Relocating for grad school

[hummm]

I'm wondering how everyone dealt with relocation, esp. when you had to move 3-4 states away from your current residence. I have two major concerns.
1) Because of the distance and the cost of visiting a city (flight, hotel, etc), I'm thinking about relying on internet search, plus advice from current grad students, to find a place to live. Has anyone found a place this way? How was your experience?
2) How many weeks before the schools start did you move? I'm considering giving a week or less between the move and the start of the school (because of my situation), but little concerned if that would be enough.

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[soccercat]

When I moved, my school had people in the area who could help us look for apartments and a list of people looking for roomies too. I also spent a long weekend there checking out areas and apartment complexes I might want to live in. When the time came to actually rent I had enough info to rent sight unseen and it worked out really well.

I'd give yourself more than a week to settle in though. At least two. You will want to have time to unpack and explore your immediate area AND have a couple of days of rest before the insanity starts.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

1) I moved "site-unseen" for grad school, postdoc, and employment. Didn't have a problem in any of those instances. Our grad program sent out a list of student recommendations for apartment complexes in the area, and I just did additional digging myself (i.e., internet searches for various information, as you've mentioned). Visiting in person is nice, but I didn't have a significantly better experience/outcome when I was able to do that for internship vs. my other moves.

2) I moved about a month before classes started. I'd say at the least, you'll want to give yourself probably two weeks to acclimate. For internship and postdoc, though, a week would probably be fine, as you'll be more used to both the moving-then-working process, and you'll have more experience with the type of work you'll be doing.

 

[Quiche]

I relocated across several states for grad school as well. As a warning, I moved to a transient area and many places would not rent site unseen. Many listers in this area also would not hold listings and the market moved quickly with apartments being gone within a few days of listing. I would ask the current grad students in your program what their experiences were like. I think almost everyone in my program had to make an extra trip to secure a place. Yes, the extra flight was really expensive, but sometimes people in the program will let you stay with them the weekend/week you come to look. If possible, I'd also try to come at least one weekday. I found that many of the smaller rental properties outside of the bigger complexes weren't open for a showing during the weekend or had limited hours.


I moved about 3 weeks before school started just because that was the natural break in my old lease. To be honest, that was a bit long. I ended up getting really acquainted with the neighborhood though and had almost everything set up before classes started. I also rearranged my furniture about 18 times out of sheer boredom. In my opinion, one week is a bit short. Give yourself sometime to breathe because it may be awhile before you have downtime again!

Congrats and good luck!

 

[MiniLop]

I'm wondering how everyone dealt with relocation, esp. when you had to move 3-4 states away from your current residence. I have two major concerns.
2) How many weeks before the schools start did you move? I'm considering giving a week or less between the move and the start of the school (because of my situation), but little concerned if that would be enough.

Due to issues with a shady landlord I ended up moving into my place a whopping two days before my first semester began. It wasn't optimal but it also didn't end up being a huge deal.

 

[soccercat]

Also, just a thought, depending on how much stuff you plan on bringing with you (and how competitive the market is in the area you're moving to), you can also stay in a cheap hotel for a few days to look for a place or get a place month to month until you can find something better.

 

[hummm]

Thanks everyone! This is very helpful

 

[cara susanna]

I looked in-person for grad school but moved "sight unseen" for internship. Funnily enough, my "sight unseen" place is much, much nicer.

 

[Tupelo Honey]

I also moved from many, many miles away. I stayed at an airbnb for 1 month before I found an apartment.

 

[xXIDaShizIXx]

I moved sight unseen for graduate school. The market out here moves quickly with houses and apartments renting quickly. Plus I had dogs which made renting harder. But we got lucky and the apartment had amazing amenities and a dog yard and is in a beautiful location. I don't think I'll risk it again for internship though.