Newark, DE

[punctilious]

3 hours ago, LibraryLivingJT said:

U Del is my only acceptance so far (still waiting on 8 other programs) and am looking forward to checking it out when I visit in March.

Anything to check out in particular on campus or off of campus?

From the pictures I have seen, it looks like a beautiful campus!

Also very curious about this! 

[SomeoneThrewMyShoe]

17 hours ago, LibraryLivingJT said:

U Del is my only acceptance so far (still waiting on 8 other programs) and am looking forward to checking it out when I visit in March.

Anything to check out in particular on campus or off of campus?

From the pictures I have seen, it looks like a beautiful campus!

I've lived in Newark for almost 2 years and have loved it. It's a typical college town and pretty low key

You'll probably be shown most of Central campus (North Campus is mainly res halls and South Campus is our health and sciences etc). If you get to South Campus, you have to try UDairy ice cream. Central campus has most of the academic buildings plus the Green.  It's also right near Main Street, which has amazing restaurants and all the bars. I would 10/10 recommend the food at Klondike Kates. Deer Park Tavern is also pretty well known just because it's an older tavern. If you're into nature, White Clay Creek State Park is huge and gorgeous as well. For breakfast, you should try Home Grown (which is also my favorite bar) or this waffle place called The Perfect Blend. Also if you're a sandwich person, try Capriottis. 

Basically, there's not a SUPER lot to do, just hang out with your friends, go to the mall, go out to eat, etc. But we're about 40 minutes from Philly and under 2 hours from DC which is pretty great, so you can days/nights in the city without having to live there. 

[LibraryLivingJT]

5 hours ago, SomeoneThrewMyShoe said:

I've lived in Newark for almost 2 years and have loved it. It's a typical college town and pretty low key

You'll probably be shown most of Central campus (North Campus is mainly res halls and South Campus is our health and sciences etc). If you get to South Campus, you have to try UDairy ice cream. Central campus has most of the academic buildings plus the Green.  It's also right near Main Street, which has amazing restaurants and all the bars. I would 10/10 recommend the food at Klondike Kates. Deer Park Tavern is also pretty well known just because it's an older tavern. If you're into nature, White Clay Creek State Park is huge and gorgeous as well. For breakfast, you should try Home Grown (which is also my favorite bar) or this waffle place called The Perfect Blend. Also if you're a sandwich person, try Capriottis. 

Basically, there's not a SUPER lot to do, just hang out with your friends, go to the mall, go out to eat, etc. But we're about 40 minutes from Philly and under 2 hours from DC which is pretty great, so you can days/nights in the city without having to live there. 

That's excellent - thank you! Fiance and I love to try new places to eat, as well as go outside, so the State Park sounds amazing! Waffles and ice cream are two of my favorite things, so that's great to hear. 

Any places that have live music in town, or do you have to go into the city for that?

I'm sure there are multiple on campus events as well, which I always love attending. 

Sounds like a great place to be! There were beautiful Greens on both my BA and MA campuses, so I will check out U Del's green when I'm visiting for sure. 

Also, how is biking on campus? And are there bike trails around?

[SomeoneThrewMyShoe]

5 minutes ago, LibraryLivingJT said:

That's excellent - thank you! Fiance and I love to try new places to eat, as well as go outside, so the State Park sounds amazing! Waffles and ice cream are two of my favorite things, so that's great to hear. 

Any places that have live music in town, or do you have to go into the city for that?

I'm sure there are multiple on campus events as well, which I always love attending. 

Sounds like a great place to be! There were beautiful Greens on both my BA and MA campuses, so I will check out U Del's green when I'm visiting for sure. 

Also, how is biking on campus? And are there bike trails around?

There are some places to hear live music - mostly local bands at surrounding bars. Also - if you head into Wilmington (20 minutes away), there's a great barcade there called 1984 that'd I'd highly recommend. They have live music/karaoke all the time. They also sometimes have bands tour to various bars in Wilmington,  but for more popular bands, you'll have to go to Philly.

And there's tons of on campus events - stuff throughout the week and on the weekend the activities board has recent movies playing in the student center for $3. 

We're a pretty bike friendly campus in my opinion. Tons of bike racks around campus (there are certain areas you have to walk your bike because they're pedestrian heavy) and most of the main roads surrounding campus have bike lanes. As far as trails around - a friend of mine was in a group for that/there are sometimes bike races on Main Street? I don't ride so I can't recommend any specific trails - sorry! 

