Don't live in Jefferson Housing!
I'm a 4th year here at Jefferson, if I can give you one piece of advice, avoid Jefferson housing (Orlowitz and Barringer), especially Orlowitz at all costs. The following pertains to the Orlowitz Building:
1. The company that runs the apartment buildings owns/runs several building in Philly and it is my opinion they could care less about Jefferson student housing. I feel they know it is convenient, first years are promised a spot, and the rent is comparable and in some cases, slightly cheaper than other options in the area, but trust me, you will regret it.
2. There are mice in the basement (laundry floor) of Orlowitz and classmates on the lower floors have had rodent problems in the past.
3. The heating, while supposedly being fixed with a new system, is a major issue. It typically malfunctions a few times a year. This winter was the worse. For 3 weeks this winter, when it was 30 degrees during the days in the 20s/teens at night, the heating was not working properly. The way they handled the situation was horrible. They paid for you to stay in a Holiday Inn Express for a night if your room was cold, but you had to check out every morning, come back to your place, and if the heat still was not on (which it wasn't), you had to request the Holiday Inn again, spend the night, then check out again. I had a easy rotation and my unit held up relatively ok, but it was a major inconvenience, I can't imagine how bad this was if you had a demanding schedule (which is typical). Most people just used extra blankets at night because the Holiday Inn thing was a major inconvenience, especially with the time constraints in medical school and your life is in your apt. Also, PMC (Philadelphia Management Company) sent out a notice something to the gist of they expect all rent and won't be giving any discounts. Some students talked to some Jeff administrators about the heating issue. The Jeff administrators responded with a letter more or less stating the school was concerned, but PMC told them (the adminsitrators) stay away from the building (Jeff doesn't own the building).
4. Several units have problems with hot water in the showers at times.
5. Management has become more responsive over the last year or two, but if anything goes wrong in your apartment, you might have to ask 3, 4, 5 times to get something done. It has happened to me on more than one occasion.
6. There are 3 elevators there are several times 1 of them is broken or not working properly.
7. The plumbing must be horrible, there are several water shut downs per year for a few hours at a time. To their credit, we usually get advanced warning about this.
8. The heating/ac system is being overhauled, but this requires them to do work in your apartment, which could cause a major disturbance, if only for a short while. Believe me, when you are trying to pass anatomy, you won't want this.
I'm sure I could write more, most of the students at Jeff would probably agree with me. The building is a lot of 1st and 2nd years med students along with some students in other schools (PT, nursing, etc.), but there are a good amount of 3rd and 4th year students - I would say most of us have stayed despite the short comings because of the convenience of living across from the hospital and many of our our clinical sights AND the fact that we are settled here, the inconvenience of moving and finding another apartment was a huge issue for me as well. I really have loved my time at Jefferson, it is a great school, but I seriously would reconsider living here if you have the option to live somewhere else.
Ok, sorry to upset anyone, hopefully you don't cross off this school because of housing, Jeff is a great place to go to school.
I don't remember exactly what the class schedule was like for first year. But I'll try to find something.
