Hello all!

I\\\'m seeking guidance regarding housing beginning this coming January. Yours truly is a medical student relocating from Chicago to NYC for clinical rotations. Clinical rotations are 4-5 week long \\\"auditions\\\" at hospitals where I ultimately hope to pursue residency training. To make a long story short, I need to find a studio apartment in a location that will afford me the easiest to commute to my seven clinical rotation sites during the 18 month process. Those sites include NY Methodist, Wyckoff Heights, Staten Island University Hospital, Coney Island Hospital, South Nassau Community Hospital, St. John\\\'s Episcopal- South Shore, and NY-Governeur Hospital in Manhattan. Although these sites are quite spread out, I\\\'m hoping there might be a safe location which I can consider home that puts me in good shape for straightforward commutes. Ideally I\\\'d be able to hop on one train or another and get to everywhere... or drive if parking is readily available. One friend suggested Park Slope because of it\\\'s central location.

All guidance is very greatly appreciated.

- Dave

I don\'t know the locations of all those hospitals, but I have a feeling there isn\'t any one location that would be convenient to all of them.

There are a lot of apartment listings on sites like craigslist, but I advise you to be careful, as many are scams. Don\'t send money in advance to anyone!

I would think a good source of information would be staff at the hospitals. Their HR people also should be able to help you. Don\'t count on getting your own apartment unless you have a big budget. It\'s more typical to share.

Oracle, thanks for the reply. You are correct that no one location will be perfect and convenient to all. Rather, I am most concerned with finding a part of Brookyn that seems to make the most sense given the location spread of all the hospitals. My fiancée is also a student that will be pursuing clinical rotations at similar hospitals. Between the both of us, we are comfortable with a rent payment of $1500-$2000 monthly. The idea of a sublet/roomshare is very appealing, however, if we can find a very private and cost-effective arrangement.

The hosptials themselves are only helpful with regard to directions to their respective location. My situation is a bit more complex.

Perhaps my question could be stated a little differently... which part of Brooklyn affords its residents the greatest accessibility (in terms of easy transportation) to all other parts of Brooklyn??

I guess it\'s safe to assume Park Slope is my best option??

It would be easier to offer help if you post the street addresses of the hospitals. Park Slope is a very desirable neighborhood, but I don\'t think it\'s likely to find an apartment there for your budget.

New York Methodist: 506 6th Street, Brooklyn
Wyckoff Heights: 374 Stockholm Street, Brooklyn
Staten Island University Hospital: 375 Seguine Avenue, Staten Island
Coney Island Hospital: 2601 Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn
South Nassau Community Hospital: 1 Healthy Way, Oceanside
St. John\'s Episcopal- South Shore: 327 Beach 19th Street, Far Rockaway
NY - Governeur Hospital: 227 Madison Street, Manhattan

Some of these locations are accessible by subway and would be convenient from Park Slope:

* New York Methodist: 506 6th Street, Brooklyn - (Subway stop is 7th Ave. on the F/G lines)

* Wyckoff Heights: 374 Stockholm Street, Brooklyn (Subway stop DeKalb Ave. on the L line) -- This trip takes about 45-60 minutes and involves one transfer.

* Coney Island Hospital: 2601 Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn (Subway stop Stillwell Ave. on the F line, which is a 15-minute walk from the hospital)

* NY - Governeur Hospital: 227 Madison Street, Manhattan (Subway stop East Broadway on the F line)

You \\\"can\\\" get to St. John\\\'s by public transport, but it\\\'s not easy: St. John\\\'s Episcopal- South Shore: 327 Beach 19th Street, Far Rockaway (Subway stop Mott Ave. on the A line, which is a 15-minute walk from the hospital) -- subway travel from Park Slope involves one transfer and the trip is 1+ hour. And, there is limited A line service to that station.

* Staten Island University Hospital: 375 Seguine Avenue, Staten Island -- You\\\'d really need a car. The NYC subway does not run in Staten Island. The hospital is near the SIR (Staten Island Railroad), which departs the ferry terminal and takes 30+ minutes. However, you would need to get to the Manhattan ferry terminal, and that will involve two trains, or a bus and a train, and would take almost an hour. I could not locate any bus service from Brooklyn to Staten Island. If you do drive, keep in mind that the bridge toll is a hefty $15.

* South Nassau Community Hospital: 1 Healthy Way, Oceanside -- You can get there via public transit, but you would need to get the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) from the Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn, and transfer at Jamaica for a train to the Rockville Centre Station. This is not an easy trip, and you\\\'d be much better off driving.

* * * * * * * * *

So, Park Slope is a good central location for some of your hospitals (though I still don\\\'t think you can find an apartment in your budget range), but there is no location that is good for all the hospitals on your list. If each rotation is 4-5 weeks, you should look into staying nearby each one for its duration. And, again, I would ask assistance of the hospitals because going through a site like craigslist leaves you open to too many scams.

Sorry about all the extra \\\\\\\\\\\\s.

Oracle, thank you for the wealth of good information. I can see how there might not be one perfect location, but I believe Park Slope or Boerum Hill might fit the bill perfectly. You are correct that Park Slope is quite an expensive area, however. Seems difficult to find a studio for anything less than about $1600/month... with most between $1800-2100. That might be our only option, however, since moving for place to place each month isn\'t an option for logistical reasons.

Where are you seeing apartment listings? The reason I ask is that I don\'t know of any landlord who will rent an apartment without the tenant being here first. And then, they require your bank information, and you must prove that you earn 40x the monthly rent in annual income.

I\'m sure you\'ll find hundreds of listings, but how will you know they\'re legitimate? There are so many scams it\'s impossible to know. Please, please be careful.

And think about how you will get to the outlying locations, which are not all accessible via public transport.

Is there some way you can reach out to whoever arranged your rotations at these hospitals to see if they can provide assistance?

Anyway, best of luck to you!

Oracle, we intend to have a guarantor assist us with qualifying for the apartment and will contact a Brooklyn-area realtor or \"apartment-finder\" to assist us with our search. Can you or anyone else recommend such an individual that specializes in \"apartment finding\" with the Park Slope and/or Brooklyn Heights neighborhoods?

Most apartment listings we look at thus far come from either Craigslist or various realty websites. We appreciate your concern for us regarding scam listings.

It seems the only hospitals that pose a transportation concern are Staten Island and South Nassau. Each are located off the normal lines of subway operation. For those sites, we will likely just have to resort to driving. We have one vehicle, so that\'s not too much of a problem.