IRdreams Posted March 8, 2009 Posted March 8, 2009 I'm leaning heavily this way. Anyone else joining me?
dino88 Posted March 9, 2009 Posted March 9, 2009 I just visited. Leaning heavily this way. Great school. May be interested in housing in a month or so depending on what I do.
Dontuse Posted March 18, 2009 Posted March 18, 2009 it's between here and two uk universities now. ... but i've been hoping for Cornell for way too long... & uk universities don't offer nearly as much funding... too many elipses.
dino88 Posted March 19, 2009 Posted March 19, 2009 London is kind of expensive...I think you'll save a lot of money in Cornell!
Demetrios2011 Posted March 21, 2009 Posted March 21, 2009 I will probably end up at Cornell, although I am tempted by a couple of other offers. I plan on visiting Ithaca in mid-may to look for an apartment. I have heard some places are real dumps and/or are owned by sadistic landlords, so it is important to check them out in person. I think sharing a place with a few other grad students will end up being the best option.
international Posted March 21, 2009 Posted March 21, 2009 i'm also leaning heavily towards Cornell. i checked the Uni Housing and it seems quite expensive in comparison to Ithaca non uni housing (one BR apartment around 800-900$ !) my problem is that i'll be mouving to the states only in mid-August so i'm afraid to get there and start looking for a place to live in. i also don't want to share an apartment because my husband will be joining me in March and will probably come to visit me a few times before that... suggestions any one? any cheaper way to get housing?
psycholinguist Posted March 22, 2009 Posted March 22, 2009 Not sticking around too long after graduation, but I'm a Cornell undergrad. Happy to take questions! I will probably end up at Cornell, although I am tempted by a couple of other offers. I plan on visiting Ithaca in mid-may to look for an apartment. I have heard some places are real dumps and/or are owned by sadistic landlords, so it is important to check them out in person. I think sharing a place with a few other grad students will end up being the best option. i'm also leaning heavily towards Cornell. i checked the Uni Housing and it seems quite expensive in comparison to Ithaca non uni housing (one BR apartment around 800-900$ !) my problem is that i'll be mouving to the states only in mid-August so i'm afraid to get there and start looking for a place to live in. i also don't want to share an apartment because my husband will be joining me in March and will probably come to visit me a few times before that... suggestions any one? any cheaper way to get housing? First stop should be the Cornell Off-Campus Housing Office, which has TONS of advice as well as an online housing-database. If going through the OCHO hasn't come to anything, the best way to find an affordable apartment is to go into the classified-ads and check out lots of little local companies. Examples: Novarr-Mackesey Apartments: well-established and trusted Avramis Real Estate Ithaca Housing Solutions Dedicated Property Management: properties are sometimes a bit old and beaten-up, but the prices should be good Kimball Rentals
Chamchewy Posted March 22, 2009 Posted March 22, 2009 Anyone want to share an apartment? I found some apartments (no clue how far they are from campus) for $850 for a 2 bedrooms unit. We can split the bills. The only downside is going to classes during the winter will be interesting!!!
Dontuse Posted March 23, 2009 Posted March 23, 2009 Thanks so much psycholinguist. I've been scouring a bit [schecked out the cornell housing site] & will come back with questions about indidivual neighborhoods.
psycholinguist Posted March 24, 2009 Posted March 24, 2009 Thanks so much psycholinguist. I've been scouring a bit [schecked out the cornell housing site] & will come back with questions about indidivual neighborhoods. No problem! Go for it.
Await Posted March 24, 2009 Posted March 24, 2009 I second Novarr-Mackesey. They have a really nice mix of houses, everywhere you'd want to be, and they were always responsive and fair. A lot of the slumlords are individuals rather than companies and are hard to pin down. Having a physical location to take your complaints/questions to is helpful. The NM office is just off State St. There are also some really sweet places tucked along the gorge in College Town- convenient, private, beautiful. One brick building in particular that I always wished I had gotten in on. . . Aww, I'm missing it! Go to Cornell! There are probably reasons you haven't even considered yet: Like the on-campus bowling alley, ice cream factory, and hotel (with amazing Sunday brunch)! So many people are studying such a wide variety of things, you'll always come across something weird when you least expect it. Like one time the Ag School had a plant sale (all the plants were like $1-2). They had grown them from seeds that had been locked away for 50 years! They hadn't even ID'd the plant I bought yet. Plus, you've got the wine tours, the state parks, swimming in the gorges. . . And oh yes, who doesn't feel studious here? http://66.194.64.244/view/0284/p_28475.jpg
psycholinguist Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 Like one time the Ag School had a plant sale (all the plants were like $1-2). They had grown them from seeds that had been locked away for 50 years! They hadn't even ID'd the plant I bought yet. * laughs * That's amazing. And I thought the annual print-and-map sales at Sibley Hall couldn't've been one-upped! Exploring the campus does lead you straight to some of the most offbeat things: the apple vending-machine, the Foucault pendulum, the lounge randomly placed into the middle of the stacks on one floor in Uris Library, the stuffed lion in Helen Newman Hall...