 

[LibraryLivingJT]

1 hour ago, SomeoneThrewMyShoe said:

There are some places to hear live music - mostly local bands at surrounding bars. Also - if you head into Wilmington (20 minutes away), there's a great barcade there called 1984 that'd I'd highly recommend. They have live music/karaoke all the time. They also sometimes have bands tour to various bars in Wilmington,  but for more popular bands, you'll have to go to Philly.

And there's tons of on campus events - stuff throughout the week and on the weekend the activities board has recent movies playing in the student center for $3. 

We're a pretty bike friendly campus in my opinion. Tons of bike racks around campus (there are certain areas you have to walk your bike because they're pedestrian heavy) and most of the main roads surrounding campus have bike lanes. As far as trails around - a friend of mine was in a group for that/there are sometimes bike races on Main Street? I don't ride so I can't recommend any specific trails - sorry! 

 

Thank you so much! 

If I end up there, I'm sure I will love it - ease of biking on campus is a big win for me. 

[LibraryLivingJT]

How is traffic around Newark/around the campus area? I have a car but HATE driving haha. Well, I should rephrase - I hate driving on major highways and places that I am not yet familiar with.

Fiance and I will be sharing a car, so depending on where he works, he will be having a car most of the time.

I was also wondering about biking around the area - bike lanes, etc. I have heard the campus itself is great for biking. 

[LibraryLivingJT]

On 2/11/2018 at 4:02 PM, SomeoneThrewMyShoe said:

There are some places to hear live music - mostly local bands at surrounding bars. Also - if you head into Wilmington (20 minutes away), there's a great barcade there called 1984 that'd I'd highly recommend. They have live music/karaoke all the time. They also sometimes have bands tour to various bars in Wilmington,  but for more popular bands, you'll have to go to Philly.

And there's tons of on campus events - stuff throughout the week and on the weekend the activities board has recent movies playing in the student center for $3. 

We're a pretty bike friendly campus in my opinion. Tons of bike racks around campus (there are certain areas you have to walk your bike because they're pedestrian heavy) and most of the main roads surrounding campus have bike lanes. As far as trails around - a friend of mine was in a group for that/there are sometimes bike races on Main Street? I don't ride so I can't recommend any specific trails - sorry! 

 

How is traffic around Newark/around the campus area? I have a car but HATE driving haha. Well, I should rephrase - I hate driving on major highways and places that I am not yet familiar with.

Fiance and I will be sharing a car, so depending on where he works, he will be having a car most of the time.

[SomeoneThrewMyShoe]

20 hours ago, LibraryLivingJT said:

How is traffic around Newark/around the campus area? I have a car but HATE driving haha. Well, I should rephrase - I hate driving on major highways and places that I am not yet familiar with.

Fiance and I will be sharing a car, so depending on where he works, he will be having a car most of the time.

So downtown Newark traffic is kind of annoying, but that's just the few streets surrounding the school. I live a few miles away from the university and it's about a 15 minute drive or shuttle ride.  As far as the highways go: the Delaware Memorial Bridge, going to Wilmington, and headed towards Philly there's usually some annoying rush hour traffic. But again, that's on major highways. 

All in all it's pretty easy to get around, I'd say. Nothing out of the ordinary. 

[LibraryLivingJT]

1 hour ago, SomeoneThrewMyShoe said:

So downtown Newark traffic is kind of annoying, but that's just the few streets surrounding the school. I live a few miles away from the university and it's about a 15 minute drive or shuttle ride.  As far as the highways go: the Delaware Memorial Bridge, going to Wilmington, and headed towards Philly there's usually some annoying rush hour traffic. But again, that's on major highways. 

All in all it's pretty easy to get around, I'd say. Nothing out of the ordinary. 

Good to hear! Thank you - that's about what I expected. 15 minute drive is not bad at all; my work commute now is 40 minutes to an hour.

And congrats on all of your acceptances - what is your focus?

[SomeoneThrewMyShoe]

1 hour ago, LibraryLivingJT said:

Good to hear! Thank you - that's about what I expected. 15 minute drive is not bad at all; my work commute now is 40 minutes to an hour.

And congrats on all of your acceptances - what is your focus?

Yeah if you live in Newark near the school, you won't have a bad commute at all. My friend lives in Maryland (since we're so close to the border) and she has a 20 minute commute max. If you get more into the suburbs/outside of Newark, that's when you'd have maybe a 30 minute commute?

And thanks so much! I study political communication! They're all entirely unexpected but I'm absolutely thrilled! 

[LibraryLivingJT]

38 minutes ago, SomeoneThrewMyShoe said:

Yeah if you live in Newark near the school, you won't have a bad commute at all. My friend lives in Maryland (since we're so close to the border) and she has a 20 minute commute max. If you get more into the suburbs/outside of Newark, that's when you'd have maybe a 30 minute commute?

