Before you arrive
- Confirm your start date and badging/ID process with your host (The Rockefeller University).
- Line up short-term housing for your first few weeks so you don't commit to a lease sight-unseen.
- Arrange a US-usable phone (a prepaid SIM or eSIM works on day one).
- Shortlist neighborhoods near Upper East Side: Upper East Side, Yorkville, Lenox Hill, Carnegie Hill.
Your first week
- Pick up your institutional ID/badge and email — your email domain may unlock community access here.
- Open a bank account and sort out subway fare — check the MTA's own fares page for the current payment options and any weekly cap before you buy anything.
- Walk or ride your commute once before you rely on it.
Getting around
- There is no subway east of Second Avenue anywhere on the Upper East Side, so every trip to York Avenue ends with a walk or a bus. Weill Cornell's own directions say it: take the Q to 72nd Street and Second Avenue and walk two blocks east, or the 6 to 68th Street–Lexington and walk four blocks east. Rockefeller describes its campus as half a mile from the subway. The M31 runs along York Avenue itself and the M66 and M72 come crosstown, though none runs through the small hours. Mount Sinai is a Lexington-line campus rather than a Second Avenue one. Note that both Weill Cornell and MSK house most research postdocs on Roosevelt Island, across the river — a tram or subway ride, not a walk.
- A used commuter bike from the marketplace pays for itself quickly if you're near a trail or bus line.
Settling in
- Furnish cheaply from moving sales and the marketplace — researchers leave every season.
- Join a newcomer happy hour or meetup in your first month.
- Read the safety guide before paying for any housing or marketplace item.
Institution names describe nearby communities and commutes only. GuestResearcher.com is an independent community resource and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by New York University, NYU Langone Health, Columbia University, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, The Rockefeller University, Weill Cornell Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the Mount Sinai Health System, Cornell Tech, the City University of New York, the MTA, or any other institution or agency. Eligibility, availability, dates and terms are set by those organizations — always confirm them at the source.