Housing and Grad school

[neuropsych76]

It is scary to think that I'm going to be looking for a place to live for grad school soon...

I was wondering what you guys think is the best/ideal option for housing in grad school? I know it varies immensely but what kind of things should you look for? Should you only rent an apartment for 9 months at a time? 12 months or more at a time? Buy a house/townhouse?

Really all I know now is that I will not have a car and will have to live close to campus. But i'd like to hear any suggestions people have for housing at least for the first year or so.

Thanks!

[michpc]

Honestly? There are really way too many variables and no absolutes. If was planning to get a phD at someplace like UVM, I would consider trying to buy as rentals are very high comparatively in Burlington. However, someplace like Boston you'd have to buy way out in the suburbs at some god-awful apartment complex or something.

My only legitimate piece of advice? 9 month leases tend to be for undergrads, because they usually go home during the summer, therefore a place with a 9 month lease near campus will probably be undergrad central, and if you don't want all night partying nearby, that's probably a bad choice.

[WornOutGrad]

I decided to live in the dorms my first year of Grad School. I went for the cheapest thing on campus...

BIG MISTAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a freshman (yes, an undergrad freshman) roommate who loves to stay up until 4, playing WOW (including the night before I had a midterm), and the building smells like weed most of the time. I don't think it's until now that I realized how immature underclassmen are! So if you stay on campus, splurge a little bit for a graduate apartment, because this 4am World of Warcraft crap and the weed have got to go!

[LJK]

For most people, PhD programs are year-round jobs - you often get offered only an academic year stipend but often programs find ways to fund you during the summer. Even if they can't pay you, you probably still want to stick around in the summer to get your research done while there aren't that many other distractions going on. So, a 12 month lease is the way to go.

Personally, I like living with other grad students in a house close to campus, but not in the undergrad areas. I can walk to my building in less than 10 minutes. I have close friends to talk to every night who are going through similar hoops in their departments. I currently live with people who are students in other departments but 3 of them are in the same department and don't have a problem with that. I like the variety of people in my day but they can also come home and gossip about the people in their big department with each other which is nice too.

I would say the biggest thing if you are going to live with roommates is to make sure that they can be respectful of a super stressed out grad student when needed. Grad school isn't something that can always be left at the office at the end of the day.

[fluffy]

I decided to live in the dorms my first year of Grad School. I went for the cheapest thing on campus...

BIG MISTAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a freshman (yes, an undergrad freshman) roommate who loves to stay up until 4, playing WOW (including the night before I had a midterm), and the building smells like weed most of the time. I don't think it's until now that I realized how immature underclassmen are! So if you stay on campus, splurge a little bit for a graduate apartment, because this 4am World of Warcraft crap and the weed have got to go!

I am sure that grad student apartments are a lot better than a dorm. However, you still need to be careful since some apartments near campus (like mine) can still be noisy due to a combination of the following factors:

• Idiots screaming late at night
• Noisy garbage trucks that wake you up at 7:00am more than once per week (don't get an apartment at the end of the building that the garbage truck comes to)
• Sirens (try not to be close to hospitals / emergency services / busy roads; nearby pubs are also a problem)
• Thin walls / noisy neighbors who come and go at 2:00am or even later
• Inept management that is unable or unwilling to address noise problems and is dishonest until after you have moved in (remember that the management may have an incentive to lie when you visit)
• An ancient building that was constructed in the stone age and has no air conditioning when it gets to be 100 degrees during the Summer

Beware! University run apartments are not immune to these issues. You also should take the time to find somewhere good rather then selecting a place in a hurry like I did and ending up somewhere you hate until your lease runs out.

Good luck.

[Lyra Belacqua]

I decided to live in the dorms my first year of Grad School. I went for the cheapest thing on campus...

BIG MISTAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a freshman (yes, an undergrad freshman) roommate who loves to stay up until 4, playing WOW (including the night before I had a midterm), and the building smells like weed most of the time. I don't think it's until now that I realized how immature underclassmen are! So if you stay on campus, splurge a little bit for a graduate apartment, because this 4am World of Warcraft crap and the weed have got to go!

This seems absolutely ridiculous to me…so I guess I'm lucky that the schools I'm considering happen to have separate grad dorms. But seriously, who could possibly have thought that randomly mixing grads and undergrads was a good idea? I can't imagine that most people would be entirely comfortable being roommates with a stranger who's also 4 or more years older/younger than them.

[mandarin.orange]

It is scary to think that I'm going to be looking for a place to live for grad school soon...

