Rush students-where do you live?

[lisa13579]

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I'm headed to Rush in the fall and am trying to get an idea of where to live. I currently live on the north side of Chicago (north of Wrigley) with roomates, and I'm thinking it might be better to live closer to campus and by myself. I'm a 27 yo female and am wondering if it is safe to live near campus. Where do most people live the first 2 years?

Thanks 🙂

 

[lisa13579]

I'm being impatient 😛 , but anyone???

 

[opus03]

I live in Oak Brook...not really close to campus though! A lot of people live on campus and they feel safe. Some live in Oak Park/Berwyn areas while others live in areas like Lincoln Park. We are all over the place but I definitely think the area immediately surrounding Rush is quite sketchy....except for the Rush-owned apts which seem to have decent security. Sorry, that's not too helpful, good luck!

 

[rxfudd]

I lived in a Rush campus apartment for M1 year and moved into a high rise on Michigan for M2 year (and it looks like I'll be staying here for the next two years). Rush campus housing is ok when you're a first year, but it gets to be a drag living so close to school and with a ton of students. Also, as was pointed out above, the area is a bit sketchy (I have a good story about a recent "incident" for ayone interested) and there's not much around but Rush and UIC. The pros are that for about $850/month you get a 1 bdrm apartment with a TON of closet/storage space AND a free parking space less than two miles from downtown and a few blocks from Rush. Keep in mind that Rush gives you an extra $200-300 in your fin aid package if you live off campus, so you can certainly live somewhere nicer or more interesting if you have a car (try to live close, though - it really is nice to be just a few minutes away) for roughly the same amount of money.

 

[lisa13579]

Thanks guys. Rxfudd: imitaz actually told me to pm you, i just hadn't gotten around to it.

When you say try to live close, can you literally give me street names. I am familiar with the north side of the city, but not so much down there.

-Thanks

 

[PFunkAllStar]

If you have grown accustomed to the Wrigley/Lakeview area and are looking to be a little closer to Rush, I would highly recommend the Bucktown area. The Taylor St. area around Rush is OK, but limited and isn't terribly safe outside of it. Your money can go far in Bucktown and personally, it's nice to get away from campus (the commute...10 minutes, is a nice forced break in the day).

 

[lisa13579]

Thanks PFunk-good idea 🙂

How do you like Rush?

 

[nascentdoc]

Thanks PFunk-good idea 🙂

How do you like Rush?

Yes. How do you like Rush?

 

[PFunkAllStar]

To both nascentdoc and lisa13579 feel free to PM me with any specific questions you have, I would be happy to give you honest answers. Briefly, Rush is great and I have been very happy both pre-clinically and clinically.

 

[nascentdoc]

To both nascentdoc and lisa13579 feel free to PM me with any specific questions you have, I would be happy to give you honest answers. Briefly, Rush is great and I have been very happy both pre-clinically and clinically.

Thanks a lot PFunkAllStar. Will do.

 

[skiz knot]

To all the posters out there who insist that the area around UIC is unsafe, please look at the statistics before you make that statement. The CPD publishes crimestatistics on its website. If you were to compare the crime rates of district 12 (roughly the area surrounding UIC and Rush campuses) vs. district 14 (bucktown, lincoln park) you would see that they are roughly similar. Robberies/ muggings are more prevalent in the so called nicer areas, and murders in dist. 12 are consistently ~50% lower than district 14. I have to admit there is a lot more going on in the bucktown, wicker park, wrigleyville neighborhoods and they may be "nicer to look at." The truth of the matter is that those neighborhoods are going through (have gone through) a process of intense gentrification. Areas directly surrounding the popular areas of the aforementioned neighborhoods are still comprised of people of the same socioeconomic backround as was the case 10-15 years ago. There is no debating that poverty is highly correlated with crime rates, but in the newly gentrified areas there is more opportunity for high reward crime, hence more muggings, etc... Now I must admit the gentrification process has now begun in full force around UIC (the housing projects are almost completely gone) and may very well create a similar situation down the road.
Returning to my original point, The UIC/Rush Residential area is safe and can be quite quaint. It consists primarily of quiet streets with many Italian-American families, hispanics, and students.

 

[caffeinated_cat]

I definitely think the area immediately surrounding Rush is quite sketchy

I really have to disagree with the long-held notion that the area around Rush is unsafe. Relatively speaking, you are as safe if not safer in the University Village neighborhood than in most middle-income locales in Chicago. There are occassional problems here as there are on the S Side, Lincoln Park, etc., but having lived here since 1999 I think the area bounded by Ashland/Taylor/Harrison/Halsted is a just fine place to live. There are at least 5 separate police/security teams in the area. A condo in 1400 block of Lexington went for 1.2 million last year and there has been a ton of new construction within 6 blocks of Rush over the past few years.

Personally, I highly recommend going through Harris Brothers at 910 S. Loomis for extremely well-kept, quiet West Side area apartments. I've lived in a great unit on S. Laflin for 3 yrs. now and they have been outstanding. The price is comparable to Rush housing for ~1000 sq. ft.

