San Diego, CA

[Bacchanalia]

Glitter,

 

Thank you so much for all the information! I am planning on taking my car out so I will look into all of those areas. My wife really wants us to rent a house so we can have a yard for the dog, but I'm not sure if we can pull that off. 

 

Thanks again for the info! Any other tips on living in Sand Diego?

[Glitter1nTheAir]

Glitter,

 

Thank you so much for all the information! I am planning on taking my car out so I will look into all of those areas. My wife really wants us to rent a house so we can have a yard for the dog, but I'm not sure if we can pull that off. 

 

Thanks again for the info! Any other tips on living in Sand Diego?

 

I love it here a lot - every time I move away I miss it!

 

Public transportation here is not good at all compared to any other city I've lived in and most other cities I've visited. You have a car, so that's good and Uber/Lyft has a good presence here. Parking here sucks though - get good at parallel parking!

 

There's lots of good food (AND BEER) establishments to explore in San Diego, if you're into that. There are also some great hikes that are dog friendly (Cowles Mountain, Torrey Pines Reserves, and more). In fact, SD is a very dog friendly city! There are a bunch of cafes and eateries that are open to dogs (check out places in Pacific Beach/Mission Beach - there is a dog beach here too).

 

Can't think of any more tips at the moment, but I'll add more tips as I think of them.

[twentysix]

Is there a bus between UCSD and SDSU? I'm potentially taking classes through the consortium and this interests me.

 

Also, how much are UCSD parking passes?

[Glitter1nTheAir]

Saw this today and thought some of you might find it useful: 

 

http://www.sandiegomagazine.com/San-Diego-Magazine/March-2015/Best-Neighborhoods-in-San-Diego/The-Best-Places-to-Live-in-San-Diego/

[MaxWeberHasAPosse]

I was accepted to UCSD for PhD. How difficult is it to rent an apartment in San Diego (Hillcrest/Northpark/OB) when one is not actually there? I'm going to have to do it from here in Colorado.

[Enhydra]

Saw this today and thought some of you might find it useful: 

 

http://www.sandiegomagazine.com/San-Diego-Magazine/March-2015/Best-Neighborhoods-in-San-Diego/The-Best-Places-to-Live-in-San-Diego/

 

Thanks! That is helpful.

[ChanEvansLam]

Probably going to Scripps for chemistry PhD, trying to find affordable housing up to $1300/mo. Any suitable neighborhoods that come to mind?

[gokuvegeta]

Hi everyone,

I am an international student, will be joining UCSD in the Fall 2015 semester for my Phd.

[isilya]

Hillcrest is AWESOME! Much cheaper than the area around campus: a one-bedroom in Hillcrest will be between $1100-1300 as opposed to $1400-1600 in La Jolla. Also, there is a free shuttle from the Hillcrest Medical Center to the UCSD campus that comes every half hour (only drawback is that service stops at 8:50pm, and there's no service on weekends). I know tons of grad students and even some faculty that live in Hillcrest. Plus, it's a fun area! La Jolla is one of the most boring places ever and you have to have a car to do anything (including grocery shop). Not so in Hillcrest!

Side note, I wouldn't recommend University Heights/Normal Heights/North Park unless you have a car. But if you do have a car, North Park is amazing. Cute little coffee shops, cool bars, great arts scene, etc. North Park is close to Hillcrest, but if you don't have a car it's a pain to get to the Hillcrest shuttle from North Park unless you're willing to bike quite a ways (plus, the bus that runs through the area comes sporadically at best and takes a long time since it goes down a major road with a bunch of signals and generally picks people up at every stop).

[Intuit14]

Hi gokuvegeta,

If you're referring to the 1 bedrooms and studios in the Coast apartments then your only chance of beating the wait time is if your department nominated you for priority placement. Otherwise the wait times posted are accurate. Demand for UCSD's grad housing is much higher than supply unfortunately.

Hi everyone,

I am an international student, will be joining UCSD in the Fall 2015 semester for my Phd.

I am interested in applying for housing in the Single Graduate apartments.

Can someone tell me, how likely it is that a Single Graduate apartement is allotted before arrival, since the website shows that the mean waiting time is around 7-11 months.

[gokuvegeta]

Hi gokuvegeta,

If you're referring to the 1 bedrooms and studios in the Coast apartments then your only chance of beating the wait time is if your department nominated you for priority placement. Otherwise the wait times posted are accurate. Demand for UCSD's grad housing is much higher than supply unfortunately.

 

Hi Intuit14,

Thanks for your reply.

Actually, I meant the following apartments.

http://hdh.ucsd.edu/arch/sga.asp

 

Is there any way of requesting priority placement from the Department, or is it decided by the department itself ?