I was wondering what you guys think is the best/ideal option for housing in grad school? I know it varies immensely but what kind of things should you look for? Should you only rent an apartment for 9 months at a time? 12 months or more at a time? Buy a house/townhouse?

Really all I know now is that I will not have a car and will have to live close to campus. But i'd like to hear any suggestions people have for housing at least for the first year or so.

Thanks!

I am thinking about all this as well. This is my second go-round for graduate school. For my MS, I started in a boarding-house style situation that was fun and dirt-cheap at first, but eventually had enough and moved out after 2 years for a great studio apt. where I at last finished my thesis.

Definitely go for 12 months. You need a "base" for research, fieldwork trips, etc. during the summer. I moved out of an apt last spring (I'm a teacher), stored my stuff for the summer while I went to California, then hunted for a place when I got back (stayed with friends) and moved Labor Day. I found myself moving again on New Years Day to get out of a bad roomie/landlord situation. I thought I was cleverly saving money, but savings wasn't really worth it. In "Getting What you Came For" about grad school, the author recommends avoiding ANYTHING that will slow down your progression toward your degree. Moving and crazy roomies will slow you down.

A friend of mine stayed for her PhD at my MS-granting institution. She came early (July) at the onset of her graduate program to apt-hunt and set it up. I thought it was overkill at the time, but she now credits her success to the fact that she was able to happily keep that apt for her entire 5 years in grad school. She was beset with several medical problems and surgeries too, and having her OWN space and one she liked was invaluable for her sanity and recovery. A colleague recently mentioned loaning her daughter several thousand during her graduate program so she could keep the same (single) space where she could focus and work. She paid them back easily once she had a job. I intend to take this approach next year.

[eklavya]

i totally agree with fellas above. i wouldn't mind throwing in an extra benjie in the expenditure pool if that finds me a nice place where i can live at peace, think at peace, and most important of all, sleep at peace. most stipends these days (at least in the sciences) are more than enough to live lavishly, and yet save some $$. so, go for the better apts. it is true that you will get what you pay for. more you pay, more likely that nicer the place will be.

[neuropsych76]

thank you all for the helpful replies!!!

i wanted to bump this up because I have one more question..for now

what are the biggest pros and cons of getting a condo vs an apartment??

from my understanding it seems like getting a condo is a much better option (assuming you find one you like) because you can sell it back and get some or all of your money back.

why don't more people do this? is it just because the down payment makes it hard to afford a condo? i heard the monthly payments of condo mortgages and apartment rent is about the same (if the apartment and condo are comparable)

[Eigen]

thank you all for the helpful replies!!!

i wanted to bump this up because I have one more question..for now

what are the biggest pros and cons of getting a condo vs an apartment??

from my understanding it seems like getting a condo is a much better option (assuming you find one you like) because you can sell it back and get some or all of your money back.

why don't more people do this? is it just because the down payment makes it hard to afford a condo? i heard the monthly payments of condo mortgages and apartment rent is about the same (if the apartment and condo are comparable)

The other thing to keep in mind is that you'll (likely) have to do all your own maintenance/pay to have the maintenance done on your condo, since you own it. Also, don't forget to factor in homeowners insurance and property tax when you're figuring your monthly payment.

Where I am, mortgage payments are about half of rent on an apartment... But homeowners insurance and property taxes bring you right back up to the same thing you're paying in rent. Also keep in mind that while you can sell it at the end and recoup your money, it's also possible that the condo could sit on the market for months or even years- and if you're trying to sell it from another city, since you've already moved, that can be quite a pain.

I owned the house that I lived in as an undergrad, and while nice- the maintenance and upkeep was quite a chore. I rent now, and while there are still some maintenance issues that I wish I could just take care of (my landlord won't let me do any of it on my own), it's really nice to not have to shoulder the burden sometime. Being able to just make a call and say "Hey, so the hot water heater's busted and needs to be replaced" and then not worry about it is really, really nice, especially when I've got an exceptionally busy week coming up.

That said, I'd consider buying a house for a PhD... You'll be around long enough to enjoy it, I would think. But just keep in mind the upkeep that comes along with it, if you've never owned a house before.

The other thing is of course the downpayment- in my area, the cheapest condo you'll find is around $200k, which with the current housing market means a $40k downpayment (most banks won't accept anything less than 20% at the current time)... And not too many of us going into grad school have $40k on hand.

