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Ithaca, NY


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Say all the bad things you want about Ithaca, but don't dis Collegetown Bagels. Ok, so I've never had their coffee, but why should that matter when their sandwiches are AMAZING. I spent a summer at Cornell and I ate lunch there pretty much every day. I'm living in a big city now, and there's no place quite like CTB here.

One of the things I liked about Ithaca is that it hasn't allowed itself to be completely dominated by Cornell, unlike some towns which are out in the middle of nowhere and essentially half college (I'm thinking of, say, Dartmouth). Of course, Ithaca does have a very tree-hugging/granola-munching vibe, so you have to be into that sort of thing at least a little bit.

And yeah, I'd say you need a car.

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My husband is in Ithaca right now, looking at different rental places along with Cornell's amazingly gorgeous campus. He says it's BEAUTIFUL, even in the winter! He even said that while it is currently 33 degrees with lots of snow on the ground, it is positively nice out, and that's saying alot, because he's in a jacket purchased here in the south where we both grew up!

Another reason to be excited about Ithaca--people are so nice (again saying alot, as we grew up in the polite capital of the world), there's mandatory recycling, and the whole idea of Ithaca Hours, the local currency, is just awesome. We're all about keeping the money local, due to the fact that we currently live in the artistic/music district of a major southern city, and we've seen corporate greed and gentrification slowly and steadily tear apart and deteriorate our community in recent years (although they claim they are "REVITALIZING" the area :evil: ). The unique vibe that we moved here for is disappearing before our eyes...soon to be cookie cutter urban chic. We're ready to be in a place that values the mom and pop shop, the indie scene, and academia in general. Ithaca is absolutely idyllic from our viewpoint. :lol: Whose with me?

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My husband is in Ithaca right now, looking at different rental places along with Cornell's amazingly gorgeous campus. He says it's BEAUTIFUL, even in the winter! He even said that while it is currently 33 degrees with lots of snow on the ground, it is positively nice out, and that's saying alot, because he's in a jacket purchased here in the south where we both grew up!

Another reason to be excited about Ithaca--people are so nice (again saying alot, as we grew up in the polite capital of the world), there's mandatory recycling, and the whole idea of Ithaca Hours, the local currency, is just awesome. We're all about keeping the money local, due to the fact that we currently live in the artistic/music district of a major southern city, and we've seen corporate greed and gentrification slowly and steadily tear apart and deteriorate our community in recent years (although they claim they are "REVITALIZING" the area :evil: ). The unique vibe that we moved here for is disappearing before our eyes...soon to be cookie cutter urban chic. We're ready to be in a place that values the mom and pop shop, the indie scene, and academia in general. Ithaca is absolutely idyllic from our viewpoint. :lol: Whose with me?

That sounds great! I am also all for supporting local business.

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How is the housing for graduate students? How are the studios to be more specific?

I'm not sure about the studios, we're looking at off-campus two-bedroom units. Those seem doable to those on the 5 year humanities fellowship--they run about $800-$850 a month. The website on housing for graduate students attending Cornell and living on-campus seems pretty informative, though. Have you checked there?

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Hello:

I'm visiting Cornell for a campus visit; can anyone offer advice on flying in? I know there's a regional airport there but it seems prohibitively expensive. Will it be cheaper to fly into, say, JFK, and bus upstate? I'm flying in from California (San Francisco) and the travel stipend is $375 so I'm really trying to stretch the dollar. I also would like to visit NYC if possible. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

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You get $375? The department at Cornell who accepted me is only giving us $300...not fair.

I just sucked it up and bought the ticket to Ithaca, although I'm flying from the east coast and $300 still doesn't cover it. I have taken Greyhound from NYC to Ithaca - it's not fun, but doable.

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My husband flew into Syracuse--he paid about $330 for the ticket. We live in the south, too, so it was a good deal! Hotwire is the site to use--we found it through cheaptickets.com. They don't give you the specific times until you have paid, but it's same day travel. The drive from Syracuse was about an hour. Oh, and we bought the ticket 3 days before he was scheduled to leave. Hope that helps! :)

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How do you get the car to drive from Syracuse to Ithaca? I'm not sure how old you are, but for us under-25ers flying to Syracuse and renting a car would be basically as expensive as flying straight to Ithaca (although I suppose I could have just rented a car and driven the 4-5 hours from here...oh well).

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Hello:

I'm visiting Cornell for a campus visit; can anyone offer advice on flying in? I know there's a regional airport there but it seems prohibitively expensive. Will it be cheaper to fly into, say, JFK, and bus upstate? I'm flying in from California (San Francisco) and the travel stipend is $375 so I'm really trying to stretch the dollar. I also would like to visit NYC if possible. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I am also visiting Cornell at the end of the month. Do you mind if I ask you how much it costs to fly from California to Ithaca?

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How is the housing for graduate students? How are the studios to be more specific?

The one I visited (Maplewood) is the ugliest grad student housing I have seen in my entire life. In general, it seems that living oncampus is not convenient. My understanding is that a nice studio downtown would be around 700$ a month...

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I just visited last weekend. Splitting a house is the best option-- my host had a three-bedroom, giant, beautiful, hardwood floored house and the whole rent (total, for 3 people) was around $1200 (so 400/person). There are also one-bedroom apts for around 600...

I think what I'm going to do is to try to join an apt or to take over the lease for a faculty member who may be on leave or something. And then make friends my first year and find a real house to be in for the next 5 yrs.

unless there are people who are looking for a roommate now??! I would love to split a 2 or 3 bedroom place with someone...

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okay i generally think that meeting people online is umm.. creepy?, but id be down for splitting a house between a few new grads and i guess this is the same as hanging a flyer up.... what program are you all in?

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hey!

when i visited my friend told me to be wary about getting a place w/o seeing it first, bc there can be some crappy places-- mice, hot water problems, bad heating, etc. Things that you may not be able to see from photos... my friend has a GORGEOUS house (a real house!) but she said she looked at some 20 places first.

I think i may just try to live in a 1 bedroom place and then move second semester or the next year...

bc I'm iffy about going to look for a place...

hmmmm

J

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yea that's a good thought..

im planning on heading up to look for a place in two or three weeks... ill probably post here and craigslist once i find a place or two that is respectable since i think id rather split a place with a few people...

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  • 3 weeks later...
I have been looking on craigslist for a while but the housing situation seems a bit slow in Ithaca... :(

It'll start to pick up soon. There are a few management agencies whose properties I'd avoid, best to check with someone in town and see if people have heard anything. If you know any current grad students in your program at Cornell/IC you might ask if they know of someone moving out of town.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

Hi, if anyone needs a place to live, my friend is looking for a renter for his 1 bedroom apt on Commons-- it's very nice and centrally located! message me!

Also, question: can i get by without a car? it seems like the bus system is really nice there and I am living close to downtown (just two blocks away from Just a Taste, etc). My roommates have cars... but i'm thinking it would be nice to have my own. Not sure, though-- with gas prices and insurance, etc. Can anyone give their opinion on this?

jennie

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Can anyone give their opinion on this?

jennie

Two years without a car here. No problems at all. Although a friendly neighbour does take me to Wegmans in the winter. Being downtown you're close to Greenstar - Oasis, and there's a bus to Wegmans too. AND ... there's a new carshare scheme so you should be good.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 7 months later...

Thanks for the thoughts. I'm going into the world on my own for the first time (straight from undergrad applicant) so really have very little idea what one needs to live on and all those sorts of details so the thoughts above were very helpful.

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