Finding Housing For Rotations

Medical school is expensive, and there’s no reason to rack up even more debt during your clinical rotations if it’s not necessary! Check out these resources if you need to find housing for your rotations!

Family/Friends

If you have any connections to the area, this is often the best first resource to look into! Living at home or with friends can save you a bunch of money, and you’ll be among familiar faces. Ask around to see if your family/friends know of any contacts that

Call the Residency Program

Some residency programs will offer you free housing (or heavily discounted housing) if you’re doing an audition rotation/acting internship with them! They are also likely well-versed in suggesting more affordable housing available in the area, and there may be residents who would be willing to rent you a room!

RotatingRoom.com

This is a sublet website for students where you can either list an available room if you have one, or find a room. The search is by the school you will be rotating at, and then choosing the hospital you will be rotating in. There’s only one osteopathic medical school listed in there, but if you know of the school that’s located near the place you’ll be rotating in, it’s definitely worth a shot! You can sort the results by Date, Rent, and Start/End dates.

AirBnB

AirBnB has listings all over the world, and you can search for housing by location, your check-in and check-out dates, as well as the number of guests. You can further narrow your search by…

• Room Type (Entire Place, Private Room, Shared Room)
• Price Range
• # of beds
• # of bathrooms
• Amenities (wireless internet, TV, kitchen, etc.)
• Property type (apartment, house, bed & breakfast, etc.)

Hostels

Hostels are generally cheaper than hotels, but will likely have less privacy and may often have shared sleeping accommodations. You may want to look for a hostel that offers a system for storing valuables (e.g. private lockers), and also look into whether or not they have security, guest curfews, etc.

Couchsurfing.com

While this site is geared towards those who want to meet others/locals while traveling, this could be an option of money is tight. A host on couchsurfing.com should not be asking for money (but do show your appreciation for their hospitality by cooking them a meal, taking them out, bringing a gift, etc.!). You can join and create a profile via email or Facebook, and it exists as an app on both Apple and Android. Search for the city you need to find housing in, and communicate with potential hosts to get a better sense of who they are. Send a CouchRequest for the dates that you’ll be there (the site recommends sending out ~5 requests). It also wouldn’t hurt to have a backup plan in case this falls through.

Networking via Girls Scouts, local churches, etc.

If you belong to any organizations or churches, see if the place in question has an affiliated branch there, and call them up to see if they know of anyone that could rent you a room and/or offer you free/discounted housing!

Extended-Stay Hotels

These offer more home-like amenities than a typical hotel room, and usually have self-serve laundry facilities, as well as kitchens with (at minimum) a sink, refrigerator, microwave, and stovetop. Some may even have dishwashers and conventional ovens.

Craigslist

There are almost always a wealth of housing listings that can be found on Craigslist. Look through the housing links (e.g. “sublets/temporary”) to see if there’s anything that would suit your needs!

If you’re setting up housing with strangers, please do your research beforehand, use common sense and good judgment. Jeopardizing your safety is not worth saving a couple bucks!

Got any other suggestions for finding housing? Share them with us in the comments!