apropos

I and my roommate have decided to leave Purdue this summer. Because of this, we would like to transfer the next year's lease for our 2-bedroom apartment to anyone interested. The apartment is walking distance from campus. (10 to 15 minutes from most of the important places on campus. 5-10 minutes from the Chauncey Hill shopping/dining area). There are two parking spaces for cars. The area is safe and the apartment complex residents are reasonably quite people. We don't have noisy parties going on, etc. There is quiet hour time and a large punitive fee charge for anyone who creates too much noise. Renting 2-bedroom apartment is the most cost effective way to live at Purdue. Moreover, you generally need to sign up for one of these at least 8 months in advance. By now all 2-bedroom apartments had been leased out, so the only way you can get one is through people who suddenly have to leave. The rent is (I believe) $880 per month, so it is about $440 per person. The one bedroom apartments and studios offer more privacy but they're a lot more expensive. (Think between 600 and 700 per month). Our electricity bill did not cross $100 mark this past winter. You will have to sign the lease for one full year. The least starts in August or late July. Apartment description: Very nice looking and spacious apartment in an apartment complex called Crestview North. You can see the description and measurements on Crestview website at http://www.crstview.com/cr_north.html. Click on 2bedB. If interested, please send me a message with your phone! First come, first served basis!

I would pick the San Francisco Bay Area schools (Berkeley or Stanford) for great culture, diversity, food, weather, great entertainment opportunities in places like San Francisco as well as all over the rest of the bay, and numerous terrific weekend destinations (Lake Tahoe area, the wine country, something like five national parks within reach, incl. Yosemite, Monterey, Big Sur, great hiking, great skiing, etc). There is really no other place like this. But alas, the bar for getting into Berkeley and Stanford is really high. Second choices? Probably LA, NYC, Boston, Chicago, or Seattle perhaps. Third choice: small, progressive college towns in nice natural settings like Boulder, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz.

Your after tax pay will be around $2,000 per month.

Most grad students do not live in Lafayette downtown, but it's an option. West Lafayette is effectively smoke free (except for the hookah bars) and the bar scene is indeed terrible, very undergrad oriented, except perhaps for 9 Irish brothers. However, Lafayette allows indoor smoking in the bars and so naturally they all allow smoking indoors. My understanding is that there is a big push right now at the state level to ban indoor smoke in all public places, so this might stop being an issue eventually.

I don't know if there is anything good right in Davis, but its location is one of the best for an outdoors activist with a car. It's right by the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Lake Tahoe is 2-2.5 hour drive away, which means that you can enjoy world class skiing, rafting, mountain biking, hiking, and other outdoor activities on weekends. This is generally lots of good outdoor stuff in California. A little further north (maybe 4-5 hour drive) is Redding which is by the lake and Mount Shasta, and the Redwoods national park, which are also worth exploring. Berkeley and San Francisco are 1 hour drive away. North of San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge is Marin County, with its picturesque cities of Sausalito and Tiburon, the Muir Woods park, California's wine country, mount Tamalpais, and the Point Reyes national seashore. Angel Island is a popular outdoor destination in the Bay Area. 2 hours further south from San Francisco is Monterey/Salinas/Carmel area with lots arts galleries, terrific aquarium, and plenty of outdoor activities again. Of course, there is plenty to see in San Francisco itself. It's easy to get to Sacramento from Davis. I have never been there, but many people generally describe it as relatively boring big city with nothing much to do or see. Though, I would assume it should have a decent airport and shopping.

$20,000 stipend for the school year, $4,000 for the summer. is that really enough to live off of in Berkeley? ----------------------------------- Here is a little rule of thumb. If your yearly income around $26,000, then your after tax income will be about $1700 per month in California. At least, that was my experience a couple of years ago. As others pointed out, you probably will spend at least $700-800 on your living space and utilities. You money will be tight, but I think you can make it just fine. There are many options regarding housing. North, South, and West side of campus are all popular options, and all have pros and cons. I personally liked living some 20 blocks from school/work and biking to campus.

There is plenty of housing within walking distance from campus. The West Lafayette blocks adjacent to the east side of campus are very compact and urban. You want to live there if you want to just walk to campus. There are plenty of shops and restaurants in that area, specially near the Chauncey Hill area. You don't need a car to get around there. The only possible issue is finding house or apartment with the least number of noisy, constantly partying undergrads. The grocery stores are probably a couple of miles from campus. The bus system is very good here and you can get to any part of West Lafayette or Lafayette by bus. There are buses going to the grocery stores, the Mall (in Lafayette), etc. The rides are free with student id. Certainly, having a car here is useful and could make things easier, but you can live without a car just fine. Check google maps for "Walmart", "Marsh", and "Payless". Those are the only grocery stores in the area, and all three have a store in WL.

As someone who foolishly waited until December to find an apartment, I can say that most if not all of the good deals offered by the big apartment rental companies are probably gone by the end of January (which I define as nice, clean, 2-bedroom, short walk from campus, $800 or less). However, you might find someone who sign up for a lease and is now looking for a roommate to share the cost. Ask the graduate program staff in your department about people who look for roommates. The best time to look for an apartment is early November or so. The 1-bedroom apartments sell out less quickly but they're more expensive per person and probably mostly gone by now too. If you don't find an apartment consider spending a year or so at Hawkins Hall, the graduate student dorm. It reasonably priced and is right on campus (maybe be 10 minute walk from Engineering buildings).

