Thanks, everyone, for the replies. I live in CT right now, which is high pay but high standard of living. Currently I make $33.40/hour -- new grad rate has increased to $28.50. (it sounds like a lot, but consider that my mortgage on a nice-ish 1500sf house is $2400/month). I had only been looking at Duke, but based on the responses, I'll check out UNC and the other area hospitals as well. Sounds like there's a real lot of variability -- I'll hope to catch HR on a good day :) Thanks