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Should I stay close to the hospital?


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Hi everyone! 
 

I think this is more a questions for upper year student and those currently in their residency program. I am a first year medical student and I currently live downtown, so nice and close to campus. However my partner and I are considering buying a house next year. We’re considering more affordable areas like in the south (Windermere and around) but I wonder if the distance would be a problem once I start clerkship or eventually residency? What are the opinions for those who have a long commute and are in residency? All your advice is quite welcome :) thanks! 

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2 hours ago, zxcccxz said:

I would caution against buying a house because you don't know if you'll match to residency for sure in Edmonton. You may be stuck paying the mortgage on a house you can't live in, and it may be overly expensive to do that while also paying the rent/mortgage on another place. 

We’d be looking at homes my partner could afford alone if I had to pay rent elsewhere (I’m non-trad and he has a full career)! Staying in Edmonton will be a priority for me so hopefully I end up matching here. And so would love to know about how others deal with commute and long hours

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For clerkship you are likely going end up at various sites throughout the city (i.e. RAH, UAH, Mis, etc.), so buy somewhere accessible to transit if you are concerned about commuting. Otherwise, you can shell out cash for a parking pass and not worry about it. Even if you are central and close to the UAH, you will end up commuting in clerkship.

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Hey!  I live on the south side and have commuted to the university for the last 5 years.  South side is a great community, and there are lots of major roads to take to get to the university.  However, I will warn you that you are guaranteed a 45-60 minute drive door-to-door.  Transit is not always an option, depending on where you live - for me, it would take an hour just to get to century park train station.  However, usually bad weather doesn't delay you too much since there are multiple routes north, unlike trying to cross the bridges from downtown.

What does suck is when you need to be at the university for less than an hour, and then you spend more time driving than actually being there, so dealing with a long day is actually preferable imo.  

Since it sounds like you probably won't be commuting to the university for too many years, I think it is not a bad option.  The drive is not bad, and you adjust your schedule to it pretty fast and use the commute time to unwind and not think about work.  However, if you have to keep doing it longer term, the novelty does wear off, so keep that in mind for after clerkship is done and you get a residency placement.  If you plan to be working in the university area I would suggest you try to be a little closer.  Hope this helps!

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