And thanks so much! I study political communication! They're all entirely unexpected but I'm absolutely thrilled! 

Oh that super convenient. For the first year fiance and I plan to do on campus family housing (I love being right on campus 24/7), but in future years probably living off campus, but close by.

I live about 20 minutes from UMASS Amherst - it's a beautiful campus and the surrounding area is great as well (Amherst, Northampton, etc).

[SomeoneThrewMyShoe]

On 2/23/2018 at 4:49 PM, LibraryLivingJT said:

Oh that super convenient. For the first year fiance and I plan to do on campus family housing (I love being right on campus 24/7), but in future years probably living off campus, but close by.

I live about 20 minutes from UMASS Amherst - it's a beautiful campus and the surrounding area is great as well (Amherst, Northampton, etc).

The Conover Apartments? I happen to be at a coffee shop right across the street from them. My friend lives there and you have the benefit that they're basically on campus (literally a 5 minute walk from the Green max).

For future years, let me say you can DEFINITELY find a better apartment for less money.  They're not bad but they're not super nice. Conover is kind of pricey in comparison to what you can find in Newark. There are also a lot of apartments on the shuttle routes (Studio Green, Rittenhouse, Pinebrook, The Retreat) so you can avoid a parking pass/driving to campus .  Also for Conover you'll have to buy a parking pass to park in the lot outside of your aparment (I think it's over $300, which is a ridiculous expense for what you're paying in rent but whatever). One of the worst parts of UD is the riduculous cost of a parking pass. I ride the shuttle onto campus. The very few times i need to drive to campus I'll pay the $7 to park in a lot that day. 

Again, I don't live in Conover and I can't speak to all the complexes in and around UD, but that's just what I know! 

[LibraryLivingJT]

3 hours ago, SomeoneThrewMyShoe said:

The Conover Apartments? I happen to be at a coffee shop right across the street from them. My friend lives there and you have the benefit that they're basically on campus (literally a 5 minute walk from the Green max).

For future years, let me say you can DEFINITELY find a better apartment for less money.  They're not bad but they're not super nice. Conover is kind of pricey in comparison to what you can find in Newark. There are also a lot of apartments on the shuttle routes (Studio Green, Rittenhouse, Pinebrook, The Retreat) so you can avoid a parking pass/driving to campus .  Also for Conover you'll have to buy a parking pass to park in the lot outside of your aparment (I think it's over $300, which is a ridiculous expense for what you're paying in rent but whatever). One of the worst parts of UD is the riduculous cost of a parking pass. I ride the shuttle onto campus. The very few times i need to drive to campus I'll pay the $7 to park in a lot that day. 

Again, I don't live in Conover and I can't speak to all the complexes in and around UD, but that's just what I know! 

Thank you so much, and again, not sure since I have not completely made my decision yet (still 5 more schools to hear back from).

And my fiance will have the car most of the time for commuting to wherever he happens to get a job, so I don't plan to have it on campus much. And yeah, I'm spoiled now where I am because as a faculty member (adjunct) I only have to pay $2 for a parking pass (small liberal arts state university).

When I visit I am going to get some more info on on-campus housing vs. off campus and suggestions. 

It is good to hear that for the future that there are many apartments on shuttle routes! That sounds fantastic. I also plan to bike around a lot. - for the shuttle, do you buy a yearly or monthly pass, or pay each time you go on? 

[SomeoneThrewMyShoe]

On 2/25/2018 at 4:53 PM, LibraryLivingJT said:

Thank you so much, and again, not sure since I have not completely made my decision yet (still 5 more schools to hear back from).

And my fiance will have the car most of the time for commuting to wherever he happens to get a job, so I don't plan to have it on campus much. And yeah, I'm spoiled now where I am because as a faculty member (adjunct) I only have to pay $2 for a parking pass (small liberal arts state university).

When I visit I am going to get some more info on on-campus housing vs. off campus and suggestions. 

It is good to hear that for the future that there are many apartments on shuttle routes! That sounds fantastic. I also plan to bike around a lot. - for the shuttle, do you buy a yearly or monthly pass, or pay each time you go on? 

The UD Shuttle is free! It's awesome and we have a pretty good app for it . There are multiple routes too depending upon where you live. As far as other transportation: there's a bus public transport around Delaware called DART but I've never used it. And then in Newark we have a SEPTA train stop that takes you into Philly!

[LibraryLivingJT]

1 hour ago, SomeoneThrewMyShoe said:

The UD Shuttle is free! It's awesome and we have a pretty good app for it . There are multiple routes too depending upon where you live. As far as other transportation: there's a bus public transport around Delaware called DART but I've never used it. And then in Newark we have a SEPTA train stop that takes you into Philly!

