Hi,
I did undergrad and post-bacc and Case and will likely be there for med school (unless CCLCM smiles at me). I don't think the dorms are available to you as a med student. But, I'm not sure. There is one "graduate student housing" building on the north side of campus (a good 15 minute walk to the med school), but you don't want to live there. Rooms are small and funky.
Case is nestled at the bottom of a hill with the city of Cleveland to the south and west, the Hough district to the north and east and Cleveland heights to the East and southeast. Most med students will live in Cleveland Heights, where three bedroom apartments cost about 1100 a month, are huge and not unknown to some crime (though not too bad). At the top of the hill there is a big apartment building (called Waldorf towers) which is kinda OK. Clean rooms, but old in that 1950's sort of way. Still, pretty safe and convenient. If you can afford it (about $600 for a fairly large studio and up for ones and twos), that is where I would live. The other alternatives are apartments i houses (I'm no fan of this) and small apartment buildings with 4 to 8 units in each of them. I don't like tehse either because the landlords are not attentive. At least in a large building you have some services that you can rely on.
At the foot of the campus are the Triangle apartments. These are the nicest in the area. If you have the money, these are great. New, tall buildings with comfortable units. A small studio will run you close to $700 or more, I'm thinking. My wife and I had a very nice one-bedroom in the Triangle for about $900, as I recall. This was some years ago. Of course, it is on Euclid Avenue. There is some crime (particularly at night). We had our car (parked in the garage) broken into twice. You get used to it, but something to think about.
Nestled between Case and Cleveland heights is a small neighborhood called "Little Italy". Many med students live in there. It is only about a 5 minute walk to the med school. many swear by this area, and think it is quaint. I think it is a ****-hole slum. The houses are falling down, many of the apartments (I looked at) smelled like vomit, and the various landlords are MIA most of the time. I lived there for a year. The resteraunts are OK (some great, even) but I would not live there again unless I could afford the school-house condos and apartments (and if you are in med school, you can't). The permenant residents are racist bastards.
If I had a car, I would live on the west side of cleveland in lakewood, North Olmsted, Rocky River, Westlake, etc. It' s a 30 minute drive to the med school but worth it. The nice easy living of suburbia. For 600 a month you'll get a nice new, clean, modern garden apartment. Never look for a place to park. Never anybody puking in the hallway. Always quiet. And the mall's only 5 minutes away no matter which direction you drive.
Judd
