Waitlisted for campus housing

[isawstars]

Is this common? I just can't believe that I signed up for the on campus grad student apartments... I even listed the undergraduate apartments as my last choice... and I'm WAITLISTED?? I have never experienced this in undergrad... and I attended 2 different schools.

I am absolutely devastated. I live 2,600+ miles away from the school I got accepted to and I have no idea where I am going to live. The school is located downtown, I am relying on a bike to get me to and from class... and I do not know what parts are town are "bad." I am currently searching craigslist for a college student/roommate because I definitely don't want to live by myself in a new town... plus I'm hoping they can be a great help as to where to live... and view the property since I cannot.

Any advice, comfort or ideas... are greatly appreciated.

[fuzzylogician]

Take a deep breath. Relax. Things are not so bad. People move across the country - and from other countries - all the time and successfully find a place to live. Things could indeed be better, but they could be much worse. It sounds like you have a credit history, you don't have visa requirements that bar you from moving whenever you want to start searching for an apartment, you speak and understand the language perfectly, and most importantly - you still have lots of time to find a good place.

Things to do now:

(1) Find out when you can expect to hear back about campus housing.

(2) Contact current grad students in your program for housing advice. Ask about safe neighborhoods, how much you can expect to pay for [room with specs of your choice], transportation in said neighborhoods. Find out where current grads live now - it's a good bet that those are safe reasonable places.

(3) Find out how long in advance you should start looking for an apartment or roommates. Try asking around, maybe someone in your program is looking for a roommate or knows someone who is.

(4) Look for housing resources your university may provide: a website, a housing listing service, maybe real estate agents that are recommended, etc.

Things to plan for:

(1) Based on advice you got from questions above, consider moving early and staying at a cheap hotel/hostel for a week or so while you look for a place.(one thing to find out is how long it usually takes to find a place)

(2) Start looking on Craigslist (or other sites) to get a feel for what's out there.

(3) Use googlemaps, get familiar with potential neighborhoods to save time later.

(4) Find out if using a real estate agent is common. Consider using one. Start contacting agents not more than a few days before you plan to arrive, unless you have friends who can go on viewings at short notice who are already living near your new school.

Edited July 1, 2012 by fuzzylogician

[kaguyahime]

I think that contacting current grad students is a great idea; they will be able to offer you the best advice.

But just so you know, the SJSU campus is about a 15 minute bike ride from the Caltrain station.

Caltrain runs all the way from SJ to SF, runs frequently, and has a bike car which makes it very convenient to take your bike along.

This means you can open up your housing search to other nearby cities, like Mountain View (which I know from experience has much less in the way of "bad areas" than San Jose does).

Hope that this helps!

*edited to add: Have you already looked at this? http://as.sjsu.edu/asts/

Edited July 1, 2012 by kaguyahime

[isawstars]

Thanks everyone.

[butterfingers2010]

I can definitely relate to your stress about relocating-I'm moving out of state for grad school, although not 2600 miles. If it's any consolation, I don't think that the vast majority of grad students live in campus housing. Thousands of others before you have relocated for grad school and sucessfully found apartments off campus. The grad student housing where I am attending school leaves much to be desired-it's way too expensive and way too small in comparison to what is available on the off campus market. Breathe a sigh of relief that you now have the freedom to choose the neighborhood, price and ammenities that you want, without being constrained to only what your school has to offer! I was dissapointed when I came to the conclusion that campus housing wasn't going to work out for me, but now I'm excited about all the other possibilities that are out there.

Fuzzylogiciian's advice is excellent and right on the point. I second the idea to move early and find a cheap place to stay while you search for an apartment. It will mean spending more money, but it will be worth your peace of mind to know that the place your moving into is habitable and what you wanted.

As far as getting a roommate goes, I would stick with people from your school or friends/friends of friends, if at all possible. There are some real creepers on CraigsList and the last thing you need as new graduate student is a roommate that makes your home life hell. I know this from experience (minus the being a new grad student part) If you must go the roommate route, thoroughly interview them first, do a background check (if possible), ask for references from past roommates, and make sure that they are able to pay the rent. It may sound over the top or paranoid, but this is really something you do not want to gamble with. Your finances (and your sanity) are at stake. I understand that living with a roommate is a financial necessity for some, but if it's not, and your main concern is lonliness, there are other ways to address that. I'm not trying to scare you, I'm just suggesting that you be very careful in this situation.

[isawstars]

Thanks butterfingers.

I talked to my advisor and he emailed the grad schools in my program with my contact info incase anyone else is looking for a roommate or has a place I can stay. There's only 25 of us... so my chances may be slim...

I am currently talking to a girl who is a 21 year old student. She lives in San Jose and we are discussing living together. My only concern is that I am almost 4 years older than her... but she says she doesn't party often and that she stays at her boyfriend's house the majority of the time... so perhaps that won't be too bad? I'm still checking out my options.

[grizzlygirl87]

When I first contacted my university about grad student housing back in April, they already had a wait list started for Fall 2012. I had a mini panic attack too, because I was moving 3000 miles clear across the country. So I did pretty much what is listed in the above comments. I contacted a few of the other grad students in my lab and asked them what they knew about certain areas or complexes, and if anyone they knew was looking for a roommate or looking to rent out their apartment or sell their furniture. I also kept an eye on Craigslist to see what to expect in terms of prices and what was available. Once I had settled on a couple places, I had one of the grad students check it out for me. She scheduled a visit to the apartment, took pictures and asked the questions I wanted answered. Luckily, my university is in a pretty small town, so there isn't much in terms of 'bad areas', but I was trying to avoid party/undergrad central.

Don't stress out too much. It can be done. I interviewed for my university at the end of March, received my admissions decision that weekend and was asked to be in town by mid-May. So I only had a few weeks to figure this all out. It is manageable, albeit slightly more stressful than is ideal. Ask around and keep an eye out. I'm sure you'll find a place that is just right for you.

[TakeruK]

If you have the time and the funds, I would strongly recommend coming out 1 month early -- California has a 30 day notice to vacate law (unless the lease says otherwise), so places should open up about 4-5 weeks before you want to move in (we called a landlord and checked this).

We are moving from Eastern Canada to California, so it's a similar distance, but we don't have a US credit history, nor a US bank account! We are flying to our new town at the end of the month to find a place for Sept 1. We did the same thing when we moved also ~3000 miles from Western Canada to Eastern Canada for my MSc program. The cost of the trip is about 1 months rent, which is a significant amount. However, since many leases are for 1 year, I think it's totally worth it to make sure you aren't paying 12x the trip cost for a place you hate. Sometimes people try to arrive just a few weeks early to find a place but my friends who did this ended up having to choose between really expensive and way nicer than necessary or really crappy and cheap. Over a year, the extra $200-$300 in rent quickly adds up!

Moving does have a lot of startup costs and our stipends probably don't come until much later. Some schools may offer a financial assistance program to help with these costs. Just yesterday, my new school emailed me to say that we could get a $2500 interest-free, no fees loan payable in Sept if we would like (our first paycheck is the end of October) and we would pay the amount back in monthly installments after we start getting stipend money.