[timuralp]

To be fair, specifically for condos, the association does quite a bit of maintenance (depending on the particular association). For example, in my case the hot water, laundry, exterior, parking lot, cutting grass and some other small things are all covered by the association fee. The only big things I need to worry about in terms of maintenance are the appliances, the plumbing inside the condo, and the furnace, since each unit has its own furnace. In my case, the mortgage fee also includes the escrow payment, which covers the property taxes. Since I bought mine before the rates plummeted, right now I'm paying on par with renting a 1 bedroom apartment (including the association fee), but a friend of mine in the same complex who bought a year later pays about half to 2/3 of that.

It is definitely a bigger commitment, but I also like the fact that I have definite housing for the foreseeable future and do not have to move apartments or deal with rising prices. Also, the property taxes + interest payments on the mortgage are tax deductible and often exceed the standard deduction. So, in a way they help to offset the fact that you're paying them.

[rising_star]

what are the biggest pros and cons of getting a condo vs an apartment??

from my understanding it seems like getting a condo is a much better option (assuming you find one you like) because you can sell it back and get some or all of your money back.

why don't more people do this? is it just because the down payment makes it hard to afford a condo? i heard the monthly payments of condo mortgages and apartment rent is about the same (if the apartment and condo are comparable)

There are some other cons with condos that haven't been mentioned yet. Assessments are the biggest one. If the roof has to be redone or the parking lot repaved, every owner will receive a special assessment in the mail, which could be $200 or $10,000. You have to pay or sell basically. The way to avoid this is to make sure the condo association has a healthy reserve fund so you don't unexpectedly get saddled with large expenses. You also want to make sure you read all of the rules, regulations, and guidelines and that you're willing to adhere to them.

[ZeeMore21]

I have a question, what do people think of living with a roommate vs living by yourself as a graduate student? I have experience with both, and though I do love living by myself, I'm still thinking that it would be nice to live with someone else just to reduce cost. However, as someone that is beginning a doctoral program, I am also wondering if it would just be better to live alone so I wouldn't have to deal with certain things that arise in a roommate setting. I've never had a bad experience with roommates in the past though.

[studentaffairsgrad]

I have a question, what do people think of living with a roommate vs living by yourself as a graduate student? I have experience with both, and though I do love living by myself, I'm still thinking that it would be nice to live with someone else just to reduce cost. However, as someone that is beginning a doctoral program, I am also wondering if it would just be better to live alone so I wouldn't have to deal with certain things that arise in a roommate setting. I've never had a bad experience with roommates in the past though.

Since you haven't had problems before, I'm guessing you're fairly easy person to live with, so I don't think it would be a problem. Personally, I get bored when I am by myself, so I like having one other person around. I have some friends in grad school now (I'll be entering this fall) and they live with other grad students in different programs. They really enjoy being around people who aren't in their cohort, which means they don't talk shop all the time, and can just go home and talk about whatever and hang out. If you find someone who seems like they value the same thing you do in a roomie (cleanliness or lack thereof/smoking preference/noise level, etc) I think it is a good idea, especially to set-off cost as you mentioned. And hopefully they will help keep you sane

As for me, I will be running and living in residence hall full of hundreds of underclassmen while going to school, so that should be interesting

[ZeeMore21]

Since you haven't had problems before, I'm guessing you're fairly easy person to live with, so I don't think it would be a problem. Personally, I get bored when I am by myself, so I like having one other person around. I have some friends in grad school now (I'll be entering this fall) and they live with other grad students in different programs. They really enjoy being around people who aren't in their cohort, which means they don't talk shop all the time, and can just go home and talk about whatever and hang out. If you find someone who seems like they value the same thing you do in a roomie (cleanliness or lack thereof/smoking preference/noise level, etc) I think it is a good idea, especially to set-off cost as you mentioned. And hopefully they will help keep you sane

As for me, I will be running and living in residence hall full of hundreds of underclassmen while going to school, so that should be interesting

Thanks for the advice! Decided to go the roomie route. It will be a crazy year for you, but I think it will be worth it!

[OleMissRebGoinNorth]

I actually was curious if I could get some advice about a situation only a little different from the one referenced above. I will be moving to Philadelphia for grad school (Temple pharmacology) and will know nobody in the area as a possible roommate. I've lived in many different environments (apartment with 3 roommates, frat house with 20 roommates, living by myself) and never really had any problems, but in those situations I have always known the people I've lived with. All of the studio apartments in the area of Phildelphia I'd like to live in are pretty expensive, so I've been considering finding roommates. Any advice on how to find these people? I know first year of graduate school is stressful, am I better off just paying a little more for a studio and maybe moving in with friends I make after a year to save money? Thanks for any perspective you can provide!