Best of luck at Rush! 🙂

 

[rxfudd]

I think that I only partially agree with what you're saying. I went to UIC undergrad while I was living in the Wrigleyville area and moved to the Rush/UIC area when I got into Rush med. There may be comparable statistics for the medical district and nightlife areas, but I would bet a good chunk of money that most of the Lincoln Park and Wrigleyville muggings and robberies are between the hours of 10pm and 4am. What makes me really uncomfortable about UIC/Rush is that most of their muggings and robberies are between the hours of 6am-8am and 4pm-8pm. When I was at UIC (and even now, since my girlfriend is an undergrad at uic), we used to get the crime report updates every month or so. It is amazing how many robberies occurred in the residential areas at about 5pm.

And you definitely can't ignore the fact that you have hundreds of people roaming the streets in a drunken stupor at nighttime and a bunch of students and residents walking around during the day time, and that each group is getting robbed/mugged at a similar rate.

So yeah, I'd still say the area is not necessarily "safe", although I will admit that I only personally know of 3 people who have had problems with crime. Most interesting example = A good friend of mine was living in Rush housing this past September and woke up one morning and noticed he smelled cigarette smoke in the apt. He wen't into the living room and there was a guy sitting on his couch, watching ESPN, and drinking one of his beers. He told the guy to leave and was told he was "waiting for his ride". My friend left the house, got Rush security, and had the guy arrested. He had probably been there all night long. Oh, and the guy also took 2 bucks from his wallet. Funniest thing is that they couldn't press charges on taking the two bucks for whatever reason, but they got him on stealing the beer.

To all the posters out there who insist that the area around UIC is unsafe, please look at the statistics before you make that statement. The CPD publishes crimestatistics on its website. If you were to compare the crime rates of district 12 (roughly the area surrounding UIC and Rush campuses) vs. district 14 (bucktown, lincoln park) you would see that they are roughly similar. Robberies/ muggings are more prevalent in the so called nicer areas, and murders in dist. 12 are consistently ~50% lower than district 14. I have to admit there is a lot more going on in the bucktown, wicker park, wrigleyville neighborhoods and they may be "nicer to look at." The truth of the matter is that those neighborhoods are going through (have gone through) a process of intense gentrification. Areas directly surrounding the popular areas of the aforementioned neighborhoods are still comprised of people of the same socioeconomic backround as was the case 10-15 years ago. There is no debating that poverty is highly correlated with crime rates, but in the newly gentrified areas there is more opportunity for high reward crime, hence more muggings, etc... Now I must admit the gentrification process has now begun in full force around UIC (the housing projects are almost completely gone) and may very well create a similar situation down the road.
Returning to my original point, The UIC/Rush Residential area is safe and can be quite quaint. It consists primarily of quiet streets with many Italian-American families, hispanics, and students.

 

[Mediculous]

I would reccomend Harris Brothers, as well. Oddly enough, I also live on S. Laflin. It's where all the cool people are. Harris Brothers tries to rent primarily to grad/professional students (they have a strict "no parties" clause in the lease). Laflin, parts of Loomis, Bishop, Polk, and Lexington all seem like nice streets to live on. The projects (what is left of them--about a 7min. walk from the places mentioned) are not that bad, as long as you know the Van Buren Boys. Remember, it's 8 fingers for 8th Street. 👍

 

[whatfun]

To all the posters out there who insist that the area around UIC is unsafe, please look at the statistics before you make that statement. The CPD publishes crimestatistics on its website. If you were to compare the crime rates of district 12 (roughly the area surrounding UIC and Rush campuses) vs. district 14 (bucktown, lincoln park) you would see that they are roughly similar. Robberies/ muggings are more prevalent in the so called nicer areas, and murders in dist. 12 are consistently ~50% lower than district 14. I have to admit there is a lot more going on in the bucktown, wicker park, wrigleyville neighborhoods and they may be "nicer to look at." The truth of the matter is that those neighborhoods are going through (have gone through) a process of intense gentrification. Areas directly surrounding the popular areas of the aforementioned neighborhoods are still comprised of people of the same socioeconomic backround as was the case 10-15 years ago. There is no debating that poverty is highly correlated with crime rates, but in the newly gentrified areas there is more opportunity for high reward crime, hence more muggings, etc... Now I must admit the gentrification process has now begun in full force around UIC (the housing projects are almost completely gone) and may very well create a similar situation down the road.
Returning to my original point, The UIC/Rush Residential area is safe and can be quite quaint. It consists primarily of quiet streets with many Italian-American families, hispanics, and students.

I think you make a very good, and not often considered point. Much concern over safety revolves around people's perception of a neighborhood, not actual information about what normally happens in the neighborhood. Think about neighborhoods like bucktown and lincoln park. They may look nice and safe but who generally lives there? Recently-minted college grads from midwestern universities that have never lived in cities before and have money. Now, if I was going to steal from someone, that sounds like the best target!

I'm not saying those neighborhoods are unsafe. My point is that no matter where you live in the city, you simply need to exercise common sense. Get to know the streets in the neighborhood and public transportation. If you know where you're going and what you're doing, you're much less likely to be a target.