lachanga

As far as I know, virtually all leases begin on the 1st of the month. However, if you work it out with the landlord that you won't be coming until, say, the 18th, the landlord should prorate you 12 days so that you only pay for the time that you're there. Divide the monthly rent by 30 (even if the days in the month are 31 or 28) and that's the per diem rent.

I wouldn't think it would be too different--one of my best friends rented a flat for several months in NZ, which (excuse my ignorance here) I would imagine is probably similar to the renting situation in Australia, and she said it was essentially the same. One thing I would advise you is to familiarize yourself with your rights as a tenant in the states, to avoid any potential conflicts with your landlord. Here is a link provided by US Housing & Urban Development for renter's rights in TX: http://texastenant.org

Again, I'm not living there yet, but as far as I can tell from craigslist and message boards you'll be hard pressed to find an August 1st lease until late June/early July. When are you planning on moving? You might have better luck looking if you moved into a summer sublet in June or July. Then you could lock down a place for August. That's what I would do, except that my job is a one-year contract that isn't up until the week before school starts. The program I'm admitted to (Community & Regional Planning) just sent out a list of summer sublets from current students in the School of Architecture. A lot of them look really great. If you're interested, give me your email address, and I would be happy to forward it to you.

I'm also moving to Austin--not from there. However, my roommate's boyfriend recommended this bike co-op. Maybe they could help you out with renting/buying/building a cheap bike: http://www.austinyellowbike.org/index.html

Damn, thanks again for all this amazing info. We are really interested in living on the eastside--so you're basically saying, riverside underneath the river/lake is not cool, but Central East Austin close to I-35 is cool, right? Sweet. I couldn't seem to find any UT shuttle routes that ran around there (weird), but I'm guessing if I'm not too far east or south, the bike commute to school will be negligible. Now I just have to manage to get a place sight-unseen for August...

Rachel, thanks for all of the extremely helpful info. I'm also an AmeriCorps VISTA right now, and my stipend is about $820/month, or about 10.5k/year, and I do absolutely fine out here in Sacramento on that stipend, though it helps that I have a girlfriend to split rent with. From what I hear, things are generally less expensive in TX compared to CA, including rent--would you say that's true? Does your apartment only have one bedroom, or two?

Hi, I also was just accepted to Davis and I'm strongly considering accepting the offer. Right now I'm living in West Sacramento so I wouldn't have to relocate, though I am thinking about moving over to the mixed-income lofts in Midtown Sacramento where I would pay just a bit more on rent, but be surrounded by everything I could ever ask for. I personally don't think I want to live in Davis, because I really like living close to Downtown and Midtown Sac and all the other great neighborhoods. I do have a car, but I rarely use it, as I bike commute to work. If I go to Davis I'll probably do a bike-bus combination commute, and I'm not anticipating that it'll be that much of a hassle--I understand why the professor said a car was "essential" since Davis is somewhat isolated and public transit isn't optimal in the area AND who doesn't want to sneak away to SF every once in awhile? But honestly, I think you would be ok, especially if you have a bike. As for your stipend, I am an AmeriCorps member currently and make just a hair over $10k/year and I'm doing absolutely fine. My rent in West Sac, which is cheaper than just across the bridge in Downtown, is about $400 and it's a really nice neighborhood, and like I said it's just across the bridge from all the action, and I still have enough to buy all the delicious food and beer I want and to go out a few weekends a month. I'm not sure you'll find a rent price that low in Davis, though. It sounds like you've been surviving on a penniless lifestyle; 16k is more than enough once you get a good living situation locked down. So I would say, look at either West Sac or some of the affordable rental housing options in Sacramento--go to this link http://www.shra.org/WebReports/AffHousing/htmProjectListing.php for a list of options, but research the address to see what neighborhoods they're in, because some are in the hood.

I would say turn it down, but only if you have the opportunity to make yourself a stronger candidate for next season. I know you're applying for the PhD, but I've been in your shoes applying to Masters programs. Last year I got rejected from all my top choices and only got an offer from my safety school. I anguished about it until the absolute last minute, but decided not to go and to take a year to make myself a more appealing candidate, and took an AmeriCorps position related to my field. It paid off, I just got my first acceptance from a MUCH better program and university yesterday morning. I agree that the school you choose follows you around forever...

Hi, anyone heard anything from UT Austin LAS (Masters)? Do area studies programs usually take so long to make admissions decisions? I was originally told I would hear by the end of February, and then after an email inquiry last week was told that they are in "the final stages" of decision-making...Didn't see any other LAS applicants getting news on the results page but thought I'd ask anyway, thanks