New Haven, CT

[ACM88]

Does anyone else have concerns about living in New Haven? I've read through this thread and although there are comments about New Haven safety, they are from a few years ago and I'm interested in hearing a more recent perspective. I've been told by many that NH is on the up and up, but I feel like that can tend to be a pretty relative assessment. On paper, Yale is my top choice and I really enjoyed visiting and touring the campus (which was before I was familiar about New Haven's history of crime) but I do have serious concerns about the area surrounding the school. I don't want to feel like I'm trapped in a bubble.

 

Thank you in advance for any replies!

[gooner_88]

I was there for a year last year. The Yale Campus itself is fantastic and very safe. But once you go too far North for example, past the Ezra Stiles and Payne Whitney it gets worse very quickly. The area around East Rock is generally pretty safe and a nice neighbourhood.

 

As for being trapped in a Bubble, well there's not much to do outside the Yale Campus and the New Haven dowtown area. All the restaurants/bars are there. So even if the other areas were safer, it's not like you'd be routinely going there.

 

On the bright side, if you get really bored you can just take the Metro North to New York!

 

Edit: Also most of the grad students I knew didn't stay in HGS. The facilities aren't great and if you have to get the meal plan it's really not worth it.

Edited March 25, 2013 by gooner_88

[virmundi]

Does anyone else have concerns about living in New Haven? I've read through this thread and although there are comments about New Haven safety, they are from a few years ago and I'm interested in hearing a more recent perspective. I've been told by many that NH is on the up and up, but I feel like that can tend to be a pretty relative assessment. On paper, Yale is my top choice and I really enjoyed visiting and touring the campus (which was before I was familiar about New Haven's history of crime) but I do have serious concerns about the area surrounding the school. I don't want to feel like I'm trapped in a bubble.

 

Thank you in advance for any replies!

 

I love living in New Haven. I think that part of the rap with New Haven is that it can indeed go from nice to sketchy just crossing the street. That's definitely very much true -- but if you know where the safer areas are and act with a healthy dash of common sense, you are probably going to be just fine. A lot of the actual physical violence that is potential here seems to happen in those areas where you probably won't want to go to anyways (given, as gooner_88 said, that all of the fun stuff is downtown/Yale based -- and I'd add that East Rock Park is a nice local attraction too for casual hiking/biking, etc.!)... additionally, the things about "New Haven is the 4th most dangerous city in America" are based on per capita ratings and are partially skewed on the basis of Connecticut's colonial era town-planning which means that New Haven's crime statistics are a bit artificially inflated because the city itself doesn't include the surrounding "suburban neighborhoods in the way that a city in the rest of the country would. In any event, I live in East Rock with my wife and school-aged children and have yet to feel like I'm not safe! 

 

My $.02 for what they are worth -- we all have different expectations of what our community should offer us of course, but I hope that this perspective helps a bit!

[kabelo]

Moving to New Haven in the fall, but don't want to live in a grad dorm. Any ideas where to look for off-campus rooms and/or roommates, besides the obvious places (Craig's list etc.)?

[La_Di_Da]

Looking for monthly parking near Chapel and Park. Any grads park at the Howe Street Garage? Is it safe?

[virmundi]

Moving to New Haven in the fall, but don't want to live in a grad dorm. Any ideas where to look for off-campus rooms and/or roommates, besides the obvious places (Craig's list etc.)?

 

Check out Yale's Off-Campus Housing website at http://offcampus.yale.edu. I found my place there last year on their off-campus listings. It is a fantastic resource and a lot of the people that I contacted when I was looking had only posted there because they wanted people associated with Yale as tenants (hoping to get longer than single year leases by sucking in graduate students, professors, etc.!)... I've been really happy with the place we found so far and there is a great mix in terms of cost, location, and amenities!

