Cornell English PhD.- Help with housing, pretty please!!!

[literatius]

Hello,

 

I am wondering if anyone has any experience with finding housing in Ithaca recently. From what I've read on older forums, off-campus housing is the norm and on-campus housing is criminally expensive. Although I would guess living on campus would be convenient, I do not want to be poor or socially-isolated. Any advice at all would be welcome.

 

I will be moving to Ithaca (from somewhere not so far away) in August. I went there for undergrad so I am very familar with the campus, but lived on  campus all four years so I have no experience with the trauma of looking for a place/dealing with shady landlords etc..

 

I would like a furnished, cat-friendly one bedroom apartment within reasonable walking distance to campus and I'd like to (if this sounds laughably unreasonable, please, do tell) pay $500-$1000 in rent.

 

Again any advice at all would be welcome! I am so excited to get started at Cornell. Thanks in advance for any and all guidance.

 

 

[semicolon2013]

Don't know about housing, but I'm also in English and will also likely be accepting Cornell's offer. Maybe we'll be classmates! (or whatever the more sophisticated grad school term is ...colleagues?)

[astroyogi]

Congratulations on your acceptance! I'm a senior physics major here at Cornell and have been living off campus for about three years now. Your budget is totally reasonable. Only a few places I've heard of have rent that starts at around $1000, like 312 College Ave which is for the truly wealthy and swanky among us. The average I've seen is about $700-$900, with highs and lows from $300 (see basement sublets) to $2500 (see 312 College Ave). 

 

I stayed in a one bedroom studio in Collegetown Center apartments via a sublet that ran me $790/mo with everything included except internet (fun story- I could get free internet if I balanced my laptop on top of my fridge and stood on my tiptoes to reach it). The building wasn't good at all for my allergies (cigarette smoke from other rooms) but if you don't have any allergies it's a fine place to be. Great location being right next to Jack's, CTB, Stella's, and obviously campus. 

 

I now live out by East Hill and couldn't recommend it enough to anyone who likes peace and quiet at home. The bus is extremely easy to take to and from campus, and the rent is much cheaper for a really nice, nice place ($600/month for room in a 3 bedroom townhouse, new construction, private baths in every bedroom, fireplace, high ceilings, views of open sky and cornfield, in-house washer/dryer, patio, central air cooling and heating, etc. etc. etc.) I love it. The one thing is, there aren't any singles available in the unit, the smallest units are 2 bedroom so you would need to stay with a housemate. Site here: (don't let the crappy website turn you off) http://www.ithacahome.com/. Also, to everyone else at Cornell, you might as well be living in Cortland. People are still willing to make the trek over for a nice wine party, though

 

I wouldn't recommend graduate school housing really, unless you're international (so many international students there, it's probably good for them to have a support system though). If you do go grad, I'd recommend Hasbrouck just because I knew people living there in one bedrooms and they liked it well enough (not sure about pets). 

 

Personally, I love living downtown, and did that one summer as I took over my boyfriend's room in a 3 bedroom apt. Great vibe, still pretty peaceful, SUCH great stuff to walk to. If you're a social butterfly I'd go downtown over anything else, and most of the grad students in the dept I'm friends with live there. All the bars are there, and all the restaurants. One thing: gotta visit the places. There are a lot of run down old houses in Ithaca, but also some great finds. If I wasn't at East Hill I'd be downtown without a shadow of a doubt.

 

I wouldn't recommend Collegetown unless you like oggling the freshman sorority girls in their bandaid skirts and unwalkable heels. I really didn't like how loud it was here (cars, beeping, yelling, etc), but that just might be me being nerdy me. Proximity to campus obviously can't be beat, but the tcat is so great I didn't really care one way or another. I would say only live here if you love undergrads, CTB in Ctown (there's a CTB downtown and at East Hill too, don't forget), and related sights and sounds (downtown has far more night life to offer) I don't know how you feel about ctown from your time here, but I got sick of undergrads come sophomore year. 

 

Anyway if you have any more specific questions I'd be more than happy to answer them. Congrats again and I'm so glad you get to spend the next few years high above Cayuga's waters! I'm more than a little jealous and would be staying here if physics accepted their own.  

[semicolon2013]

I am another Cornell English admitted student. How do I go about finding housing from far away? Would June be too late to look? I am currently abroad and won't even be back in the states until June.

[astroyogi]

I would recommend craigslist as it's the only thing I've used to find housing and sublet my own apartment. I don't think June is late to look -- a lot of year long leases begin at the end of July (mine for example).