quark314

It's doable (though sometimes uncomfortable) with fans but without A/C in the summer. I lived in a third floor apt last summer with no A/C and will do it again this summer. It's not so bad. It's not unusual to get into the lower 90s, and you'll see higher than that once in a while. If you have someplace else air conditioned you can go during the heat of the day (eg. school, your favorite cafe, the library) on the worst few days then you definitely don't need it in your apartment. That said, it's definitely nice to have. Like SuperMod said, it is common for Boston apartments not to have central air. Many people do window units (which can be acquired at reasonable prices on craigslist, and similarly gotten rid of when you move away), but you have to check with your landlord first; some apartments (especially those with older wiring) are not wired to support window A/C units (they draw too much current, and you'll just trip the breaker).

Bump (come on, someone in forum-land must know stuff about Madison)

Brookline is definitely one of the more family-friendly of the Boston neighborhoods (ok, technically it's not part of Boston, but it's not any farther away than some other neighborhoods that are part of Boston; it was just never annexed). Less expensive on average than Cambridge, and the Brookline public school system is regarded as quite good. Most areas in Brookline are quiet, residential with a scattering of small shopping-districts (e.g. Coolidge Corner). Even though parts of Brookline are very close to BU and BC, rowdy students tend not to live here since it's a bit pricier than Brighton or Allston, so it's largely the land of families and yuppies. It's not the most convenient place as far as commuting to Harvard, though. The subway takes forever to get from the green line (brookline) to the red line (cambridge). You would want to be on a bus route that goes from near your home to Harvard. I'm not extremely familiar with the bus lines, though I do know the 66 runs along Harvard Ave in Brookline and has stops in the Harvard area. Hopefully someone else can give you more info about specific elementary schools or other good neighborhoods, but I hope that helps some.

In which neighborhoods do most grad students live? What areas should be avoided (either because they are sketchy, overrun with drunk undergrads, or some other reason I haven't thought of). In theory I'd like to live in walking-distance to campus (specifically the physics department), but I know a lot of the areas very close to campus are really really overrun with loud undergrads and probably not the kind of environment I'm looking for. Of course I don't mind having some undergrads around, but I don't want to be in party-central, as it were. Any thoughts on where I should look?

You could try tigerTrade, which is a bit like craigslist but for the Princeton community only (you have to have a Princeton email to post ads, though anyone can reply to an ad). You'll find current grads looking for roommates or you could post your own ad looking for roommates from the Princeton community. That way you can at least trade emails/phone calls before committing to anything. http://point.princeton.edu/tigertrade/

Lots of people (especially students, and especially near the big universities) bike in Boston. The city often shows up on "most bikeable cities" lists. It's not totally flat, but there aren't a whole lot of big hills. There are a lot of bike lanes. Not absolutely everywhere, but a lot. I don't bike much here myself, but I see lots and lots of bikes on the road, so I figure that's a pretty good indication. For the people asking about working with an apartment broker/agent, you can really go either way, especially if you live near enough to make a couple of trips to look at places. If you live farther away and can only make one trip to look at apartments, you might find working with a broker is easier. But, in many cases that means paying a fee. Typical fees is 1 month's rent (at whatever place you end up renting). Sometimes the landlord will split the fee with you, and occasionally the landlord will pay the full fee. It is completely normal and expected that you work with multiple brokers, and I absolutely recommend doing so if you decide to go the broker route. They each will have a different understanding of your needs, different properties they are aware of and different neighborhoods in which they specialize. And of course, you only pay a fee to the agent who shows you the apartment you actually rent, so you have nothing to lose by working with multiple people. I did work with a broker when I moved here and I found it to be a significant stress reliever (especially since I knew nothing about Boston before coming here). But you have to decide if the fee is worth it to you. As far as finding a broker, I found two of mine on craigslist (people who seemed to have a few listings that looked like they matched my needs) and one through word of mouth.

I don't know that poster's subject area, but in some fields that is completely standard procedure. For example, in my field, physics, you do a certain amount of research before applying, but unless you only get into one program or one program substantially higher ranked than the others, you go on recruiting visit weekends with all the other prospective grad students in that department (paid for by the department). Students who have two or more even remotely comparable offers are generally regarded as insane if they don't go on visits and do more research post-acceptance. It's not insane at all to do research and visits after being accepted (if you're in a field where it's normal). There are just different expectations in different fields. I went on visit weekends at each of the four programs to which I was accepted. But that's completely normal in physics (and some other fields). And yeah, I'm one of those people who may wait until the last minute. I've got it narrowed down to two (and have declined offers from the other schools), but I'm having a really hard time making that last decision.

DariaRL touches on a very important distinction, though. Just because a school is a member of the Council of Graduate Schools does *NOT* automatically mean they signed the April 15th Resolution. There are some schools who are members of the council but not signatories of that agreement. Only schools who have signed that agreement are bound by it. So when checking if a school is bound by that resolution you can't just look at the list of CGS members, you have to look at the actual list of schools that signed the agreement (see http://www.cgsnet.org/portals/0/pdf/CGS_Resolution.pdf). Then there's one more complication. The April 15th resolution applies only to admission offers that include funding. If you receive an offer of admission with no funding, then even if the school signed that agreement, they can still set any deadline they want. However, if you received an offer of funding and the school signed the Resolution, then they are required to give you until April 15th. If you find yourself in a situation where a school isn't abiding by that, you can escalate your issue to a higher official at the school itself (Department chair, Dean, etc) and/or write to CGS.

I looked in mid June for a Sept 1 move-in, and I found that there were lots of apartments on the market (I tried to start looking in mid May and there wasn't much out there... too early). If you plan to work with an agent, you could get in touch with them soon-ish and ask the agent's advice on when you should make your house-hunting visit. Also, fair warning, September 1st is the biggest moving day in Boston, not just near colleges, but everywhere. The whole city is kind of a disaster area that day. In many cases, moving that day is unavoidable, but I highly recommend asking your landlord if moving in a day or two early would be ok, or choosing to wait a few days after your lease starts to move in.

April is probably too early to be looking for September 1. There may be a few apartments where the landlord already knows the tenants are leaving in Aug and has started showing the apt, but really not many. Probably not worth your time. That said, there is another solution besides making another trip or renting sight-unseen. Find a roommate who lives closer to Boston who can more easily visit apartments and pick one for the two of you. True, the apt is still sight-unseen to you, but your roommate has a vested interest in picking a good place for the both of you, so as long as you communicate your needs well, you should be fine. How do you find a roommate? I'd suggest asking the grad coordinator of your program if he/she knows of any other first years (or older grad students, for that matter) looking for roommates. Chances are decent that you'll be able to find someone. Plus Boston is expensive, so you probably don't want to live alone anyway. Good luck! Boston is awesome.

I'm a US citizen recently admitted to McGill (and seriously considering attending). I have a lot of possibly-stupid questions about Montreal/Canada in general and the logistics of moving from the US to Canada. How difficult is it to get and maintain a student visa? What is a living wage in Montreal? For that matter, what is income tax like in Canada? Any one know if I will owe Canadian income tax or US income tax or both? How much does a decent apartment go for typically? What's the health care situation for non-Canadians (I imagine if I maintained my US insurance it would offer only minimal coverage outside of the US, but I imagine that as a non-canadian citizen, I am not eligible for most of the benefits of the Canadian public health system, so where does that leave me?) I know (from the posts above) that Montreal has good public transportation, but is it useful at all to have a car? What is the parking situation? Would I be better off getting rid of my car before moving there? In what parts of town do (graduate) students typically live? Anything else you think I should know? (I'm sure I'll think of more questions, but that's a pretty good list for now)