thedck

My biggest advice to incoming Temple students is: I would seriously look into living off campus. I did my undergrad at Temple, and the best choice I made was living in the Fairmount area. The thing about Philly is, it's such an easily traveled city. Get a bike, invest in subway pass, or just walk. Temple is a great school and I loved it there, but for whatever reason they are just not known for having great housing. The housing near campus / just off campus is mostly undergrads and not very good, but you could find something if you tried hard enough. As for Temple's area, it's shit. I never had any really bad experiences, but I do know people that had their phones stolen and were randomly punched by crackheads. You just need to be aware of your surroundings and you need to not act like an idiot. Common sense will help you a lot. Most people in the area are perfectly nice, but every once in awhile things happen. I can give you more detailed information if you're interested, but my biggest piece of advice is to live off campus. You'll get a much better sense of Philadelphia and I think you'll be much happier that way. Philly is a really awesome city, despite its problems.

You could live in the city and commute. From what I know, Villanova is right off the Paoli train stop. You'll probably have to invest in a regional rail pass, but they're pretty awesome (good for subway, buses, trains, etc). I didn't go to Villanova, but I have lived in Philly for a few years now. I would recommend trying to live near one of the main stations--30th street, most likely, since that would be closest for you. It might be a bit tough/expensive, though, since I'm not entirely sure what the prices are right around 30th. & Penn's campus is right there. If you don't mind a further commute, you can definitely get affordable housing more into W. Philly. Or, you can try and live around Market East or Suburban Station; any one of those will get you to where you need to go.

Hi all, I'm likely moving to Ann Arbor for this coming Fall semester. I'll be a grad student in the English department. I'm moving with my wife from Philadelphia. I have been lurking around this thread so far, and am hoping to get a little more info. I'm looking for at least a 2br, perferably not in an apartment complex, and preferably under 1k (but I can stretch that). We both drive, so that won't be a huge issue. I've read that places like Kerrytown are good to look at, northeast and southeast, west liberty, and old west are all areas to check out. I don't really know what those neighborhood names mean just yet, so sorry if I got that stuff wrong. Anyway, I think we want to avoid the undergrad-heavy areas. I'm not really sure where my classes will be just yet in terms of which campus, it seems North Campus is common for grad students. I guess I'm looking for some suggestions for quieter, more affordable areas. It sounds like I'd be looking a bit further out from the city, which would be OK, depending on how far. Thanks for any suggestions!