BuckyandTerraceChairs

We have both the local Congressman and our US Senator that are out and proud. Everywhere is GLBT. The Williamson St. area has a ton of first-wave, (grey-ing boomer old) Hippie GLBT. Make sure you rent a place that includes heat as part of the rent. That's key. And you just need a good, tall pair of warm boots, a great winter coat and hat, scarf & gloves. Ask your family as a off-to-school gift for a pair of boots. I really like Pajar out of Canada, and Sorel has some stuff, although they tend to be short boots, and I like having my legs covered. Expect to spend $150-200 on a good pair

Carnegie Mellon Heinz https://www.facebook.com/groups/134805840035816/

I received significant financial aid from a top-10 institution with an easier cost-of-living.

FB Group- Done! Excited to meet you all! https://www.facebook.com/groups/134805840035816/

There's a local version called community cars: http://www.communitycar.com/rates/ If you're just looking for a car in the short-term while you're visiting, you're better off renting a car. Trek has a bike-kiosk rental program called B-Cycle that's about to open back up for the season (it's still cold and icy..) http://madison.bcycle.com/ The bikes are meant for short-distance, errand-based rentals, not daily check outs. If you want to rent a bike check out: Budget Bicycle: http://budgetbicyclectr.com/Bicycle-Road-Mountain-Bike-Rentals-Madison Machinery Row Bicycles: http://www.machineryrowbicycles.com/index.php/rentals On Queer culture, check this out: It's really strong. The Shamrock- dive bar for all-ages. Woofs- Sports bar/BMSD videos on the tvs, where the bears hang out. Plan B- dance club frequented by all, gay & straight (to the annoyance of some in the LGBT community..) are the three most-known "gay bars" But unless you're going to the undergraduate bro-bars that are a disaster (the KK, Red Shed, Wandos, etc) everyone/everywhere else should be cool with you.

The Co-ops that are part of the Madison Community Cooperative are more organized and put-together. http://madisoncommunity.coop/ There are a number of coops that are not part of MCC, but I'd start there.

The buses don't run very efficiently north to south, especially over by orchard.... you'll notice the routes mostly run east to west. That's why a lot of grad students live on Johnson and Gorham or Willy Street. Monroe Street is served by fewer routes, but also connects into the transit grid.

It is very secluded and remote, away from any businesses. Is geared towards families and situated in a nature preserve. it is connected to a campus bus that runs frequently. Take a look here: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Eagle+Heights,+Madison,+WI&hl=en&ll=43.083433,-89.429569&spn=0.032848,0.084543&sll=40.43204,-79.928715&sspn=0.008559,0.021136&oq=eagle+heights,+madison&gl=us&hnear=Eagle+Heights,+Madison,+Dane,+Wisconsin+53705&t=m&z=14 it's far away from everything.

No. Not really. It's going to be party-central on the weekends with kids who are cool trashing apartments that start at $1000 a month.

Hi all, Please see the thread of comments going on over here: I would say it depends what program you're entering into that largely shapes what neighborhood you move to, since campus is so large. The humanities majors tend to live on the east side of the capitol, like by james madison park, Burnie's Rock Shop, over by Willy Street, etc. anything within a quarter or half mile of campus is dominated by undergrads. The grad students tend to live on average more like a half-mile to 1.5 miles out from campus. Quieter neighborhoods, less undergrads puking underfoot, and (somewhat) better housing conditions & rents. I'm from Madison, went to college at UW, and am now leaving to go to Carnegie Mellon. If you have any other questions about Madison that these two threads don't answer, post it, and I'll try to respond. Especially look at my "Renting in Madison 101" post... (hint: renting's not simple. be prepared..)

Got in last Friday. Got scholarship email on Monday. No money, so I'll be declining. Applied for the mid-career program. Really stoked I got in, would have considered with some assistance, but tuition plus the cost of living in NYC is not worth going into debt over, especially with another offer with significant scholarship money.

The Queer culture here (home of openly-gay US Senator Tammy Baldwin and Congressman Mark Pocan) is loud and proud. There's out sports leagues, social clubs, you name it. Check out: http://www.ourlivesmadison.com/ http://madison.gaycities.com/ http://gaytravel.about.com/od/gaynightlifeoverviews/qt/Mad_Gay_Bars.htm http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bowling-Out-Loud-Madison-WI-Gay-glbtq-Bowling-League/124415546925 for a sample of Queer Culture.

I totally disagree with this post about the east side. Shorewood Hills & Old University are tony, somewhat separated areas. There's not much around, other than housing. The east side was always built as affordable, middle class/working class neighborhoods with some money-driven estates. Also, the east side is where you'll find the most exciting (James Beard nominated) restaurants and bars, it's where the fun, hip, social folks live. Also, it depends what program you're in where most folks live.

Every company has bad reviews (and not without merit..) You really have to go look at places and ask a lot of questions about the unit to the leasing agent. It's a market driven by profit and thrives on the transient nature of tenants. Find out if the leasing agent is the same person as your property management rep. If they say to you "oh, we'll fix that before you move in" the only way to actually make sure that will happen is to have it agreed to, in writing, at the lease signing. otherwise, it's a crap shoot. City of Madison tenant information from building inspection: http://www.cityofmadison.com/dpced/bi/landlord-tenant-resources/45/ Property condition info/report a problem: http://www.cityofmadison.com/dpced/bi/property-standards-conditions/24/ You can also call them (http://www.cityofmadison.com/dpced/bi/contact/) and ask about a particular property. Find out if there's any open violations, and what the violation history has been in the past for that unit. That should give you a good sense of how responsive the landlord has been. The large management properties (MPM, Wisconsin Management) are management companies.. meaning they'll fix a place to the extent that the owner authorizes. So if the owner who lives god-knows-where cares about the place, they'll spend money. If the owner doesn't want to authorize spending any more than neccessary, you'll see that.

