Does anyone go to school in Boston? I am looking for housing.

[kenas21]

To anyone out there, do you have any suggestions about housing in or around Boston? Any input would nice. Thanks.

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[Rogue_Leader]

There's a wide variety of housing, almost all of it crazy expensive and/or small if you want to live alone. You can get a good deal if you go in with a roomate or two. A good place to look for apartments is Craigslist, since you can search by size (number of bedrooms) and price. For roomates, contact your school, since they usually have some sort of roomate listing for students. You might even want to start before looking for new apartments since there usually some people who already have an apartment and are looking for roomates to fill it. University housing is always a good idea, but at this point it will likely all be gone if you're entering fall 04. Which school are you attending?

 

[Bobblehead]

Which school? Bear in mind proximity to public transportation (subway and buses) as well as the grocery store, laundry, etc. Craigslist is a great resource. You can generally avoid paying the finder's fee the idiotic rental agents charge by going through craigslist (it's equivalent to 1 month's rent). As a student you'll likely have to cough up something akin to first & last month's rent plus a security deposit equivalent to one month's rent although sometimes these payments can be spaced out over time. So bear in mind that you'll need that much plus money to furnish your apartment plus other incidental moving expenses.

 

[kenas21]

I am going to Boston University's Graduate School of Medical Sciences. Thank you guys for your replies.

 

[Bobblehead]

Going by the assumption that you are looking for a one bedroom your areas can be as close as walking distance (South End) or as far away as the red line will take you. There are no subway lines that run directly to BUMC. The closest you'll get is the Orange line Mass Ave. stop which is about a mile away. The silver line (which is a bus) stops a few blocks away but it's not really a subway, just a fancy bus. It does cover a few more areas in the downtown area and would technically make it feasible to live on the red line and transfer to the silver line to get to BUMC (although that's sort of a pain). There are several buses that stop right at the medical center. The 1 and CT1 run from Cambridge down to BUMC. The CT1 runs Central Square to BUMC and the 1 runs between Harvard Square and Dudley so you can live as far away as Cambridge and not have to change buses to get to BUMC. Go to www.mbta.com and check out the information there to get a better idea of what your public transit options are.

Central Square is a nice place to live and will take you about 20-30 minutes on the bus to get to BUMC. Prices range from 1100-1600 and up for a one bedroom. The South End seems to have less options between student slum housing and $600,000 condos which may make it more difficult to secure adequate housing. Plus the public transit options are fewer in the South End and the things that are walking distance aren't as prolific as in Cambridge.

Personal opinion, stay away from anything on the Green line.

 

[Rod Farva]

Just live in the suburbs and start out day 1 by never going to class. Living in Boston is too much of a pain in the ass. Paying out the ass for crappy apartments that were built in 1870 may be some people's idea of a good time, but not mine. Personally I refuse to pay more than a grand a month in rent alone. You should probably investigate to see if BU has any sort of roommate matching system so you can get hooked up with a roommate to split rent... it's a crapshoot, and you could get matched up with a real douche, but you're talking about Boston, and living alone is just ridiculously expensive, especially for what you get, although since BU is in the ghetto you might be able to find some nice crack house to live in for cheap.

 

[stinkycheese]

Personal opinion, stay away from anything on the Green line.

Well, the D-line isn't bad. If you lived in the Fens, you could take the D to Hynes in five minutes, and then catch the #1 up Mass Ave. I live on the D, and it's pretty convenient and quick. I agree that the rest of the green line sucks major ass. I vowed never to live on the Green line again after living in Brighton on the B-line, but really, the D-line hasn't been so bad. 🙂

 

[Paramedic1]

www.bostonapartments.com

👍

 

[kenas21]

Thanks again for the replies.

Ken

 

[skypilot]

Other options if you can't secure a place in the South End.

South Boston, also known as Southie. This is about a 10 minute bike ride or a 20 minute bus ride. Rents are much cheaper and there are nice spots to live.

Central Square Cambridge. Pretty happening area and take the bus right up Mass Ave to BU.

Kenmore. Very student area. Bike or bus to BU directly from here.

Look here for bus routes and schedules:

http://www.mbta.com/

 

[mikedc813]

To anyone out there, do you have any suggestions about housing in or around Boston? Any input would nice. Thanks.

My family owns an apartment building in the South End near BUMC. It is on Shawmut Avenue, which parallels Washington Street. There is someone moving out at the end of August I think. Let me know if you're interested and I can get more details. The main thing is that the renter be very quiet (i.e. no parties, loud music).

 

[mikedc813]

Ok looks like the apartment has been taken. Thanks for the response

 

[st85]

I'm looking for housing in Boston too, but the hard part is finding roommates.