Moving to Western Burbs for Medical School (Chicago, Oak Park: apartments, rent)

[Loyolamedstudent]

I have recently accepted admission to Loyola Stritch School of Medicine and will be moving to the area the beginning of July with my wife. I know small amounts - from what I have read on here, and from my visit a few months ago about Oak Park and Forest Park (I've been told many students live in these areas), but I am wondering about other suburbs that may be an option. I've heard/read here that OP and FP may be experiencing a significant increase in crime rate because of the surrounding areas of Maywood and West Chicago.

Top priority is safety. Logic tells me that in most cases safety is correlated with cost of living in most of these burbs. We are looking at apartments in the 1000-1500/mo. price range but size isn't a huge factor cause we will be newlywed and just out of undergrad. Commute to Loyola SSOM is also a consideration, anything over 30-45mins would be really tough given the natural time constraints I will be under. Would some of the wealthier further west burbs be an option or out of our price range/too far?

Any information and ideas that you can give me would be very much appreciated (different burbs to look at, specific streets/areas to look around or stay away from).

[ihynes]

Congrats on getting admitted to Loyola. I would look at Riverside and LaGrange, both wealthy, white collar communities near the hospital. I live in Brookfield, a middle/working class town inbetween them. (Just to clear up any confusion with place names, LaGrange and LaGrange Park are right next to each other. LaGrange Park looks like LaGrange on its western/southern side and like Brookfield on its northern/eastern side.)

[kindrakindra]

My friend who graduated from Loyola just bought a lovely house in Oak Park. She lived in OP while attending medical school, traveled out of state for residency and couldn't wait to return to raise her family and work here. There are a lot of medical students in the apartments in OP, River Forest and Forest Park. There are also a ton of doctors who work in Chicago's medical district and at Loyola. I think you will enjoy the restaurant and bar scene. I don't think safety fears should push you away - it's really no different than most city neighborhoods where you would live without thinking. In fact, if you search this board, a poster named Lookout Kid has a wonderful chart comparing crime in Oak Park to Lakeview and Lincoln Park in Chicago.

[Loyolamedstudent]

Thank you for the response, that info definitely helps! Just did some searches and those areas turned up a few options so I will keep those in mind.

[Loyolamedstudent]

Thanks for your viewpoint kindra! I definitely don't want to consider myself over worried about safety - but I grew up in a town of 100,000+ in Iowa and went to undergrad at Iowa State (never worried about safety beyond locking things up) so it's a new experience. I know the general guidelines for safety when in a city, but I wasn't quite sure what TO consider when looking at where to live.

[emmie3g]

My husband went to Loyola Stritch. We lived in LaGrange for two years and then moved a little further out to Clarendon Hills.
Emmie

[Prairie]

Consider Elmhurst the commute to Loyola is not bad and the community is wonderful. There are apartments available right off St. Charles Road near Route 83.

[jabezp]

I am looking for a decent and a safe place to buy a condominium which will not be too far from Loyola Medical School (Chicago). It shouldn't be too expensive. Move in June-July 2012

[chet everett]

Honestly the range of condos that are "decent & safe" relatively near the Loyola Medical Center Campus is such that you probably would be far better off renting. It is not like a traditional college town, or even as metropolitan as the areas near Northwestern or UofC. It is BIG odd chunk of land that borders a couple of other medical uses (VA hospital and Illinois in-patient mental health facility) as well as large Army reserve base.

There not a whole lot of options nearby that would be called "nice" as the majority of the municipality in which the medical campus sits is rather crime ridden and inhospitable... Crime statistic for Maywood are among the worst in the region.

Going further afield to towns like Oak Park, Westchester, Riverside, LaGrange, Forest Park or Brookfield you will be diluting the population of residents with any connection to the medical campus with folks that may be living in those towns for their other appeals -- some are safe, have good schools and good commuter options to the Loop while others only one or two of those attributes...

[ToriaT]

Why not just rent a place in Oak Park. If you stay further north and west away from the austin ave border, you should be safe. Oak Park does have some crime problems but its not exactly crime ridden...its a nice suburb.