UCSF graduates, how did you make it in SF with cost of living?

[HarveyCushing]

UCSF is a program that I am interested in applying to next year. However, with a young family, the cost of living concerns me. A residency salary of $50,000 in my midwest city would have to equal $103,000 for the same standard of living. Looking at UCSF's residency salary, looks similar to many programs close to where I live, starts off around $49k and ends up around $55k at the end of residency. So in SF, that would equate to about $25k a year here in the midwest. When I was working between college and med-school, $25k would be plenty to live off of, but with a family to think of I am starting to wonder if SF might be to expensive too consider?

Speaking with a few friends that have lived in the area they said that to live in a decent place in a decent part of town, expect to pay ~$1500-2000 in rent. Buying is obviously out of the question. So about 1/2 of a resident salary could potentially go towards rent before food, clothes, car payments, car insurance, utilities, cell phone bill, gas...etc. Am I over thinking this?

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[HarveyCushing]

Anyone? I know there are a few of you UCSF'ers lurking out there.

 

[HarveyCushing]

I didn't go to UCSF or did residency here, but I do live in San Francisco and met a few residents. What did they all have in common? Single and living with friends. You can also potentially live off 50k in one of the close suburbs: Daly City, Pacifica, or San Bruno, but you will live with a limited amount of money and space unless you get lucky with rent. Another alternative is to live in an area where the BART (similar to the subway) passes through. The further you go from SF, the cheaper it gets.

Best of luck.

Thanks for your help. I appreciate it. Might not be the best option for me then.

 

[807crash]

How big is your family?
Will your wife be working?

Yes, it will be challenging living in the city with a family on that salary. I am sure if you look hard you will find something, but it will not likely be in a convenient/walkable area and you will of course need a car for yourself and likely for your wife as well. Perhaps in Oakland, or in the suburbs, but I would discourage too far a drive/commute for you. Residency is hard enough.

When I was at UCSF no one had a family and kids, although a few were married. I think this is changing, as UCSF has dramatically changed their program and now has many more residents, and a somewhat more humane schedule. But I must assure you that it is also likely one of the most demanding Neurology residency programs. Not the greatest time for a family I must say.

I had a decent 1 bedroom apartment with parking in a safe part of town for $1600. I am sure that it is at least 200-400 more per month now, since the rental market has gone up since the housing crash. I could have found cheaper, but you can imagine how much more you would spend if you want a 2 bedroom. And believe me there is no way you will be able to afford to buy a place for your family on your resident salary unless you have a rich relative bankrolling you. It would also be risky if you don't know where you will be after residency. What if you can't sell it? There were some married residents who did purchase condos while in residency, but all of them were married with working spouses who made much more $$.

I think it is crazy to be thinking about this now though. If you are fortunate enough next year to have an interview at UCSF, of course use that time to talk to other residents in your situation for advice. It may not be the place for you.

 

[Brachyury]

UCSF is a program that I am interested in applying to next year. However, with a young family, the cost of living concerns me. A residency salary of $50,000 in my midwest city would have to equal $103,000 for the same standard of living. Looking at UCSF's residency salary, looks similar to many programs close to where I live, starts off around $49k and ends up around $55k at the end of residency. So in SF, that would equate to about $25k a year here in the midwest. When I was working between college and med-school, $25k would be plenty to live off of, but with a family to think of I am starting to wonder if SF might be to expensive too consider?

Speaking with a few friends that have lived in the area they said that to live in a decent place in a decent part of town, expect to pay ~$1500-2000 in rent. Buying is obviously out of the question. So about 1/2 of a resident salary could potentially go towards rent before food, clothes, car payments, car insurance, utilities, cell phone bill, gas...etc. Am I over thinking this?

Living in SF with a family on a residents salary sounds like the worst idea ever (I don't mean to be a jerk). UCSF does give residents a housing bonus on top of the base salary, but it only goes so far. One of.my friends is a UCSF resident, but he does well by sharing his 1 br with his boyfriend. Your best bet would be to live on the Penninsula (Daly City, Colma, etc), and drive to UCSF: the traffic is much better than if you drove from the East Bay, BART does not run near the Parnassus Campus (you'd have to take public transit), and since BART does not do monhly passes, the cost of commuting eats any money you saved by having cheaper rent in the East Bay

 

[GopherBrain]

Enough already. UCSF is an amazing program. I did my residency there, and I would make the same decision if I was making a rank list today. Was it perfect? No. Was it expensive? Yes. Live in the Outer Sunset or Outer Richmond, and take the bus if you have to. Don't pass up a great opportunity just to live a cushier life for 4 years. You have your whole life to save money. You have only 4 years to learn to be a neurologist. Plus, the fellowship door is wide open for UCSF grads.

 

[HarveyCushing]

I didn't go to UCSF or did residency here, but I do live in San Francisco and met a few residents. What did they all have in common? Single and living with friends. You can also potentially live off 50k in one of the close suburbs: Daly City, Pacifica, or San Bruno, but you will live with a limited amount of money and space unless you get lucky with rent. Another alternative is to live in an area where the BART (similar to the subway) passes through. The further you go from SF, the cheaper it gets.

Best of luck.

How big is your family?
Will your wife be working?

Yes, it will be challenging living in the city with a family on that salary. I am sure if you look hard you will find something, but it will not likely be in a convenient/walkable area and you will of course need a car for yourself and likely for your wife as well. Perhaps in Oakland, or in the suburbs, but I would discourage too far a drive/commute for you. Residency is hard enough.

