alphagammabeta Posted May 6, 2011 Report Share Posted May 6, 2011 This is probably something that's been addressed in previous threads, but is a car necessary/a good thing to have in 1st year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanG8 Posted May 6, 2011 Report Share Posted May 6, 2011 This is probably something that's been addressed in previous threads, but is a car necessary/a good thing to have in 1st year? It is doable to go through first year without a car. Many groups choose to carpool to tutorial and clinical skills and the Hamilton bus route is pretty easy to navigate. That being said, it is MUCH MORE convenient to have a car. It kept me on my own schedule, and let me do some pretty cool electives (i.e. I was on home-call for Trauma, where I was paged and got a 15 minute window to get to The General -- only possible if I had a car). All in all, my advice would be: If you can afford it, get one. It makes your life 1000x easier. But if you don't have one, you can still get by, just on other people's schedules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RajM Posted May 6, 2011 Report Share Posted May 6, 2011 This is probably something that's been addressed in previous threads, but is a car necessary/a good thing to have in 1st year? Ah, one of the eternal questions at Mac! The short answer is, it depends. Dan's given a lot of great points, so I'll just add to those. If you're going to be at Waterloo or Niagara, you will need a car from Dec. If you dislike driving, like I do, choose a place that is close to Main or King street, and you will be able to easily get by with biking, busing, and cabbing. Hamilton is not too big, so can you cab to hospitals for less than $15 bucks (exceptions: you live in Ancaster/Dundas; you do a lot of overnight electives) For school-related stuff, my classmates were great in terms of carpooling. For out of town electives, I just rented car. Insurance + rent + gas = $40-80 (plus I get to try out new cars). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emac2014 Posted May 6, 2011 Report Share Posted May 6, 2011 Guess I'm buying a car! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prion Posted May 6, 2011 Report Share Posted May 6, 2011 Just wondering if the cost for parking is significant in Hamilton. Is it expensive to park on the main campus? How much? What about parking in places where you are doing electives? Do people use the car to get to hospitals/schools or just to do grocery shopping mainly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alphagammabeta Posted May 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2011 I think i rmb a friend of mine back in first year undergrad, she said that her parking spot was about 500$ or so for the year (dunno how legit that is or even which lot it was) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dokta Posted May 7, 2011 Report Share Posted May 7, 2011 I think they've also started a car share service in Hamilton recently or will begin one soon. The more people who sign up, the better it gets: http://www.grandrivercarshare.ca/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amska Posted May 10, 2011 Report Share Posted May 10, 2011 Just wondering if the cost for parking is significant in Hamilton. Is it expensive to park on the main campus? How much? What about parking in places where you are doing electives? Do people use the car to get to hospitals/schools or just to do grocery shopping mainly? Read this lovely site for all your parking needs: http://parking.mcmaster.ca/Undergrad_Parking.html I would have to say the primary reason we get cars is for commuting to hospitals and to electives/core rotations that are not in Hamilton (and there are plenty of those). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prion Posted May 10, 2011 Report Share Posted May 10, 2011 Read this lovely site for all your parking needs: http://parking.mcmaster.ca/Undergrad_Parking.html I would have to say the primary reason we get cars is for commuting to hospitals and to electives/core rotations that are not in Hamilton (and there are plenty of those). Thanks for the reply! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hero Posted May 12, 2011 Report Share Posted May 12, 2011 I got through just fine without a car this year. Hamilton's transit system is actually very reliable and almost always on time so its easy to schedule how much time its going to take to get somewhere. Other than that I just biked/walked everywhere, its really quite an accessible city. If you want to do electives outside of hamilton then you might need a car but like RajM said you can easily rent a car and it would probably be cheaper than having one year round. Parking is a massive hassle in Hamilton even when everyone carpools to tutorials/clinical skills so just be aware of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goleafsgochris Posted May 12, 2011 Report Share Posted May 12, 2011 I always used a car. Classmates of mine didnt, and while some of them swore it "wasnt so bad", it seemed like a massive burden to me. I would advise you to get a car. Can you do without one? Yes. But, do you want to spend 3 years waiting for a bus (you can bike, but some hospitals are not THAT close to anything)? Waiting for the bus is pretty irritating, especially when you are rulling late, which everyone is at points in their 3 years. Seriously, you can get a solid used car for 10k--to me, it was a logical investment. Parking is also not that bad in Hamilton--free in many places, you can buy hospital passes in clerkship, 80$/month at Mac for pre-clerkship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madskillz99 Posted May 12, 2011 Report Share Posted May 12, 2011 When does a car become important in first year? I'm looking to get one in December but would it be better to have one closer to September? (Hamilton campus) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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