One of my fellow interviewees has been living in DC, she gave me the following breakdown:
Try and find a place on the red line, having to line switch is annoying at 6:30-7 in the morning and can ruin your day regularly.
The dividing line is Rock Creek Park, the farther west you get from Rock Creek, the more expensive it gets, anything west of it is pretty darn safe in DC, so you're good there.
She noted the best mix of price to safety was just to the East of Rock Creek in her opinion (in that it's cheaper, but still pretty safe).
Some housing options from some of the people kind enough to answer my questions:
-One guy who has a wife and two kids bought a house up near Baltimore, BAH covers it, gets him the space, white picket fence, and just a bit longer of a commute
-One girl has a house she shares with three of her classmates that is quite literally across the street from the school, walking distance.
-Another guy is a metro man riding the red line in from DC where he lives with his wife.
All noted they are able to live under their BAH comfortably. They also noted that if you go crazy for your clerkships and post-clerkships and travel the world, you can just rent a storage locker, hide your stuff there and live out of a suitcase for the 5-week clerkship intervals. And you get to pocket the excess BAH.
If you try and do most of your stuff at Walter Reed, then the suggestion seems to be try and buy a condo or house if you can afford the down payment, live in it, then rent it out after you leave to give yourself a bit of passive income after you leave USU.
Otherwise, just make sure wherever you go you have a clause in the lease allowing for military orders (so you're not stuck paying for a lease you're not using).
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From what I know, the school recommends not making housing arrangements until after ODS/COT/(whatever the army calls theirs), just as a disclaimer.
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Also, I can commiserate on the undergrad part. I have 7 units left to do over the spring semester... ugh.
Hope the info helps