[Intuit14]

Oh yeah SGA should have the shortest wait time. It still looks pretty long though. The priority housing offers have to be initiated by your department to student housing. If you really want to try and get it and feel comfortable asking, I would say go for it.

Good luck!

[neurominer]

Hey Everyone,

 

I am possibly going to SDSU this Fall, and if I am I would like to live with a friend of mine who will be attending USD (University of San Diego--not to be confused with UCSD) for law school, while taking classes at UCSD concurrently for a dual JD/MS degree. I will likely be working ~20 hours a week in a lab at UCSD, and taking several classes for my MS at SDSU. So to summarize, He'll be spending about half his time at UCSD, half at USD, and I will be spending half my time near UCSD and half at SDSU.  

 

So I'm hoping to find an apartment at a "reasonable" price (Definitely less than $1,000 per person, ideally less than $750/person, after utilities) that is as close to USD, SDSU, and UCSD as possible. I will not have a car, and my friend would prefer not to have a car, but may be able to bring his if necessary.

 

I am okay with a long commute, though I'd prefer to keep it under 45 minutes if possible. I will have a bicycle and would love to use that as a major mode of transportation as much as possible. From perusing this forum, it seems like Hillcrest might be the best option given my our circumstances? 

 

Sorry for the lack of cohesiveness in my post!

[nananiemand]

Hi all, I'm a San Diego native and former UCSD undergrad.

 

If you need any info on the Hillcrest area, I'd be glad to give advise. I currently live with a couple graduate students just a 10 minute walk from the shuttle stop here. I can say that I probably have the rarest rent, around $450 a month (I split a room with my boyfriend). Expect to pay around $650-800 for a room no matter where you decide.

 

However if you choose to live in Hillcrest, account for living nearby the UCSD shuttle and within walking distance from grocery stores (including a Whole Foods if you really need that), restaurants, bars (including some of the best known gay/alt bars in California, the Brass Rail and Urban Mo's), and Balboa Park (where the World Famous San Diego Zoo is!). Hillcrest is also about a 15 minute drive from Ocean Beach (famous for it's bums and headshops, think Venice beach but smaller and less polish). As well, there's a farmers market on Sundays, and during the summer we host a huge gay pride parade. 

 

Honestly, I'm very sad to be leaving Hillcrest (but I'm moving up to Berkeley, so not -too- sad). I'm from southern San Diego, and moving to the metropolitan area was amazing. La Jolla is not worth the rent! You can get to the beach from campus, and you'll be there anyway so making regular trips down the cliffs to go to the beach should be mandatory (for sanity and exercise). Don't stress about living by the beach! Keep this in mind: anything metal you own and leave outside will rust within a few months, and the marine layer is real (that said, during the summer you will not want to live further inland than Hillcrest, as the micro-climates in San Diego can be drastically different, for instance 110* in South county and 75* at the coast).

 

Also, last note, if you live in San Diego you can take the trolley -to- Tijuana. Bring your passport and explore Mexico. Baja is a short drive away and some of the best and most beautiful beaches are just south of Rosarito. Expect a 6 hour wait at the border if you're driving, though.

[twentysix]

How functional is San Diego's metro, specifically the train?

 

Is it realistic to use said train with a starting point around UCSD?

[Intuit14]

The trolley doesn't currently go to UCSD but is supposed to in the future (I'm not sure when). Buses are pretty good and with the UCSD bus pass sticker you can ride almost any bus.

[twentysix]

Hi Intuit14,

Thanks for your reply.

Actually, I meant the following apartments.

http://hdh.ucsd.edu/arch/sga.asp

 

Is there any way of requesting priority placement from the Department, or is it decided by the department itself ?

 

During the negotiation process you could have worked it into your offer if you were one of their most desired applicants.

 

I was able to get priority housing through negotiation.

[db757]

I'm a new grad student majoring in history at SDSU. Where's a good place to stay in the area? I'm originally from Sacramento (which makes it even harder to find something because I'm not local) and am looking for a studio or 1-bedroom apartment in a decent area, and within my budget (approx. $700-950/ mo). anyone have any ideas? I would like to stay within 5-15 miles of campus;I am not too keen on living too far away from campus (over 15 miles) unless the apartment is near the trolley line. People say that I've waited too long to find anything (late July), but classes do not begin until late August, so I think that there should be something available--

 

Would El Cajon or Clairemont work?

[gagawoahlala]

Just admitted by UCSD. Could someone please tell me if UCSD is a LGBT friendly place or not?