Dontuse Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 hey there psycholinguist, so, which neighborhoods are are within a walkable distance [i'll be mostly around the biotechnology building for research/classes] AND ARE NOT on one of the major hills? while on campus i went a few places and would occasionally notice a hill with a rediculous incline. suffice it to say: i don't want to truck through the snow [i haven't decided on purchasing a car as i'd actually prefer to mostly walk/bike to my destinations] on a heap at a degree greater than my age... simply.isn't. happening. also, i'm checking out the on-campus housing and a few of the apartment complexes look mighty nice. are they waaaaay more expensive than the offcampus housing, is that difference in price worth it or not, and would i regret not living elsewhere [as in: oh, btw, the graduate on campus housing has a wicked problem with drunk undergraduates... who don't tend to stop screaming until 3 am... wednesdays]? any input will be appreciated.
psycholinguist Posted March 26, 2009 Posted March 26, 2009 hey there psycholinguist, so, which neighborhoods are are within a walkable distance [i'll be mostly around the biotechnology building for research/classes] AND ARE NOT on one of the major hills? while on campus i went a few places and would occasionally notice a hill with a rediculous incline. suffice it to say: i don't want to truck through the snow [i haven't decided on purchasing a car as i'd actually prefer to mostly walk/bike to my destinations] on a heap at a degree greater than my age... simply.isn't. happening. also, i'm checking out the on-campus housing and a few of the apartment complexes look mighty nice. are they waaaaay more expensive than the offcampus housing, is that difference in price worth it or not, and would i regret not living elsewhere [as in: oh, btw, the graduate on campus housing has a wicked problem with drunk undergraduates... who don't tend to stop screaming until 3 am... wednesdays]? any input will be appreciated. * laughs * Yep. Basically, the centre of the town of Ithaca is in a little valley with Cayuga Lake to the north, and everything else (Cornell, Ithaca College, some residential-areas) is up on the steep ridges that surround the town on the other three sides. If you don't like climbing hills, avoid downtown (all the way down the ridge), West Campus (about a third of the way down) and the western parts of North Campus (lower as well). Check out the large campus map for reference. See the bit marked 'Libe Slope'? Yeah. It's a slope, all right. Now imagine it extending north and south all the way up and down the map. That's actually the case (more or less), so use that as a dividing-line if you want to be able to walk to campus without climbing hills (or giant sets of stairs, the way I do every morning). That does rule out a lot, but not everything. See the area south of campus labelled 'Collegetown'? It's a semi-commercial area home mostly to students. Anything between College Avenue and Cornell Street (to the east) - and not too far south if on College Avenue - would be pretty minimal in the way of hills. (Google Maps doesn't show the slope at all because it's covered in a residential grid, but this is (basically) the area I have in mind, for reference. The College Avenue and Hoy Road bridges to campus would both be a bit out of the way, and the Eddy Dam footbridge in the middle is at the bottom of a creek, with lots of stairs on each bank - but if you're willing to put up with the slightly longer walk, you can avoid the inclines. And it's not far from Biotech, which is nice. I don't really know anything about the quality/pricing of graduate housing (though the [many] screaming drunk undergrads tend to congregate around frat-houses and College Avenue), but I should point out that the complex two-thirds of the way from west to east of the region I outlined is in fact a Cornell-owned graduate community - it's called Maplewood Park. Might be worth a look!
Dontuse Posted March 30, 2009 Posted March 30, 2009 Thanks lots psycholinguist. I read this ages ago but since have been putting in the footwork in serach for a place. I ought to have noted, however, that i'm trying to avoid the noise so often associated with the undergraduate population as much as possible. Does that news change your previous posting at all?
psycholinguist Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 Yeah, the noise is an issue as well. (I live on North Campus and I'm surrounded by fraternities; fortunately the winter keeps them inside most of the year.) Most of Collegetown is bound to be at least somewhat noisy. It's hard to be within walking-distance (especially without the hills) and avoid the noise. College Avenue is probably going to be the worst, so if you're farther east than that, it should be quieter. I've heard Oak Avenue just south of the creek can be quiet-ish, so that might be a good place to start looking. Maplewood Park may actually be a good bet as well since it's for grad-students, but I have no idea what it's like in terms of noise, price, furniture, or anything. No problem, and good luck!
k56jv Posted April 2, 2009 Posted April 2, 2009 I'll be there for sure, really excited to start my MPA there this fall....
living_in_paradise Posted April 3, 2009 Posted April 3, 2009 I'll probably be there as well, doing a PhD in Development Sociology. Just got my funding package, and I'm very excited. Thanks to psycholinguist for all the housing advice.
