housing?

[Guest tones]

This is to anyone who has knowledge about where the best place is to live for ubc med students... If I remember correctly, classes are throughout vancouver (that's what I think they said at the infosession)... is it worth it to shell out 700 for an apartment or live a little further away...

 

tones

[Guest Ian Wong]

In Med 1 and 2, virtually everything but Family Practice is located at UBC itself, or at VGH and the surrounding buildings. Popular places to live for my classmates have been: on campus, Kits, and Kerrisdale.

 

However, there are people who commuted last year from North Van, Surrey, etc. They seemed to do okay, although personally I would never do that (to me, that's utterly insane), and there are a few people in the class who have invested in nearby apartments versus commuting from home.

 

My opinion is that now that you are in, time is your most valuable resource. Any money that you spend now will be regained in the end, but living closer allows you to do more things with classmates, participate in more class events, and to have more free time because you aren't fighting traffic every single day.

 

Take a look around, and decide. Any one of the above places has decent bus transport to UBC and VGH, and in Med 3, you may want to look towards a centralized place at VGH, as you will scatter yourself throughout the various hospitals in the Greater Vancouver area.

 

Ian

UBC, MS2

[Guest aaa]

Is a car needed in first year?

[Guest Ian Wong]

I survived without a car for almost all of first year. THe time that it will really hurt is doing your Family Practice rotations. If you are lucky, and match all four of your family doctors to people practicing in Vancouver, then you will have an easy time taking the buses. If your classmate (you go in pairs) has a car, then again, you are set.

 

For the converse, take my slight horror story. My family practice doctors were located at:

 

1) 55th and Main (Vancouver)

2) Somewhere out in North Van

3) Broadway and Granville (Vancouver)

4) Somewhere out in Steveston

 

1) and 3) were easy to get to, but both 2) and 4) required about 1.5 hours of bus transit with transfers. Not an efficient way to spend your time, especially considering that often you don't HAVE 1.5 hours between your last class and the start of your Family Practice session (ie. my classmate and I were chronically late).

 

The other problem is that there's a lot to do at UBC med. In my first two years, I was involved in intramural hockey and ultimate, and did a whole bunch of extra-currics along with spending time with friends and class-mates. Not having a car can put you out of the loop unless you live around classmates from whom you can bum rides.

 

So yes, you can survive without a car, but I think it's extremely handy to have, and probably downright mandatory in third year, when you will be working at various different local hospitals.

 

Ian

UBC, Med 2

[Guest derelik]

I just accepted my ubc offer today - yeah!!

 

Anyhow, I figure I should start looking around for housing - I currently live in N. Van and am not willing to suffer through the daily commute. I'm looking for a roommate(s), and I was wondering if there was a message board, etc. where students can hook up with other student's looking for roommates?? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

 

Elaine

[Guest laura]

Sorry to be nosy but were you selected off of the waitlist.

 

Kindly reply as I am waiting anxiously to hear back from ubc as well.

[Guest derelik]

Hi there,

No problem re. the enquiry.

I received my offer 4 May - and no, I wasn't on the wait list.

Good luck with your application and hope you hear some good news soon!

 

Elaine

[Guest Ian Wong]

Hi Derelik,

 

I'd forgotten about this older posting. You could try calling the AMS Rentsline, whose number escapes me at the moment, but can probably be looked up directly on the UBC website (http://www.ubc.ca).

 

Other options include checking out the graduate student residences, which include St. Johns College, and Green College. There are a small number of medical students living there (you need to apply), but you get quite a lot for your money, including very good food, free high speed internet, and free cable television. Those places can also be accessed through the UBC web-site under housing.

 

Most UBC residences will be hard to get into because you needed to apply to them back when you applied to UBC, unless you can sweet-talk your way in, like a couple of my classmates. The most popular one is Fairview, and the second-most is Thunderbird. Again, the rent here is less than what you'd be paying if you were to rent you own place around campus. A couple masochists in my class lived in Gage in their first year; needless to say, they all moved out of there this year, just too darn hard to get work done.

 

A couple of my classmates with children and spouses living in the family residences in Acadia over the past two years.

 

The last possibility is just to wander around the SUB, and check out all the housing ads posted on the walls. Probably this is a last resort, because you don't really know what you're getting yourself into, but it's still an option.

 

Something else you might want to try is to e-mail the UBC med student list-serv requesting possible renters/room-mates. All the Med 4 students are either moved out, or in the process of doing so, and you might find a place that's being let go. Similarly, the Med 1's might start moving out as summer has let out, and many of them will likely move closer to VGH, as that's where the majority of classes are held in Med 2, versus the UBC campus. If so, be sure to milk the "studious med student" stereotype of a very quiet and hard-working individual, who doesn't party much or invite loud guests over.

 

You should have gotten a hold of the list-serv email address already in your registration package; I'd rather not post it on the web. Contact me if you can't find it.

 

Finally, I've got a little project that I could use your help on. Please e-mail me at your convenience. mdpremie@yahoo.com

 

Ian

UBC, Med 3

[Guest HHH]

I too am looking for a place to live next year, it is difficult because I am trying to organize it from Ontario. If anyone else is also looking for a place, I would be interested in communicating.

 

Ian- we don't get our registration packages till Mid-July, so we dont have access to that listserve address until then. I also talked to others in UBC meds who suggested getting a hold of that listserve, they thought that would be the best way of finding a good place. Any ideas on how to go about getting signed up?

[Guest derelik]

Hey HHH,

Send me an e-mail at the following address if interested in discussing housing: ee_wee@hotmail.com. I'm a local, but I've decided to move closer to UBC to reduce commuting time.

 

Elaine

[Guest Ian Wong]

HHH,

 

Why don't you e-mail me at mdpremie@yahoo.com, and I'll see what I can do.

 

Ian

UBC, Med 3