[PhD4metoo]

Thanks Virimundi- The Offcampus listing service is run by Yale, and you can look for rentals, houseshares (choose type "share") and purchases. Local landlords pay a small fee to list to Yale people there, so it does NOT include every rental in NH. But many landlords like having grad students, (rather than undergrads), and know that many grads, esp. PHDs, are getting funding to go to Yale so they will be able to pay rent regularly.

 

Also, there are Yale-affiliated apts  you can rent. Owned by Yale but privately managed by http://www.elmcampus.com- so they only rent to yale students, faculty & staff. They are on the edges of campus- Science Hil/Prospect, Mansfield street in the Science Park area nearby, and downtown. Plus there are lots of rental resources & info for new students online at the Living in New Haven site http://www.yale.edu/livingnh   If you won't have a car (not needed for many students) be sure your apt is within the service area of the daytime & nighttime FREE Yale shuttle http://to.yale.edu

 

And like others, I find that there is lots to do at Yale & in New Haven for a city of its size, downtown AND in the neighborhoods. See http://www.infonewhaven.com

[PhD4metoo]

Hi. Anyone lived in the private apartments owned by Yale? 

THese are the apts owned by Yale & leased/managed by a private company http://www.elmcampus.com  Lots of grad students & postdocs live in them, and I've generally heard good things. They have converted houses and downtown elevator buildings. They are leasing units now for summer, so check out their info & application online.

[PhD4metoo]

There have to be more people moving to New Haven this year...where are you all?!

Check out the Facebook Group Yale 2013 New Grad School student Facebook - 150+ new grad students there already.

[kabelo]

Check out the Facebook Group Yale 2013 New Grad School student Facebook - 150+ new grad students there already.

 

For the lazy folks: https://www.facebook.com/groups/331373886964366/

[freefloating]

THese are the apts owned by Yale & leased/managed by a private company http://www.elmcampus.com  Lots of grad students & postdocs live in them, and I've generally heard good things. They have converted houses and downtown elevator buildings. They are leasing units now for summer, so check out their info & application online.

 

I have already applied. Thanks for the note  

[panicattacks]

Hi guys,

 

I'm an incoming socio cultural anthropology graduate student from India and am looking for off-campus housing, and roommates at Yale. I'm 26, female, would like to keep common spaces clean, enjoy cooking, socializing, reading studying, going out. Am quiet. It would be nice to share the place with other  social science/humanities graduates students though this isnt essential.

get in touch

[Erpnope]

Hi all - also looking for roommates! I'm going for fine arts and looking in the Dwight/Edgewood area. I have a cat who is quite lovely with humans but not so much with other animals who will be coming with me.. I would love another queer roommate!

[ACM88]

I have a naive question that isn't specifically about New Haven apartments, but since this is where I will be moving, it makes sense to ask it here. If an apartment is listed as being available on June 1 or July 1, and I am interested in moving in on August 1, would I be able to apply for the apartment for my asking move-in date? Or do they expect to only accept applicants who wish to move in during the month that the apartment becomes available? I've only ever stayed in one apartment and I moved in during the month when it first became avaialble, so I'm not really sure how it works for apartments that are listed months in advance of when I would be able to move.

 

Thank you in advance for your help!

[virmundi]

I have a naive question that isn't specifically about New Haven apartments, but since this is where I will be moving, it makes sense to ask it here. If an apartment is listed as being available on June 1 or July 1, and I am interested in moving in on August 1, would I be able to apply for the apartment for my asking move-in date? Or do they expect to only accept applicants who wish to move in during the month that the apartment becomes available? I've only ever stayed in one apartment and I moved in during the month when it first became avaialble, so I'm not really sure how it works for apartments that are listed months in advance of when I would be able to move.

 

Thank you in advance for your help!

 

Your best bet is to contact the lister and see if they'd consider letting you take the apartment on August 1st.

[freefloating]

Hello. What do you think of 1145 chapel street? or the district in general. I got a leasing offer for a studio. I would like to have an insider's point of view. 

