Whats the city like? (Chicago, Lincoln: apartments, how much, neighborhoods)

[RosePiano]

Whats the city like for a student? What's the feel? Is it expensive? Do you need a car? Is transportation easy and cheap? Are Apartments expensive? Climate?

[marothisu]

* It depends on where you go to school. if you're going to school at say DePaul, Northwestern, Columbia, Robert Morris, Roosevelt, UIC, U of Chicago, Loyola, etc then no, you don't necessarily NEED a car (most big, older universities in the US you don't need a car. I went without one in Iowa even).

Chicago has the 2nd largest public transit system in the US behind NYC (NYC of course ahead of everyone). There's 8 major train lines in the city, though 7 are mainly used while 1 is very new. 2 of the lines run 24/7. The others run something like 21/7. There are over 100 bus lines too. A number of areas are quite walkable. I don't own a car in Chicago and rarely need it, and most of my friends either don't have one or barely use theirs. Many who used to have cars in fact got rid of them because they were using them so little in their areas.

* Expensive is all relative. Give us an idea of how much you think is comfortable for a studio or 1 bedroom apartment per month, and we'll tell you if that's good or not.

* If you aren't poor, then living in the city as a student is probably awesome. There's a lot of nightlife, restaurants, theater (obviously theater is not as good as London), etc. Bars can get licenses that can stay open as late as 4am Sunday through Friday and 5am on Saturdays. My guess is there's around 75-100 of these in the city.

* The climate is cool in the winter with some snow, and also semi windy near the lake (it's a huge lake, and more like an inland sea) and Chicago gets snow. The summers are great and warm, but not usually too hot (but it happens sometimes where it can get quite hot for a few days). Chicago also has beaches that are popular in the summer. Autumn weather is real nice too and spring weather, well sometimes there is a spring and sometimes not really.

[reppin_the_847]

Unfortunately, you can't legally enter nightclubs or bars until you are 21 years old. That makes undergrad life a bit underwhelming in the city. I think the city is way better for those that already have a degree and a job (or are in a master's program).

Originally Posted by marothisu

* If you aren't poor, then living in the city as a student is probably awesome. There's a lot of nightlife, restaurants, theater (obviously theater is not as good as London), etc. Bars can get licenses that can stay open as late as 4am Sunday through Friday and 5am on Saturdays. My guess is there's around 75-100 of these in the city.

[RosePiano]

@Marothisu My budget for a studio, would be $800, will I find a good studio apartment at that price? The university I want to go to is Harrington College of Design. Thank you so much for all the information!!! I appreciate it a lot, thanks again
@ Reppin_the_847 Thank for the info, but I'm not much of a party person anyway, but I appreciate the information

[reppin_the_847]

I will give an exception to folks that are studying design, arts (ie. the Art Institute), film production, etc. In some ways, some of the city schools provide these students better resources and access to internships than a state school in the boondocks.

Originally Posted by RosePiano

@Marothisu My budget for a studio, would be $800, will I find a good studio apartment at that price? The university I want to go to is Harrington College of Design. Thank you so much for all the information!!! I appreciate it a lot, thanks again
@ Reppin_the_847 Thank for the info, but I'm not much of a party person anyway, but I appreciate the information

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by reppin_the_847

Unfortunately, you can't legally enter nightclubs or bars until you are 21 years old. That makes undergrad life a bit underwhelming in the city. I think the city is way better for those that already have a degree and a job (or are in a master's program).

True.....I always forget this LOL.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by RosePiano

@Marothisu My budget for a studio, would be $800, will I find a good studio apartment at that price? The university I want to go to is Harrington College of Design. Thank you so much for all the information!!! I appreciate it a lot, thanks again

Harrington College of Design is located in The Loop, which is the Central Business District of Chicago. All but one train line converges in this area.

I'll give you two pieces of advice here.

1) If you JUST want to be around other younger people (say 18-25) then I would recommend living in Lincoln Park or Lakeview. The area isn't all full of people in this age group, but there's a good amount. There's people of all ages in these areas though in reality. You could take the train or an express bus down to The Loop from there fairly quickly (say 15-25 minutes on average). There's a lot of shops, food places, and alcoholic establishments as well. There is also a huge park, called Lincoln Park, that goes along these and the lake. This has a bike/running path that in total is 18 miles long.
The Red Line cuts through both of these neighborhoods, which is a 24/7 train line.


2) If you are more about being near more artsy people, then I'd suggest living in an area such as Pilsen, Bridgeport, or Noble Square/East Village/Ukrainian Village, or perhaps Logan Square or Avondale. I would also recommend Wicker Park, but your budget may be too low for it. All of these areas are fairly close to The Loop and wouldn't be a hassle to get to school and back. Logan Square, Avondale, and part of Noble Square/East Village/Ukrainian Village is on or near the Blue Line which is a 24/7 train line. Pilsen and Bridgeport are on a few other lines, which are more like 21/7 train lines.

[i_am_hydrogen]

You can definitely find studios for $800, but they're not gonna be very large. Neighborhoods with the largest concentrations of studios tend to be north of downtown and near the lake: Lincoln Park, Lakeview, and Edgewater. I wouldn't bother with a car. You can purchase a CTA U-Pass through your school, which will save you a lot of money on transit fare.

[flamadiddle]

Originally Posted by reppin_the_847

Unfortunately, you can't legally enter nightclubs or bars until you are 21 years old.

pfffft, never stopped me.

[Larry Siegel]

Originally Posted by marothisu

The climate is cool in the winter with some snow

The arctic winter is fairly coolish, and I am feeling fairly foolish, or so said Ogden Nash...

it's COLD in Chicago in the winter. Here are some data:

Chicagos Temperature Records

Example: 17 below-zero days in January 1977. That's amazing.