Help finding home for next 7 years
Jan 27th, 2000, 08:43 AM
#1
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Help finding home for next 7 years
My husband is just finishing up medical school in Baltimore and he's in the process of applying for residency training programs all over the country. We both really like Baltimore, but exploring other schools/hospitals, especially in St. Louis, Ann Arbor (UM), Los Angeles (UCLA). We both grew up in Florida, so Baltimore is the farthest north we've lived so far.
We would love to hear pros/cons about these cities. We've both visited LA and he's been just briefly to Ann Arbor and St. Louis. We love the outdoors, but still like a city w/night life, restaurants, etc. (we're in our twenties). No kids yet, but a dog-friendly area preferred. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!! We are talking about our home for the next seven years.
We would love to hear pros/cons about these cities. We've both visited LA and he's been just briefly to Ann Arbor and St. Louis. We love the outdoors, but still like a city w/night life, restaurants, etc. (we're in our twenties). No kids yet, but a dog-friendly area preferred. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!! We are talking about our home for the next seven years.
Jan 27th, 2000, 09:30 AM
#2
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Dear Beth:
I’d go for West L.A., or Santa Monica, or perhaps even for Orange County, Ventura, or Santa Barbara, which have their own scene and are just a short (an hour + at the most) drive from metropolitan L.A. But I’d avoid the suburban hells of the San Fernando Valley, San Bernardino, and Riverside. Or how about San Diego? It’s a truly splendid city.
I’d go for West L.A., or Santa Monica, or perhaps even for Orange County, Ventura, or Santa Barbara, which have their own scene and are just a short (an hour + at the most) drive from metropolitan L.A. But I’d avoid the suburban hells of the San Fernando Valley, San Bernardino, and Riverside. Or how about San Diego? It’s a truly splendid city.
Jan 27th, 2000, 05:49 PM
#3
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Beth:
Having travelled the long medical school/residency road myself, I would suggest that the most important factor is the quality of the residency/fellowship programs your husband is considering. The relative importance of program quality varies somewhat from one specialty to another. The more competitive the specialty, the more this matters. What field is he training in? Sounds like one of the surgical specialties like NS or plastics. These are competitive fields and both the prestige of the residency program and the contacts one makes while there can go a long way toward assuring a desirable array of practice opportunities once he's finished.
Do you want to live and work on the east coast once he's finished? Hopkins will carry more regional weight of course, than Barnes, unless Barnes has a significantly better reputation in his area (can't think of a field that would fit this bill). If you want to stay east, UCLA may not open any doors.
As for living circumstances, it sounds like you're familiar with Baltimore. Ann Arbor is a classic university town. It's a pretty white collar place. The UM is richly endowed and the hospital system is very solid and well run. Living in AA is easy with a relatively low cost of living. Cultural menu as expected for a town of 110,000 with a major university. I think it's a great place to spend a few years, but the weather isn't for everyone. It's darn cold from Oct-Mar and it's gray most of the winter. Detroit is a short trip away, but that's not necessarily a good thing in my book.
St. Louis is a relatively 'eastern' feeling town as far as midwest cities go. It's much older than most midwest cities (and was, I believe, the 4th largest city in the US at the turn of the last century). It has a relatively decent cultural menu, but not anywhere near the diversity of Balt with DC and PHA/NYC close by. Cost of living is very reasonable. Commuting is not nearly as difficult as LA, Balt. Summers are very humid and quite warm. Some very nice old established neighborhoods are quite close to Barnes.
LA requires no elaboration, I'm sure. Unsurpassed in this country for its array of diversions (outdoor diversions, anyway), great restaurants, no snow. Bad smog, unbearable (in my book) commuting situation, expensive. My wife grew up there, but having been away for 15+ years living in several other parts of the country, she now sees its pros and cons as being much more balanced than before. Depends on what you value and want out of life, of course. You won't have the option of living in one of its adjacent desirable communities like Santa Barbara as noted above because your husband will need to be closer to the hospitals unless he's in something like PM&R or dermatology. Your location would be determined in large part by which hospitals he'd be working out of.
What will you be doing while he's working/sleeping (which will be 90+% of his time initially)? Is location of your families important? Do you want to have kids during these years? Do you want to try to settle in the area he trains in? If you know where you want to ultimately live, training nearby can be a big advantage in finding the right job and starting to network early on.
Good luck!
Having travelled the long medical school/residency road myself, I would suggest that the most important factor is the quality of the residency/fellowship programs your husband is considering. The relative importance of program quality varies somewhat from one specialty to another. The more competitive the specialty, the more this matters. What field is he training in? Sounds like one of the surgical specialties like NS or plastics. These are competitive fields and both the prestige of the residency program and the contacts one makes while there can go a long way toward assuring a desirable array of practice opportunities once he's finished.
Do you want to live and work on the east coast once he's finished? Hopkins will carry more regional weight of course, than Barnes, unless Barnes has a significantly better reputation in his area (can't think of a field that would fit this bill). If you want to stay east, UCLA may not open any doors.
As for living circumstances, it sounds like you're familiar with Baltimore. Ann Arbor is a classic university town. It's a pretty white collar place. The UM is richly endowed and the hospital system is very solid and well run. Living in AA is easy with a relatively low cost of living. Cultural menu as expected for a town of 110,000 with a major university. I think it's a great place to spend a few years, but the weather isn't for everyone. It's darn cold from Oct-Mar and it's gray most of the winter. Detroit is a short trip away, but that's not necessarily a good thing in my book.