Berkeley is almost perfectly livable without a car, but it gets awesome with a bicycle. Also, San Francisco, a city of 1million people, is a 20 minute bus/train ride away from Berkeley, can be crossed on feet in about one hour, and has a fine public transport system.

I would advise anyone who is considering Purdue, specially for PhD, to visit the town first just to make sure you like it here. (unfortunately, the current weather does not do justice to the aesthetics of campus. it is really nice architecturally in my opinion). I am a beer and food kind of person, and since someone asks about this, I'll post my 2cents. The food scene is decent, including various kinds of ethnic food. But first, let's get one thing straight. This is not the West Coast, so don't expect top L.A.-grade avocado sandwiches, kabobs, sushi, or Korean BBQ here, but we have a little bit of every type of restaurant in this town for both casual and fine dining, and new restaurants are opening all the time. I believe just in the last couple of months a new Vietnamese restaurant opened nearby, another Hookah bar (Egyptian, they serve food too), some mexican food place, noodle eatery, etc. There are some good dining options across the river in Lafayette (I just discovered Arni's Loading Dock themed restaurant there, yum). Regarding bars, there some nice bars in downtown Lafayette. Lafayette's historic downtown, a 15 minute walk away from campus, is well preserved and is a home to many restaurants, antique shops, bars, etc. Among them there are two bars with regularly scheduled live music events, the oldest officially registered bar in Indiana (Knickerbocker Saloon), a microbrewery with damn good brews (Lafayette Brewing Company), and a bar that offers over 50 different types of beer from all over the world on tap (Chumley's). The only problem with some of them is that smoking is still allowed indoors in Lafayette (but I think this is not going to last for long), unlike in West Lafayette. Before crossing the bridge, on the West Lafayette side, there is a bar called Scotty's Brewhouse which again has something like a couple dozen different brews on tap. There is also an Irish pub that serves a variety of Irish beers. As you get closer to campus, things get trashier and dirtier. The Chauncey Hill area has something like four bars which are packed on weekends with (often drunk) undergrads who sip cheap macrobews. I don't really like places where my shoes stick to the ground because of spilled beer, so I don't go there that often. I actually _like_ living near Chauncey Hill area. Food, shopping, movie theaters, campus, everything is close from there. I like being a 10 minute walk away from my office. I lived in Crestview apartments 2 and 3, and there is a large number of graduate students there. If there are some neighbors that get too noisy on weekends, just complain to management or police. Yes, this is no Chicago or Berkeley, but at least you won't get mugged near campus, and you can spend only about $450/month on shared 2-bedroom with utilities. There is a huge mall in Lafayette, Best Buy, Borders, Barnes and Noble and whatnot. Purdue Convocations brings very good cultural events to campus (so next week we have Spanish Flamenco dancers). There are about three decent state parks a car drive away. Chicago is 2 hour drive away. On the downside, of course there is not as much to do here as say in Chicago and there is less culture. Being here over the winter break can get very boring. It gets cold but there is not one decent skiing resort within 500 miles (Indiana is flat). If you're single, finding a significant other will be difficult because most people come here only for the school then leave as soon as they're done. Things get kind of spread out as you get away from campus, so having a car is nice. There are several grocery stores but they're all at least two miles away from where I live and there isn't one upscale store like Whole Foods. On the neutral side, this place is not significantly worse or better than a typical Big 10 college town. Besides Evanston, Minneapolis, Ann Arbor, and Madison, all Big 10 university towns are probably more or less the same. I have visited Bloomington and East Lansing and talked to people who lived in Urbana Champaign, and those cities didn't strike me as being significantly better or worse than the Greater Lafayette. Any differences among them are only marginal. PS: Yes, it is possible to live on graduate student stipend and even save money for things like a nice vacation once a year. Tip: share an apartment and watch your spending. Make your own food at least once per day. Make friends with $1 spaghetti box and $2 spaghetti sauce can*. *Certainly add some healthy foods to this mix or you will get sick.

Thanks. What about the life in West Lafayette area in general? Does it feel very isolated? What are the recommended housing options for a single graduate student (attending a business school PhD program tentatively)? I could bring a car, just in case there are better options within driving distance.

I just received the details about Purdue's graduate assistantship offer. They offer $16800 per year, minus tax, minus $2033 in various university fees. Let's assume that I am in the 15% federal tax bracket (can someone confirm the validity?). I don't even know what the state income tax is. Then I will end up getting about $1020 per month. The cheapest on-campus graduate student housing option is about $445 per month (this includes electricity, local-area phone, etc). Let's assume that I will spend $15 per day on average on meals, coffee, and groceries. Then, I will be left with about $125 for all other possible kinds of expenses (cell phone, car insurance, clothing, etc). So, I am a little confused about how I am gonna live on this stipend. Perhaps my assumptions about food costs or other expenses are wrong? (shocked a little after earning near $30K/year on my half-time job for the past few years.. but those moneys were already spent on undergraduate education and graduate application fees) How does this compare to other schools. Should I be expecting a similar package at IUB and MSU (if any..)

I wonder about the costs of living and quality of life in West Lafayette. I am single and considering to enroll in a doctoral program at Purdue. Can someone post a quick comment regarding whether it's better to live or to eat on or off-campus? I will appreciate any other comments about this city. Thank you.