This all is wonderful - thank you for all of your help and information, and it is awesome that the shuttle is free!

[m-artman]

Looking for any advice on living in Newark! I'm moving in the fall and am hoping to find a one bedroom apartment in a relatively quiet area that's walkable (within 25 minutes) to campus. Is this realistic? I've been told that the majority of the students in my program commute from Philly, but that just seems insane to me. I have a friend who lives in Wilmington and am considering if I should just live with him and commute? If anyone has anyt thoughts about the area, I'd love to hear them!

[SomeoneThrewMyShoe]

18 hours ago, m-artman said:

am hoping to find a one bedroom apartment in a relatively quiet area that's walkable (within 25 minutes) to campus.

Quite realistic. There are a much of apartment buildings. In my time here I've only stayed in the same one (which isn't a one bedroom) but my friend has an apartment he likes at Ivy Hall which is reasonable and right near campus. 

 

18 hours ago, m-artman said:

I've been told that the majority of the students in my program commute from Philly, but that just seems insane to me.

I would not do this. Maybe for your program it makes sense if you're going to have an internship in the city for a lot of the time, but my friend does this now and while there are certainly more things to do in Philly than in Newark - you spend a lot of time in traffic. 

[Gaby P]

Hello everyone.

I recently got accepted at UD to study economics and applied econometrics. Since I am not from the US, I do not have the opportunity to search in person for an appartment nor do I know about the living cost in Delaware. 

I have a few questions that I hope you can answer. First, on average, how much money do I need monthly to cover for all my expenses?. 

Is it really necessary to own a car? If so, how much does one cost? and is it worth to buy one?. 

Can you recommend a good place to live?. I am looking for a cheap place and close to the campus. Furthemore, as I am not from the US, my family plans to visit me during Christmas and Summer, I would need a place where they can be with me without inconvinience (only for a couple of weeks). Is the on  campus housing good or would you recommend a different place?

Thanks for your help

[m-artman]

On 4/21/2018 at 12:09 PM, SomeoneThrewMyShoe said:

Quite realistic. There are a much of apartment buildings. In my time here I've only stayed in the same one (which isn't a one bedroom) but my friend has an apartment he likes at Ivy Hall which is reasonable and right near campus. 

 

I would not do this. Maybe for your program it makes sense if you're going to have an internship in the city for a lot of the time, but my friend does this now and while there are certainly more things to do in Philly than in Newark - you spend a lot of time in traffic. 

This is all quite helpful. Newark craigslist seems a bit "dead" but perhaps some things might open up over the summer. What would you say is realistic for a one bedroom apartment? I've been looking around and have found some in the 1,110-1,200 range, but that seems stupidly high for Delaware. 

[SomeoneThrewMyShoe]

3 hours ago, m-artman said:

This is all quite helpful. Newark craigslist seems a bit "dead" but perhaps some things might open up over the summer. What would you say is realistic for a one bedroom apartment? I've been looking around and have found some in the 1,110-1,200 range, but that seems stupidly high for Delaware. 

Soooo a lot of nicer places are more expensive for a one bedroom. I've never looked for a one bedroom so I can't name prices, but I know that Ivy Hall is on the cheaper side. Studio Green. Park Place. I think South Gate is on the less expensive side? Again, I've never lived at those complexes but I know students have said they're affordable. Some of those that I just listed are farther from campus (like, not a 20 minute walk). They are, however, on various shuttle routes that run about every 20 minutes and take you to campus and is free. We have an app that's actually pretty great and accurate. So even though they're farther from campus they're accessible. Studio Green and Stone Gate are all on shuttle routes that pick you up directly from the complexes. Park Place isn't directly but it's close to a stop (I think). I would also call University Courtyards. They're basically on campus. I don't know how affordable their one bedrooms are but they do individual leases. Also The Retreat is an apartment complex that does individual leases as well. You get your own bedroom and bathroom for about $700 a month. It's on the shuttle route as well. 

If you want a place closer to campus, I think it's going to be more expensive and you should maybe try to find a roommate. 

[m-artman]

@SomeoneThrewMyShoe This is INCREDIBLY awesome advice!! Many thanks for your assistance. I'm sure others will find it helpful as well.

[Conover Sucks]

They fucking suck.

[Beaudreau]

So everyone is celibate?

[Conover Sucks]

Clever. But no, the university just treats us like shit

[ahgfjhgf]

I'm an incoming grad student hoping to live in a complex close to campus... If anyone is looking for a housemate please let me know! I'm not really sure how to go about finding people to live with.