St. Louis is a relatively 'eastern' feeling town as far as midwest cities go. It's much older than most midwest cities (and was, I believe, the 4th largest city in the US at the turn of the last century). It has a relatively decent cultural menu, but not anywhere near the diversity of Balt with DC and PHA/NYC close by. Cost of living is very reasonable. Commuting is not nearly as difficult as LA, Balt. Summers are very humid and quite warm. Some very nice old established neighborhoods are quite close to Barnes.
LA requires no elaboration, I'm sure. Unsurpassed in this country for its array of diversions (outdoor diversions, anyway), great restaurants, no snow. Bad smog, unbearable (in my book) commuting situation, expensive. My wife grew up there, but having been away for 15+ years living in several other parts of the country, she now sees its pros and cons as being much more balanced than before. Depends on what you value and want out of life, of course. You won't have the option of living in one of its adjacent desirable communities like Santa Barbara as noted above because your husband will need to be closer to the hospitals unless he's in something like PM&R or dermatology. Your location would be determined in large part by which hospitals he'd be working out of.
What will you be doing while he's working/sleeping (which will be 90+% of his time initially)? Is location of your families important? Do you want to have kids during these years? Do you want to try to settle in the area he trains in? If you know where you want to ultimately live, training nearby can be a big advantage in finding the right job and starting to network early on.
Good luck!
Jan 27th, 2000, 06:55 PM
#4
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Hi Beth,
I am applying for residency postions myself. Good Luck to your husband.
I live in LA and am planning on staying in town for residency. Los Angeles is a great place to live with tons to do and lots of sunshine for a person with infrequent days off. But, it is very expensive, much more so than the other places you mentioned. I do not know your financial situation but it will be very hard to rent a house on a residents salary--really impossible in the West LA area.
Sounds like you are getting ready to submit your match list
!!! If you have any questions about LA or UCLA feel free to e-mail me.
Good luck,
Alisa
I am applying for residency postions myself. Good Luck to your husband.
I live in LA and am planning on staying in town for residency. Los Angeles is a great place to live with tons to do and lots of sunshine for a person with infrequent days off. But, it is very expensive, much more so than the other places you mentioned. I do not know your financial situation but it will be very hard to rent a house on a residents salary--really impossible in the West LA area.
Sounds like you are getting ready to submit your match list
!!! If you have any questions about LA or UCLA feel free to e-mail me. Good luck,
Alisa
Jan 28th, 2000, 08:11 AM
#6
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I went to school in Ann Arbor for undergrad & law school, and it is a wonderful place. I still get nostalgic for it and can recommend some of my favorite restaurants there if you go for a visit (Gandy Dancer for a nice dinner or Sunday brunch, Cottage Inn for a casual dinner, Angelo's for the greatest breakfasts in the world, Zingerman's deli for lunch!). For the size of the town it has surprisingly good restaurants and decent cultural attractions too (thanks to the University). However, even being from Michigan I got tired of the weather and moved to Charlotte, NC and ultimately to Washington DC where I live now. It's not even the cold or the snow in Michigan that are bothersome to me -- it's the grey skies that loom from November through March virtually with no break. When the sun finally comes out around April it's like a revelation. If you are even marginally affected by the absence of light you will find Michigan's gloomy skies depressing. However, from April through October it's a pretty great place to live.
Obviously the weather is a lot better in LA but it has its own set of problems -- ridiculously high cost of living and sprawl and traffic traffic traffic. While it has a lot to recommend it, it's just not a very livable place to me and I personally couldn't do it.
St. Louis is actually a very interesting city and I would give it a good hard look if I were you. It has some lovely neighborhoods and lots of good restaurants and culture. The weather in the summer can be beastly hot and humid but that's true in much of the country (not in LA though). Go there and check it out. The West End is a fun neighborhood to walk around with lots of cool restaurants and little shops.
Good luck!
Obviously the weather is a lot better in LA but it has its own set of problems -- ridiculously high cost of living and sprawl and traffic traffic traffic. While it has a lot to recommend it, it's just not a very livable place to me and I personally couldn't do it.
St. Louis is actually a very interesting city and I would give it a good hard look if I were you. It has some lovely neighborhoods and lots of good restaurants and culture. The weather in the summer can be beastly hot and humid but that's true in much of the country (not in LA though). Go there and check it out. The West End is a fun neighborhood to walk around with lots of cool restaurants and little shops.
Good luck!
Jan 28th, 2000, 10:29 AM
#7
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Here's a vote for Barnes! My son and daughter-in-law lived in St. Louis while she was finishing up pharmacy school, and they LOVED St. Louis. The area around Barnes - Central West End, as I recall - has tons of restaurants, small shops and is very pet friendly. My son and daughter-in-law lived on Kingshighway just down from Barnes and their apartment was filled with animals!
Jan 30th, 2000, 05:09 AM
#8
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Thank you to all of you who took your time to respond. I appreciate all the details you gave me for each city. This is such a hard thing to decide b/c it is a big portion of our life. Our families mean a lot to me and getting the best training means a lot to him. If anyone else has any comments about these cities I would love to hear them. I've heard a lot of talk on the forum about Atlanta, but I forgot to mention Emory is also on the list. Please feel free to email me too. Thank you so much!!
Jan 30th, 2000, 04:52 PM
#9
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We havelived all over the world, (Saudi Arabia, Europe, New Orleans, Philly, Oakland, New Mexico, and Seattle). I liked Philly very much, not in the city directly, but the burbs, where you can have a lovely life, and get into the city, or into NY or DC with little effort. Great network of neighborhood trains. Great schools. We finnally settled in Seattle, which is great too, but we have many damp days and I think that can be a hardship on little kids who can't get out to play. We lived in a little town just 10 minutes from I-95, yet with a rural feeling, great big yards, many hardwood trees, lots of walking paths, an a great ambience for families, great low cost housing available too, as well as large estates..something for everyone.