It's mid-march. We still have snow. it's still in the 20s. Winter-like weather usually starts around/slightly after Halloween, clears up for good by April 1st. Buy a really warm winter coat and good boots, you'll be climbing over snow banks and jumping slush puddles. Most students ride their bikes well into December and finals, usually December is light on snow.

The housing office is useless. There really isn't grad students that live in campus-owned housing. Craigslist & individual websites are your best options to find interior pics of apartments.

Hi there all! I'm leaving Madison to go to grad school. Grew up here, went to undergrad here, have been outta school for 5, going on 6 years. Madison Apartment renting 101 (it's not exactly an introductory-level course, plan accordingly): The rental market is really tight. The city is at a 2% vacancy rate, the 53703 downtown zip code is at a 1.2% vacancy rate. Newly built apartments, usually frequented by undergrads close to campus starts at $700+ a month. Where I live on the east isthmus (google Burnie's Rock Shop), about a mile out from campus and on the direct bus routes, rents in buildings built 1890s-1930s are more like $400-550 per person a month. Start trying to rent a place now. If you wait until summer, good luck. Most places are rented up by June. Standard is a security deposit of one months rent. Also, read the lease terms. They stuff a lot of things into the lease and addendums. pay attention to fees. Try to find a place with heat included. Several years ago after renting places with heat included for many years, I got a 2 bedroom, ground floor flat, built around 1915 without the heat included. Rent was $445 a person. We put plastic on the windows, insulation on the radiator pipes and still had electric/heating bills of $250-$300 a month with the heat set no higher than 68 degrees. It really busted the budget. If you've got a potential place in mind you can go to mge.com and type in the address to get the high, low and average bill information for the property. You can also sign up for a plan that will average out bills accross 12 months to help shoulder those winter peak bills. Try to find a place on/close to the bus lines. Busses tend to run every 20-30 minutes. Parking on campus is impossible. Think hard if you really need to bring a car. Parking tickets are ubiquitous, budget accordingly ($30-80 a month on average..) off-street parking ranges from $50-$120 a month. on street parking permits are available from the city in most cases, but demand is high and there's nightly alternate-side parking rules for some neighborhoods around campus. Buy a bike. You'll use it constantly. Not a moped. Only the annoying undergrads have mopeds. It's also considered pretty gauche for the environment. Since the campus is so large, students from certain programs tend to live in different neighborhoods, based upon the proximity to where their classes are. The liberal arts students tend to live on the east isthmus, the engineering/science students live in the vilas/greenbush neighborhood, the med students along old university avenue, etc. ask existing students where they live, folks tend to cluster. The closer to campus you are, the more likely you're going to have a large rental/management company. I had a lot of success renting from CMI, a mid-sized company, i was with them for 3 years during my undergrad. The "student market" is dominated by Madison Property Management, Steve Brown, CHT and JSM. Each has their nuances, good and bad elements. Don't expect special treatment. Mid-sized companies include palisades, mullins, patrick properties, tallards. again, good and bad elements of all. the farther out you get, the more mom and pop places you may find. craigslist is best for most apartment listings. The republican swing of the statehouse brought a rewrite of tenant protection law. Document everything about your apartment when you move in. absolutely turn in your move-in form & take pictures of the place before you move all your stuff in. request everything (maintenance, things to get fixed, items that are broken) in writing. it's a whole new rodeo, and it will help you get your security deposit back. Move out is typically on Aug. 14. Move in is not until August 15 or 16th. Don't expect differently. Plan accordingly. Much of the downtown is homeless during this period. it's known as "Hippie Christmas" for the piles of decently good stuff pitched out on curbs. Have your belongings secured. The town is all scavengers, good and bad. Do not put anything you value on the curb and walk away. It will not be there in 2 minutes. If you need a coffee table, chances are you'll find one. Don't take anything padded for fear of bedbugs, etc. Hope this all helps. Also, I'm looking to keep my legal residence here while I go to school. My roommate would like to stay one more year, I plan on returning in December of 2014. We'd like to add a third person to the lease, preferably female. It's a three bedroom place, functions with 2 people plus an office. If you're looking for a nice place for the next two years with heat included with an office in addition to your bedroom, rent of $540 a month, near Burnie's Rock Shop. Please respond/shoot me a message (can you do that on here?). Cheers! (& welcome to Madison)

I got into the 3-semester track and received my acceptance last Friday. It will be 6 years out of undergrad by September. 4 years intense policy job. GREs were okay.. 158 verbal, 152 quantative, 4.5 essay. Had previously been accepted to Heinz before that intense policy job (long story!).. received $12k/semester. Submitted my app on deadline-day. CMU is my top pick, so I'm very excited.

Going to Heinz for public policy. Planning to be at the visit weekend in April. Looking to have apartment showings lined up when I come into town. Interested in finding another Heinz classmate to live with and in a position to sign a lease that weekend in April. Looking for probably only one person for a 2 bedroom place. Looking around Squirrel Hill. 29 yr old female. Fine with either male or female roomate. Cheers!