Hey,
Congrats on getting in. I would recommend looking for a place around Lake Merritt/Adams Point area if you're thinking about living in Oakland. I live there right now and it's a really nice area to be and there are a lot of restaurants and shops in that area. Temescal is another area that's cheaper, it's closer to school and it's a pretty cool area to go to. Only thing about Temescal is that it can get a little sketchy at night. A lot of students also live in Alameda and Berkley, which is a little further away from school. East Oakland is a place I wouldn't look to live around, that area can get REALLY sketchy. West Oakland is slowly getting gentrified, but I don't really know of anyone living there from school. Andre will create a facebook around March or so if you're looking to find a roommate from your class. I room with someone else from school and we pay a little under $1000 a month each to live around Lake Merritt. It might be hard to find a 1 bedroom for under $1000 around Oakland. So basically anything around Lake Merritt is pretty nice and also Temescal is pretty ok.
I wouldn't recommend trying to find an apartment right now. Places go so quickly here that your best hope is to come out here a month or so before to find a place. Also check craigslist around that time and call up people. My roommate had to fly out here a little over a month before we moved in to find an apartment. We both lived in the east coast so it wasn't too easy for us to apartment hunt.
Hope this helps and welcome to CSPM!