Phedre Posted April 4, 2009 Posted April 4, 2009 Hey all, I'm a current grad student-- just a quick note: Maplewood is overpriced and rather sterile (think hotel room type furniture, etc) and not as close as you would think. Most of the grad students live downtown, in fall creek, or south hill-- I actually found a wonderful house on the edge of South Hill and downtown, and I absolutely love it. I would also highly recommend having a car, but just because I don't bike and I'm lazy. But in the winter, it's especially nice, or for getting up the hill late at night after the buses stop. Omar Manky and Overtherainbow 1 1
Dontuse Posted April 6, 2009 Posted April 6, 2009 Thanks dearly for the advice Phedre. I was looking into Maplewoods but, everytime I checked it out on Google maps [in comparison to the map on Cornell's site], it oddly looked ages away. Like noted above: I'm hoping to find something in a decently quiet area [i don't need cemetary silence but frat nights aren't my style] that isn't on the worse hill ever. Of coarse I'm super willing to compromise [who can afford not too?] but why not aim for the best? And the car thing? So many people had assured me that one isn't necessary [but a welcomed extra] yet, when we drove around a bit I couldn't help but notice that grocery/supermarkets and laundromats weren't exactly within walking distance [well, not if you've two loads or want to buy some food for the week]. So, with bringing up a car I ask this: any places known for terrible parking? Oh, and how much is a parking permit [to park on campus]? I've serached but, without calling the administrative assistants yet, I haven't yet found the information on my own. Any insight?
living_in_paradise Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 Any opinions on Hasbrouck Apartments? I won't be able to visit Ithaca before August, so perhaps grad housing on campus is a safer option than trying to find something off-campus over the internet. Seems a bit pricey, though, and pretty unspectacular for the money.
comosifuera Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 I will also be an incoming graduate student at Cornell this fall, and I'm having difficulty getting a grip on the housing situation. I'm currently living in Spain, though I'm not an international student. That said, I'm leaning toward Cornell-affiliated housing (it'd be a stretch to call it on-campus), so as to minimize the risk that I get a terrible situation. Because I'm rather price-sensitive, I'm leaning toward the 2-person furnished apartment in Hasbrouck. I'm also attracted to Maplewood Park. I know that many say that graduate housing is overpriced, but based on my searches, this is not necessarily the case. In terms of value, (ie. cost given how much space), I can see why one could consider these options expensive. But in terms of sheer price, there are affordable options. But I think that for those of us who don't have a car, the value balances out. Please feel free to prove me wrong, as this is mostly conjecture based on google searches and Cornell websites. Any information on the Hasbrouck and Maplewood Park would be appreciated. Thanks!
psycholinguist Posted April 8, 2009 Posted April 8, 2009 Hasbrouck is supposedly nicer than Maplewood, and in a quieter neighbourhood, but it's a long (30-minute-ish) walk from there even to the north end of the campus. If you're going to be in IRL, the walk is even longer; Hasbrouck is essentially behind all of the freshman housing, which is a little out-of-the-way to begin with. There are bus connections to it (the 82 and 84 routes go through there), and it's close to one of the better cafeterias if you're interested in campus meal-plans. It's also very close to the Cornell Plantations, the lovely area of woods and trails and Fall Creek to the northeast of the campus, so if you like nature/hiking, Hasbrouck would be great. Off-campus housing can be hit-and-miss (and by April, a lot of the good apartments have long since been snapped up by undergrads), but it's worth a look. Reread the thread and check out the Off-Campus Housing-Office for a good place to start!
nonick Posted April 12, 2009 Posted April 12, 2009 I will also be going to Cornell next year. I will be studying Physics. I haven't really started looking for apartments yet, but my impression so far is that it is generally cheaper and better in terms of social life and what not if you find somebody else to share an apartment with. If any of you is interested in potentially sharing an apartment with me, feel free to send me a private message. I am planning to go visit Ithaca for a few days some time in May, so by the end of May I should have some definite housing options.
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