# Moving to New York soon, millions of questions...



## maleficum (Jul 15, 2011)

Hello everyone! 

I just accepted an offer at Columbia University medical center as a postdoctoral research scientist to start in October! 

Currently I live in Turkey, I've been to New York once for a week but as a tourist so that's a bit different. 

I have a couple of questions. 

1. How long does it take to find an apartment? I'm planning to fly there 10 days before my contract begins, I hope I can find something before I start working? 

2. I was told that my gross salary will be 41K. What would be my net salary? That would be an important factor when looking for an apartment and determining my limit for the rent? 

3. I'll be working at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, very close to the 168 St - Washington Heights metro stop. Is it a safe neighborhood to live? I'd prefer living somewhere more central but I'm not sure how much I can afford spending on the rent? I know I should be on the west side of Manhattan to get to work without any cross-town travel. 

4. Before I come to NYC, I have to arrange somewhere to stay for the first 1-2 weeks. DO you have any recommendations on that? 


Any information is appreciated. Thanks in advance!


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## stormgal (Sep 30, 2009)

maleficum said:


> Hello everyone!
> 
> I just accepted an offer at Columbia University medical center as a postdoctoral research scientist to start in October!
> 
> ...


A very long time, unless you have wads of cash or you can find a room to rent from someone. Columbia University offers its own residential housing, I believe, but it's still very expensive (and may only be available to faculty and senior staff). But it's good to check anyway.



> 2. I was told that my gross salary will be 41K. What would be my net salary? That would be an important factor when looking for an apartment and determining my limit for the rent?


If it's really your gross salary and not your net salary, you won't make the 41K but a lot less than that. Your net salary is what you get to take home after taxes. 

By the way, that's too low to live in NYC, you may not be able to find an apartment you'll be able to afford. You may have to live with another roomie, or maybe look at one of the outer boroughs like the Bronx, Queens, or Brooklyn. 

Even if you wanted to spend 80% of your income on rent, (lets pretend) landlords will not rent to you because it goes by percentage - something like they don't want you to spend more than 40% or 30% of your income on rent (I forgot what the figure is). Plus they may want you to have a credit history - without this, you will need someone else to co-sign your apartment.



> 3. I'll be working at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, very close to the 168 St - Washington Heights metro stop. Is it a safe neighborhood to live? I'd prefer living somewhere more central but I'm not sure how much I can afford spending on the rent? I know I should be on the west side of Manhattan to get to work without any cross-town travel.


That section of Manhattan is called, "Washington Heights". Although it's not necessarily the nicest in the world, (especially during the summer when all the young people hang out, open fire hydrants and play loud music) it's one of the cheapest in Manhattan, but still relatively expensive and becoming more gentrified by the year. 


Here is a link to help you with your general apartment search:

New York Apartments For Rent and other New York Rentals — Trulia.com

Here's a link for the area you're inquiring about. You can see the rents are cheaper, but still kind of expensive (for a rental). You can start by reading the requirements of the apartments that interest you. Feel free to email them questions.

Washington Heights Apartments For Rent and other Washington Heights Rentals — Trulia.com




> 4. Before I come to NYC, I have to arrange somewhere to stay for the first 1-2 weeks. DO you have any recommendations on that?


No, it's not that easy, believe me. You may want to ask around at Columbia U for the residential housing program, that's your best bet. They may or may not give you housing, but they'll tell you where most other residential assistants live or start out.

Oh one more thing: Don't fall for the shysters who try to charge you six months of rent in advance. It's not legal.


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## maleficum (Jul 15, 2011)

stormgal, thank you very much for your reply. 

i didn't realize my salary is that bad! i was thinking i could afford paying 1000-1300 for the rent. Would it be too much to spend on the rent? My monthly salary will be approximately 3400$ before taxes and I was hoping after taxes I would get something like 3000? But I have no idea how much tax I should pay. I heard that since I'll be on J-1 visa the taxes will be less for me. I should contact the human resources I guess.

I check padmapper to get an idea about the apartments etc., I saw some 1 bedroom apartments at washington heights for 1100-1200, is it possible? or is it impossible to find a 1 bedroom for that price?


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## WilsonP (Jun 22, 2011)

Maleficum,

I think Columbia would be your best resource for info. They must have experience with others who have been in your shoes. I'd ask them directly what your take home pay would be.

I'd also ask if they could put you in touch with someone to act as a mentor, or guide to help you through the red tape and settling in process. This is commonly done among military folks moving to a new duty station and it's a great benefit. You may even be able to stay with someone for that week or so.

I think you are over estimating your take home pay. Withholding is typically 22% to 24%. 41,000 / 12 = $3,417.00 * .78 = $2,665 per month take home. You may get a good chunk of this back, but that will only be after you've filed your taxes at the end of the year.

You'll spend half your pay on an apt, add a few hundred for utilities and you should have $1,000 per month for food, entertainment, transportation, etc. You should be able to do this.

Good luck


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

Contact your mentor at Columbia in regards to living quarters. If you have not yet been assigned to one contact International Students.


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## JoannaAch (Oct 11, 2011)

Hello maleficum,
I have a question regarding applying for postdoc position. I am finishing my PhD right now (pharmacology) and I would like to start my postdoc in USA. When should I start applying for jobs in U.S.? I heard that visa processing takes some time, and I would like to move straight after completing my PhD. 
Thank you very much for any replays. 
Joanna


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## Nilsonov (Nov 28, 2011)

maleficum, see my responses below! 



maleficum said:


> Hello everyone!
> 
> I just accepted an offer at Columbia University medical center as a postdoctoral research scientist to start in October!
> 
> ...


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## maleficum (Jul 15, 2011)

JoannaAch said:


> Hello maleficum,
> I have a question regarding applying for postdoc position. I am finishing my PhD right now (pharmacology) and I would like to start my postdoc in USA. When should I start applying for jobs in U.S.? I heard that visa processing takes some time, and I would like to move straight after completing my PhD.
> Thank you very much for any replays.
> Joanna


Hi Joanna!

First, congratulations on the almost finished PhD  good luck with your defense. There are couple of different ways of finding a postdoc position. First, I'd recommend you to check postdoc job listing websites regularly, such as naturejobs, sciencejobs, postdocjobs etc.. sometimes you would find an announcement for a postdoc position that fits your criteria, fiding a postdoc job like this is even better as the lab already has the finding to hire a postdoc so the process is smoother.

and the other way is - just like the way i got my position - contacting the the research groups that you are interested in and discussing the option of joining the lab. for me it took about a year, even more. first I wrote to professors and setup dates for interviews, then I went on a big interview trip in the US (at the time I was living in Switzerland, where I got my phd), I visited as many liabs as I can, met with the PIs, other postdocs etc.. got a feeling about each lab. in the end I picked 1 lab that I liked, at the time the PI didn't have funding so we started writing a proposal and applying for grants, fellowships.. it took us a while but it was OK as I was still working in Switzerland, in the end we got some funding and my PI finally was able to hire me. 

as for the visa process, it does take sometime. I got a J-1 visa, most universities offer J-1 for postdocs. the time you need for the visa process depends on how fast their international office is, also it's important to keep in mind that the US consulate/embassy where you will apply might have a busy schedule and they might give you a visa appointment for 4-8 weeks in the future. I think overall it took about 3 months to get the visa with all the waitings to receive the DS-2019 form, SEVIS fee receipt etc. 

good luck with your applications

please do not hesiate to contact me if you have any other questions.


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