Looking at UC Irvine, Davis, LA, SanD

[socialequity]

Hello!

 

I'm applying to these areas and wanted to see what apartment options there are close to campus - if anyone lives close to any of these? What's it like? Is it safe? etc.  Anything you know about these areas would be great!

 

 

Thank you!

Leslie

Edited June 14, 2013 by lesliefdtofit

[esgalerin]

Davis is very much a college town, so there are a ton of apartments near campus. Plus, it's a very small, so there is no part of town that's more than about 5 miles from the main part of campus. You can peruse your apartment choices (and anything else you're curious about) on Davis Wiki. Even if you live on the edge of town, there's a very comprehensive bus system that has stops within reasonable walking distance of most apartment complexes.

 

If you have a car, you may want to consider living in a nearby town instead because housing in Davis tends to be on the expensive end of things. Cheapest place I ever lived was a 2-bedroom for about $1000/mo that seemed like it hadn't been renovated since the 80's. (On the other hand, I've heard that renting a house in Davis with a few other people is cheaper than living in an apartment, but I've never looked into it very much myself.)

 

Like any town, there's the occasional violent crime in Davis, but it's extremely rare. I (as a fairly small female) would have no qualms walking through town in the middle of the night. The biggest thing you'd need to watch out for is theft (especially bike theft) and that can be avoided a lot of the time by being smart.

 

Feel free to PM me if you have more questions about Davis.

 

Make sure to look through the threads that already exist on the cities you're interested in also. They'll already have answered a lot of your questions.

Edited June 14, 2013 by esgalerin

[oopalfrootz]

UC Irvine is in such a ridiculously beautiful area. I still miss it all the time even though I only visited for a couple of days, and ultimately had to turn them down (it was a very close decision, though). 

 

I don't know about the other unis, but unless you're loaded you'll have to live in campus housing at UCI - and it's likely you'll have to share. The apartments are gorgeous though, and spacious - at least compared with UK unis' offerings; I'm not sure what US ones are like typically. The views are amazing, kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms and living rooms are all large, and they are all I would say absolute maximum 20 minutes' walk away. Even the professors all live in their 'professor ghetto' owned by UCI. 

 

If you end up picking accommodation there, I'd advise you to get in as early as you can. Particularly if you're like me, and do better without sharing a flat. There are very few apartments you can get to yourself. 

[aberrant]

Not sure about other colleges in San Diego, but if you are applying UCSD, then the area is generally safe. At least I have seen people (both men and women) went jogging between 3 - 5 am, if that's said anything. There are some on-campus graduate housing, but as far as I recall, the main graduate housing is off-campus -- 5-10 minutes walk across I-5. As for off-campus housing, there are plenty options, predominantly around UTC area, where the major apartment complexes are within 1-7 minutes walk from the city shuttles (Arriba, Nobel), besides a few MTS buses.

 

UCLA is by Westwood, and that area has numerous of things going on - hookah bars, restaurants, theatre, couple different things that you can do down the street. Off-campus housing can be 1 block from / around the campus (a portion of it would be frat/sorority houses). I would also considered it to be safe. For the record, tho off-campus, In-N-Out burger is within walking distance. During game night (whether it be UCLA football / basketball), you can expect to see students to hangout around the area until 1 or 2 am, the earliest.

 

USC is at the southern edge of downtown L.A. I do not consider that area to be safe. There are a few news stories about that neighborhood over the past couple years, including a carjack that killed 2 international chinese graduate students awhile back. Most people tried to live somewhere else other than downtown L.A. (the closest would be Korean town, for example). Not sure about graduate housing since the campus itself is pretty small. But I would imagine that there are limited off-campus housing that are walking distance, couple blocks away from the main campus.

 

Off-campus apartment can be equally expensive (for UCLA and UCSD), but I would argue that apartment near UCSD has better value (i.e. for the same price, the quality is better).

 

I have never been to Davis, but I like UCLA campus the best. Yet, I would consider San Diego the best city in the country. The weather, the ocean, the people (ps. San Diegans, not necessarily the ones from elsewhere), the food are all great.

 

Feel free to shoot me IMs if you wanna know more.

Edited June 15, 2013 by aberrant

[socialequity]

Thank you all for the advice!!