 

Thanks. 

[deluezer]

Hi all,

 

Anyone on here looking for a roommate? I'm 26, male, and starting a history/theory program at the archiecture school in August. I feel like I've started the hunt a little bit late, and would love to talk with anyone else looking for a roommate. I'm aiming for something cheaper and am open to different areas, etc.

[pandamonium]

Anyone have additional information on 276 prospect? Do you recommend living there?

[virmundi]

Anyone have additional information on 276 prospect? Do you recommend living there?

 

I don't know the property itself, but it is a decent area (although it gets sketchy relatively quickly to the west -- Mansfield is okay, but after that it starts to get rough quick), close to campus and decent. I know people who live further up Prospect (in grad. family housing) and also some folks who lived in nice apartments on Mansfield just about right behind where 276 is -- it's a good area as long as you mind the boundaries, and, of course, it is nice and close to campus. Sorry I don't have anything more specific to offer!

[Swagato]

While we're on the subject of how "New Haven gets sketchy toward the west"--how are we defining this? For example, I'll be living on Dwight for the next 2-3 years, and will probably shift off to East Rock when ABD. This is Dwight and Crown (if you extend Crown St. that is), so not quite as far south as George St. Is this considered within the "okay" zone? With Yale-New Haven Hospital just two blocks further west, and with the university itself two blocks east, I'm hoping we made a reasonable choice.

[virmundi]

While we're on the subject of how "New Haven gets sketchy toward the west"--how are we defining this? For example, I'll be living on Dwight for the next 2-3 years, and will probably shift off to East Rock when ABD. This is Dwight and Crown (if you extend Crown St. that is), so not quite as far south as George St. Is this considered within the "okay" zone? With Yale-New Haven Hospital just two blocks further west, and with the university itself two blocks east, I'm hoping we made a reasonable choice.

 

I know people who live over there who like it fine... but they also don't go a heck of a lot further west from there on foot. It's not that it is, strictly speaking, *always* dangerous, but those are the areas where crime is significantly more likely, particularly if you look like someone who might have something worth taking (i.e. identifiably a "Yale student" by virtue of dress or something). 

 

I'd say, based on what I know, that you are on the edge of the okay zone. I'd say that the Yale hospitals (to the west and south of you) are in an area that I wouldn't go walking around in alone after dark, whereas I'd feel pretty comfortable doing that on campus unless it was really late at night. The neighborhood transitions are pretty sudden in New Haven, so that four blocks can make a pretty big difference. 

 

With that said, as long as you keep your head on straight and aren't wandering around the streets in the middle of the night, you'll probably be fine. Yale's 24hr door-to-door shuttle service is pretty darned convenient in terms of keeping it safe too. I've never used it, but my understanding is that as long as one end of the trip is a university location, they'll take you just about anywhere in the New Haven area.

[Swagato]

Hmm, thanks for that information. Very useful. Do you know if that area in general has heavy student traffic? There's safety in numbers, obviously, and I think the buildings just opposite us have plenty of Yale students living in them.

[pandamonium]

I don't know the property itself, but it is a decent area (although it gets sketchy relatively quickly to the west -- Mansfield is okay, but after that it starts to get rough quick), close to campus and decent. I know people who live further up Prospect (in grad. family housing) and also some folks who lived in nice apartments on Mansfield just about right behind where 276 is -- it's a good area as long as you mind the boundaries, and, of course, it is nice and close to campus. Sorry I don't have anything more specific to offer!

 

Thanks, virmundi! 

[radiomars]

Hey guys. I had a question regarding housing I was hoping you could answer. How realistic is it to find an apartment with a lease starting in September 1st, preferably in East Rock? I am planning to stay with a friend for a few weeks in August while I find an apartment, I'm just wondering if a September lease is realistic.

[Swagato]

Oh, all-important question: available internet service providers in the downtown and East Rock area, and in New Haven generally?