San Marcos, TX

[Sword_Saint]

I was tempted to add this as a post under Austin, as San Marcos is only 30 miles away, but different city, so new topic.

 

 

I'm applying to Texas State University (Criminal Justice Master's Program) and wanted to ask a few questions to anyone who lives there or has been through.

 

1) Is the city bike friendly? I was contemplating living nearby campus and biking to get around as I don't mind the weather or extra time spent instead of driving. I am unsure whether the town is very open to that, in terms of vehicular-bike safety and/or bike lanes.

 

2) Are housing costs more expensive around the University than elsewhere in town? Are the housing costs near the university low enough to allow students with assistant-ships to live there in an affordable manner? 

 

3) Where are the disreputable neighborhoods a student should be weary of ? (assuming here that there are some)

 

Any information about San Marcos is welcome, Texas State is my number 1 school but I don't have a lot of personal experience with the surrounding town and area. Thanks in advance.

Edited February 19, 2015 by Sword_Saint

[sackofcrap]

I would like to know these answers too as I have just been accepted to Texas State University!

[Sword_Saint]

I would like to know these answers too as I have just been accepted to Texas State University!

 

Since I posted this I've spoken with a couple of alumni that attended Texas State as recently as last year. They informed me that many of the people that attended this school would commute from either southern Austin or from San Antonio; though there are many apartments in San Marcos and public transportation is pretty decent because of how the town is pretty much only a college town.

 

I'm still in the process of looking at apartments specifically in San Marcos, but after looking at 15-20 they are mostly in the 800-900 range for 1-2 bedroom places. I found one or two that were either studio or 1 bedroom in the 715-780 range; I was hoping to find cheaper places b/c the financial compensation for the masters program I was accepted at is pretty slim. Finding roommates is probably pretty not hard if you're willing to go that route, save several hundred dollars doing that instead.

[sackofcrap]

Since I posted this I've spoken with a couple of alumni that attended Texas State as recently as last year. They informed me that many of the people that attended this school would commute from either southern Austin or from San Antonio; though there are many apartments in San Marcos and public transportation is pretty decent because of how the town is pretty much only a college town.

 

I'm still in the process of looking at apartments specifically in San Marcos, but after looking at 15-20 they are mostly in the 800-900 range for 1-2 bedroom places. I found one or two that were either studio or 1 bedroom in the 715-780 range; I was hoping to find cheaper places b/c the financial compensation for the masters program I was accepted at is pretty slim. Finding roommates is probably pretty not hard if you're willing to go that route, save several hundred dollars doing that instead.

 

Interesting.  I was only just accepted, so I haven't received any word on any type of funding from them yet. You have to apply for assistantships specifically by department there, so I won't know anything definite yet. I haven't even seen a definite cost of attendance or gotten my official admissions packet in the mail yet.

[Sword_Saint]

Interesting.  I was only just accepted, so I haven't received any word on any type of funding from them yet. You have to apply for assistantships specifically by department there, so I won't know anything definite yet. I haven't even seen a definite cost of attendance or gotten my official admissions packet in the mail yet.

 

Yeah. I was nominated for the merit scholarship and have applied for the Applied Arts Research Fellowship (R.A. position). I won't know about either of those for at least 3 or 4 weeks and thats only because of how amazing the graduate admissions folks in the criminal justice department have been. I was guaranteed a graduate assistantship if I do not get the R.A. spot but even then, that would only be like 13k for 9 months of the fall and spring semester. On the plus side, either the R.A. or the Graduate assistantship would allow me to pay in-state tuition so it would cover my tuition and living expenses but probably not all of my food and/or luxury expenses.

 

Still waiting to hear about how much I've been funded through Cincinnati and wanting to hear anything at all from Simon Fraser so we'll see. I would really enjoy attending Texas State though so given comparable funding situations I'd probably choose Texas. 