When I was at UCSF no one had a family and kids, although a few were married. I think this is changing, as UCSF has dramatically changed their program and now has many more residents, and a somewhat more humane schedule. But I must assure you that it is also likely one of the most demanding Neurology residency programs. Not the greatest time for a family I must say.

I had a decent 1 bedroom apartment with parking in a safe part of town for $1600. I am sure that it is at least 200-400 more per month now, since the rental market has gone up since the housing crash. I could have found cheaper, but you can imagine how much more you would spend if you want a 2 bedroom. And believe me there is no way you will be able to afford to buy a place for your family on your resident salary unless you have a rich relative bankrolling you. It would also be risky if you don't know where you will be after residency. What if you can't sell it? There were some married residents who did purchase condos while in residency, but all of them were married with working spouses who made much more $$.

I think it is crazy to be thinking about this now though. If you are fortunate enough next year to have an interview at UCSF, of course use that time to talk to other residents in your situation for advice. It may not be the place for you.

Living in SF with a family on a residents salary sounds like the worst idea ever (I don't mean to be a jerk). UCSF does give residents a housing bonus on top of the base salary, but it only goes so far. One of.my friends is a UCSF resident, but he does well by sharing his 1 br with his boyfriend. Your best bet would be to live on the Penninsula (Daly City, Colma, etc), and drive to UCSF: the traffic is much better than if you drove from the East Bay, BART does not run near the Parnassus Campus (you'd have to take public transit), and since BART does not do monhly passes, the cost of commuting eats any money you saved by having cheaper rent in the East Bay

Thanks for the thoughts guys. I love the city and the program, but realize that it will be hard for me based on the COL. Just thoughts I would see what some of you guys thought. I appreciate it.

Enough already. UCSF is an amazing program. I did my residency there, and I would make the same decision if I was making a rank list today. Was it perfect? No. Was it expensive? Yes. Live in the Outer Sunset or Outer Richmond, and take the bus if you have to. Don't pass up a great opportunity just to live a cushier life for 4 years. You have your whole life to save money. You have only 4 years to learn to be a neurologist. Plus, the fellowship door is wide open for UCSF grads.

GB, I wasn't "hating" on UCSF. I think it has a great clinical and research training program. That wasn't the issue. I think everyone would agree that it is a top 5 program. The question I have is how to make things work on a resident salary in one of the most expensive cities in the country. Not critiquing the program at all.

 

[neurodoc]

Enough already. UCSF is an amazing program. I did my residency there, and I would make the same decision if I was making a rank list today. Was it perfect? No. Was it expensive? Yes. Live in the Outer Sunset or Outer Richmond, and take the bus if you have to. Don't pass up a great opportunity just to live a cushier life for 4 years. You have your whole life to save money. You have only 4 years to learn to be a neurologist. Plus, the fellowship door is wide open for UCSF grads.

You could also find a place to rent in the East Bay close to a BART station. You ride BART into SF and transfer to MUNI (the N-Judah Line) and that takes you within a few blocks of UCSF. You can find decent studio/1BR apts for a better price than in SF.

 

[ljpm8224]

You could also find a place to rent in the East Bay close to a BART station. You ride BART into SF and transfer to MUNI (the N-Judah Line) and that takes you within a few blocks of UCSF. You can find decent studio/1BR apts for a better price than in SF.

^^ N-Judah (or any MUNI line for that matter) = blegh

PARTICULARLY for someone who has time parameters- ie has to be somewhere in specific increments. Muni is so incredibly unreliable, even if you add a 40-minute buffer.

OP- I'd say your best bet if you decide to do UCSF would be to live in Pacifica and drive in. Some people think Pacifica is meth-y, but it's a really cute oceanfront town that is super cheap. It's got gorgeous views and lots of hiking, mountain biking, and surfing. There is fog, but it's not all the time. Pacifica is a super-quick drive to UCSF, there's even a secret back way coming in around Glen Canyon that dumps you right next to campus. Easy breezy. Along those lines, getting a place in the sunset or richmond districts wouldn't be so bad, either.

UCSF is an awesome school, I'm sure you could make it work. Cost of living is ridiculous here in SF now- we're looking at dumpy 1brs in the Mission right now for over 3k- would potentially be paying more than I paid for a gorgeous 1br on the UES of Manhattan in nyc with a big patio Personally, I don't think SF is worth it compared to NYC when you factor in lack of reliable public transit and need of a car here. But, we chose to suck it up and endure it a few years for future career prospects!

fwiw: if you decide to come here- here are the expensive/tight markets now: Bernal, Mission, Portrero Hill, Glen Park, Cow Hollow, North Beach. Upper Haight, Alamo Square, Outer Noe, Sunset, Richmond would all be more affordable and more likely to have parking. I have a friend sharing an apartment in the sunset and she pays $250 for her room AND parking spot! So there are deals to be had...

oh one other thing- if you're renting here and don't know much about the city- rent control is in existence- any building built before 1979 is rent controlled (just a heads up, some landlords try to take advantage of those who don't know)... along those lines, there are a lot of "illegal" apartments called in-laws that are underneath Edwardian and Victorian houses- oftentimes you can tell because there's only one ingress/egress and also the ceiling is under 6ft high. These are popular to rent because they can be screaming deals, however they come with risk that the unit would be condemned by DBI and you'd get kicked out with not much warning if say a nosy neighbor called to report it.