 

Has anyone from UCSD heard of the major "Applied Ocean Science"? It is a interdisciplinary major,maintaining by Scripps and Jacob school of engineering. I just got admitted by this major. If someone could tell me if this major is worthwhile to take,that would be great!!

[KappaRoss]

Anyone know any good places near SDSU that don't cost $900 to share a room? Looks like the rent is outrageous near SDSU for even double occupancy, and it sounds like the transit system/traffic/parking is horrible. Where's a good place to get a room that doesn't break the bank? It'd be nice to pay 800-900 for my own room and near campus, but that sounds impossible from looking at apartments and Craigslist.

[Aequorea]

Hi, I currently go to SDSU!

You have to live a little bit further from campus if you want cheaper places. The SDSU affiliated apartments (Aztec Corner, BLVD63, 5025, etc) are nice but REALLY expensive.. (think 600 for a shared room) I looked through craigslist and currently live in a room in a house for about ~600/month. The more south and east you go, the cheaper it generally is. La Mesa/Lemon Grove aren't too expensive. 

You might want to try this site: https://sdsu.och101.com/. I haven't used it personally, but my friend did and found a room off the site. 

If you're bringing a car (which I recommend), there's plenty of other neighborhoods to live in (Hillcrest, Pacific Beach, etc) but the buses around SDSU aren't that bad. The green line trolley runs through SDSU and can take you all the way to Santee or Downtown SD (can connect to other trolley lines there). It also passes through Mission Valley and Fashion Valley Malls and the Alvarado Hospital. I commuted by bus for about 2 years and it wasn't too bad besides grocery shopping. The 11 bus takes you to Hillcrest, the 15/215 takes you to downtown, the 955 to National City, the 936/856 to Spring Valley. The bus pass is about ~155/semester and allows you to go on the trolley and the buses. Parking is ~160/semester and can get crowded if it's not in the morning. 

[KappaRoss]

@Aequorea Thank you, that was a very informative post. I'm going down next week to look at the school and surrounding area. It sounds like finding a house on craigslist is probably the best move. From what I've seen, most of the apartments near SDSU charge really high rent, and the ones that don't have terrible reviews.

Of the areas close to SDSU, which are the best to look at? Also, is SDSU parking really as bad as they say? Most of my classes will be in the afternoon.

[imsocorkyy]

4 hours ago, KappaRoss said:

@Aequorea Thank you, that was a very informative post. I'm going down next week to look at the school and surrounding area. It sounds like finding a house on craigslist is probably the best move. From what I've seen, most of the apartments near SDSU charge really high rent, and the ones that don't have terrible reviews.

Of the areas close to SDSU, which are the best to look at? Also, is SDSU parking really as bad as they say? Most of my classes will be in the afternoon.

I can't answer any q's on apartments near campus since I commute from down south but I can tell you that parking is not as bad as people say. As long as you have purchased a semester pass (currently ~$162/sem) from them, you will always find a spot in at least several parking structures (PS). It's just a lot of people have classes in the West end, so they prefer parking in the PS located there and since they fill up by 9am M-Th, people just assume the parking is 'bad'. But the East end, namely the PS near the dorms, have always got room for parking. Since your classes will be in the afternoon, and if you don't plan on coming to class before 1-2pm, then you'd pretty much find parking anywhere, even on the packed West PS. 

I'd say the days that parking will be most annoying for you are when we have events such as basketball and concerts. They close the PS nearest to the event pretty early so anyone with a class in the afternoon will have to keep that in mind. Just park in the open PS though, and you'll be good.

All in all, parking is fine. Just can be a little inconvenient if you have class on one end of campus but have to park on the other end. The campus isn't that big, so it isn't too bad. Street parking though - now that is bad and not worth the time & effort imo.

Hope this was helpful  

[KappaRoss]

@imsocorkyyIt was very helpful, thank you so much!

[elsueñodelretorno]

Hi there!
Not sure if there is anyone out there to read this, as I see that this topic hasn´t had much activity in the past year, but here are my questions in case anyone can answer:
I have been admitted to a Ph.D. program at UCSD. The program looks awesome to me, great fit, great professors... Academically I´m loving it. But I´d have to teach every semester and they would give me 20K (pre taxes) per academic year with no summer aid. How do you see this to live in San Diego? I´ve been researching a little bit and I thought that  could live in Hillcrest (I´m European, a very urban person. Probably would feel miserable at La Jolla and, at least the first year, I won´t have a car) sharing an apartment (have seen very nice rooms on Craiglist for $600-800) and take the shuttle to campus. How difficult do you think my life would be on this stipend, 20K/year?
I appreciate all of your comments, thanks a lot!