[far_to_go]

Hi OleMiss,

Unless you can find a roomie that you know at least a little bit about (maybe a friend-of-a-friend? Try Facebook!), I would recommend living by yourself for the first year if you can afford it and can find a decent place in a not-too-scary, not-too-far-from-school neighborhood. I'm just finishing my first year of PhD, and I can tell you that you'll be dealing with a lot of stress; having a bad roommate situation is not the kind of stress that you want to deal with if you can possibly avoid it.

That being said... I've lived in many different situations over the years, with many different people, and my best living situation was a shared apartment with two people I'd never met before the day I moved in. We became really good friends and had an awesome time together. So, sometimes it is possible to get lucky.

Best to you!

[ZeChocMoose]

I think roommate situations are always a crossing the fingers type of thing as you never know how well it will go until you start living with the person regardless if you knew them before hand. I think you have to be honest with yourself to determine whether you'll be relatively chill when you are stressed out with school and your roommate does something that you think is annoying, rude, confusing, etc. If you think a roommate will add more overall stress to your life, I would probably try a studio at least for the first year.

I have learned that living with roommates when I am not in school is a good experience for me, but living with roommates when I am in school is painful as I need relative quiet to read and write and I dislike going to libraries/coffee shops/etc to do those activities. I guess it depends on your study habits and your preferences.

Edited May 10, 2011 by ZeChocMoose

[rising_star]

OleMiss,

You can try looking to see if your school has an off-campus housing office. Also, check with your department and any related ones to see if they have housing lists or will let you send out an email saying you're looking to live with someone in the fall. If those don't work, there's always Craig's List and Facebook.

Whether or not to live with roommates really depends. I had one roommate the first year of my MA (who was awesome!), three during MA year 2 (one of whom was batshit crazy), and two roommates for the first two years of my PhD (who were passive-aggressive). It's only in the third year of my PhD, when teaching my own course and taking comps, that I've lived alone. A lot of times, I miss having roommates, especially the good ones that are able to hang out, go to the bar, etc. It's a lot more work to muster up someone to go do something with when you live alone. I like the quiet but sometimes it's too quiet and I find myself craving conversation... So yea, there are trade-offs. But really, no one can tell you what to do. Living someplace expensive the first year can be extra hard given the additional costs of moving and having to wait for the first paycheck.

[neuropsych76]

Thank you all for the helpful replies!!

It seems like the more I know about housing, the more things I have to consider and the harder it is to make a decision

[far_to_go]

It seems like the more I know ..., the more things I have to consider and the harder it is to make a decision

Yes. Well, welcome to grad school, kiddo :-)

[contretemps]

*bump*

[Jrock4real]

I'm heading to grad school this fall, and I'm certainly not considering rooming with anyone. Before college, I had this crazy idea that living with anyone would always be awesome. Freshman year, didn't have a choice of roommate. Not too bad; got along well with roommate. Sophomore year, I forfeited the option of choosing my own housing and got into this double with someone I did not know—still an idealist. Not a great experience at all, for reasons I won't care to post! Junior and senior years, I had single rooms. Those were great years, but I barely spent anytime in those rooms. (The only thing I came home to do during the week was shower and get dressed. Most nights, I slept in the physics and music buildings!) I have been working as high school teacher for the past two years after graduation, and I wholly enjoy my 1BR apartment situation on campus. I certainly look forward to continuing the solo experience in grad school.

Obviously, sharing a dorm room with one or two people is not the same as sharing an apartment with housemates. The major difference is you have your bedroom to yourself. But I'm the sort of person who would probably end up doing all the cleaning in a shared apartment. Schedules are great, but I believe cleaning should be spontaneous, arising from a natural inclination to keep surroundings healthy and tidy. And I'm not sure I'd like to share a kitchen at this point.

When it comes to living, I am super minimalist—no unnecessary furniture, appliances, etc. I am not a TV-watcher, and would not really be thrilled with the constant noise of a blaring box. My idea of a living space would be one where I could eat comfortably, get serious work done (I love large workspaces), practice musical instruments, curl up with a book, etc. College and teaching have screwed up my sleeping habits for life, e.g. I'm the sort of person that would think nothing of picking up my guitar to practice at 2 a.m.

I certainly love people and I'm not as nitpicky or as fastidious as my post may make me out to be. However, the idea of longterm solitary living excites me beyond belief. I like to hang out, etc, but it's great to go home to a place where there's nothing and no-one but yourself to deal with, where the only noise is that which you choose to produce, etc. So, I'll certainly be looking out for affordable 1BR or studio apartments for next fall, and hopefully the same situation for the next four years.

Edited April 14, 2012 by Jrock4real