Edited March 14, 2015 by Sword_Saint

[sackofcrap]

Yeah. I was nominated for the merit scholarship and have applied for the Applied Arts Research Fellowship (R.A. position). I won't know about either of those for at least 3 or 4 weeks and thats only because of how amazing the graduate admissions folks in the criminal justice department have been. I was guaranteed a graduate assistantship if I do not get the R.A. spot but even then, that would only be like 13k for 9 months of the fall and spring semester. On the plus side, either the R.A. or the Graduate assistantship would allow me to pay in-state tuition so it would cover my tuition and living expenses but probably not all of my food and/or luxury expenses.

 

Still waiting to hear about how much I've been funded through Cincinnati and wanting to hear anything at all from Simon Fraser so we'll see. I would really enjoy attending Texas State though so given comparable funding situations I'd probably choose Texas. 

 

 

Have you decided where to attend yet? I have decided to go with Texas State!

[Sword_Saint]

Have you decided where to attend yet? I have decided to go with Texas State!

 

I decided Simon Fraser b/c they had more faculty with my research interests and were able to offer me a WAY more competitive funding package. About 10 days after I decided SFU, Texas State said they'd be able to offer a better package than originally thought, full tuition coverage and 1400/month as a TA/RA.  If they had been able to lead with that, there is a pretty solid chance I would have chosen there instead.

 

So Canada it is apparently. I'll be "back on the market" in about 1.5-2 years for PhD applications so we'll see how it looks then whether I stay at SFU, go to Texas State or choose a different place.

 

Good luck at Texas State! 

[CulturalCriminal]

Reviving if anyone wants info on San Marcos

[jamdyer22]

On 2/26/2018 at 1:55 PM, CulturalCriminal said:

Reviving if anyone wants info on San Marcos

Hey! I just got accepted to a doctoral program at Texas State. I'm a pretty avid cycler, so I'm trying to figure out whether or not it'd be worth it to live somewhere in South Austin and commute, or if I should just scope out a spot in San Marcos. What I'd really like to know is whether or not there are any housing options in the 'burbs between San Marcos and Austin? 

[CulturalCriminal]

I actually was pretty big on cycling before I moved to central Texas. Unfortunately, commuting on the bike is really hard to pull off here; biking lanes and safe cycling conditions are hard to come by in commute areas. This is especially true with campus and the immediate roads off of campus. Recreational cycling is possible though, and fairly nice. This is especially true if you live NW of campus. Highcrest apartments/townhomes are popular with faculty and graduate students, while also having easy access to roads that are fairly cycling-friendly. It's also a bus stop for the school and local buses.

Though it is certainly tempting to live in S Austin or near it, having done so personally I can tell you that it is not fun to make that commute regularly. San Marcos may not have all the Austin fun stuff (i.e. non-college bars, trader joe's, alamo drafthouse, good live music, lots of theatre, etc), but there is still some pretty good stuff in San Marcos and it isn't that bad a drive to get to Austin (or San Antonio). There are some nice apartments in Kyle, but being in San Marcos has its perks. Rent is basically the same from Onion Creek to New Braunfels, so might as well be close to campus (that's where parking sucks). 

If you do decide on San Marcos, beware the many "private student housing" apartments that are owned by big corporations. Despite having shiny exteriors, the apartments are awful and the people are worse. Likewise, San Marcos has laws against multiple non-family residents renting houses (I think it is no more than two non-related people can be in a house). This means that the "lets just get a bunch of folks together to rent a house" model is technically not legal in San Marcos.

Another thing: The trains in San Marcos are also notorious for just stopping on the tracks, so living NW of campus is a good idea to avoid being late due to a train.

One final note: flooding. San Marcos, like most of the cities/towns in the region, is a river town. This is great for water recreation; hoping in the river for a few hours on a bad day is great. That said, flooding has over the last 10 years been on the rise. We get pretty big rainy days every few months that can cause flooding in some neighborhoods and apartment buildings. Can you guess why I keep advocating NW of campus? It tends to not get flooded as much. Even in neighborhoods that don't flood that much, you can still get flooding if an apartment is poorly planned (my first complex I lived in here got flooded three times while I lived there, even though we really didn't live in an area that should necessary be getting flooded.