living styles and preferences.
• I am also super neat and picky about my home environment - it really stresses me out if my space isn't clean and quiet. My first year I lived with two roommates who DID NOT clean, ever. This left me to do all the cleaning in the common areas, and thank god I had my own private bathroom because theirs was disgusting to the point that I wasn't comfortable using it. I do not understand how two grown @$$ adults get to that age without understanding that you need to sweep your crumbs off the kitchen floor or wipe down the toilet seat once in a while. This was a big added stress for me and I would have rather lived alone that year frankly. These guys had written on the "looking for a roommate" spreadsheet that they were neat and tidy??? I generally liked them as people but we did not study together or become BFFs lol.

So bottom line, I agree with the above - if you're open to either option financially, I would wait until you find someone you are confident will be a good match for you. Maybe live alone your first year but make a point of being involved in study groups, clubs, etc. and if you find someone that's a good fit for M2-M4 years, great.