Attending USC for one year: Where to live? (San Diego, Torrance: apartment complex, rent)

[vegaspilgrim]

Okay, it's official, I'm going to USC for one year for their MS in Accounting program! It starts at the beginning of June. Next step is figuring out where I'm going to live. I've heard they have some kind of dorm set up for the MAcc students during the summer. I'll look into that (even though I never want to live in a dorm room ever again), but that's only 8 weeks anyway, then I would be on my own when it comes to finding housing for the main school year. I will want to have a roommate to split costs; the ideal thing would be the setup I have now where my and my roommate rent a 2 bed 2 bath apartment in a middle of the road (not that great, but there's far worse out there) apartment complex. I have never been to LA before so I have no idea where to start? Are there student apartments right next to the USC campus? I understand that South Central LA is the pits-- so how far away do you have to go to live in an area of town where you aren't fearing for your life? I don't want to have to live any further away then I have to; it doesn't have to be fancy or glamorous or new; just as close as I can get to campus while still being reasonably safe and quiet for the one year I go to USC.

[USCMed]

Hey vegas. Congrats on the acceptance.

I go to USC too, although my campus is totally separate from the main campus, so I don't know too much about that area. I've heard that as long as you're within a block or two around the campus it's pretty safe, since a lot of students live there. Once you're out of that area, though, you'll have to drive in to school if you want to be safe. A few areas to consider are Hancock Park, Downtown, Silverlake, and Los Feliz. If you're willing to drive a bit further and you like the beach, you could try Santa Monica or Venice. I have quite a few classmates who live out there and they say the 10 East isn't bad at all (but the 10 West is awful), and that it takes them around 20-30 minutes to get to school - and our campus is a lot further east than the main campus is, so it should be less for you.

If you want to know more about any of the areas I mentioned do a search of these forums - there have been a ton of posts about them.

[vegaspilgrim]

Thanks for the tip, USCMed. Just off the top of your head, what are the boundaries of the bad area I want to stay away from? (how far north, south, east, or west do you have to go until you get to a decent area?) I see Silverlake and Los Feliz are north of downtown LA-- would I be passing through horrendous traffic from people heading to work downtown, or would I be able to bypass that? How would you drive from Silverlake/ Los Feliz to USC, and would I be passing through scary areas on that drive?

[ChocolateTae]

USCMed,

Are you in Medical school at USC? If so, could I PM you? I have about 2 more years of school before I get my Biology degree and I intend on going to med. school after. I have a few questions if you don't mind me bothering you.

[USCMed]

vegas: Unfortunately I don't have any idea what the boundaries are for the good area around USC. Have you tried looking on the USC website? I would guess that they'd have information about housing on there, and they might discuss the surrounding neighborhood. Regarding the drive from Los Feliz or Silverlake to USC, I go from Los Feliz to the Health Sciences Campus by taking 5 South, and go from my door to campus in ~12 minutes. I'm not sure why, but the 5 South is pretty traffic-free (well, there are lots of cars, but you can go normal speed) for this segment, at least, despite heading towards Downtown. To get to the main campus, however, you'd have to get onto 10 West or 110 South after 5 South, I think, and I've heard that's slower going. You might want to ask people on here about what that commute would be like. On the plus side, you wouldn't have to stay on either freeway for long, so it shouldn't be too bad. There might be a good way to go by city streets, too - I just don't know enough about that area. If you travel solely by freeways you don't have to worry about going through bad areas (unless you count the area surrounding main campus that you'll have to drive through just to get from the freeway to campus, but it's not bad in the daytime). Sorry I can't be more helpful - definitely check out USC - University of Southern California though, since I'm sure they must have some info on this.

Tae: I'd be happy to answer your questions. I'm a second year medical student, so I can answer any general questions or questions about the first two years, but I don't know much about the clinical experiences of third and fourth years. Do you know about the Student Doctor Network forums? The best way to get in touch with me is to PM me there - I check that forum much more frequently. It's at forums.studentdoctor.net and my screen name is Sophie. If you haven't been there and are interested in medical school I'd highly recommend reading through the Pre-Allo forum - pretty much any question you can think of has been asked and answered in excruciating detail.

[vegaspilgrim]

Any one else on this forum with some other ideas?

[BRinSM]

From Los Feliz, you could take Vermont all the way down to USC, but that would be a daunting task. If you're only going to be here for a year and most of your time will be wrapped up in your studies, I would say to just stay near campus. I'm sure you can get in touch with the housng dept. at USC and find out what some of your options are.

[vegaspilgrim]

I went on a quick trip to LA last week, saw the campus for the first time, checked out a couple of areas. I talked to USC's housing department and it sounds like they probably don't have any USC owned housing for grad students available (they said I'd have to be put on a waiting list, and assignments aren't even made until the summer). It sounds like they *might* have a dorm room available for the summer session, but that's about it. Dorm room is NOT an option for me; I already experienced that freshman and sophomore year of college and that is something I will NEVER do again. I could tell you some of the horror stories, but I'll spare you! I want to live in a two bedroom apartment and find one roommate to live with. My best option would be to live in a privately owned apartment complex immediately north of the campus by Jefferson & Hoover. Then I'd be walking distance from class, but I'd also have a parking space and I could leave my car in the complex during the day and have it there whenever I want to go out.

I'm still entertaining other options as well. I would personally not want to live in downtown or the areas just around/north of downtown. It seemed like a cool area when I drove through, but a notch or two too urban for me-- not to mention way too expensive. Just out of curiosity, how far south do you have to go before you are out of gangland? I did some searching on the thread archives, and I read some good things about Torrance. Does anybody here know about Torrance-- is this a good or safe area? I'm not looking for intense urban/entertainment/nightlife action (I'll drive to that when the need comes up for a "night on the town"), just a relatively affordable (by LA standards), relatively low crime (by LA standards) where I won't get shot if I want to walk around. Any decent apartment complexes in that area? (Doesn't have to be new, just well maintained and relatively low crime). Of course, Manhattan/Hermosa/Redondo Beach would probably be absolute paradise for what I'm looking for, but I'm assuming those areas would be a lot more expensive too, and I don't need to live *right on* the beach; even being 4-5 miles away would be awesome. How long of a drive up the 110 to USC would it take from the South Bay/ Torrance area? ETA?

[WestCoDude]

Dude,

Have you thought about living somewhere else in southland and commuting downtown for school? Obviously, living right near campus is not an option. They are trying to renovate downtown with lofts and such--but I think the results have thus far been pretty unspectacular.

I mean...here's what I'm thinking....

1.) If you're only going to be in LA for a year, why not make the best of it? Don't resign yourself to saving 150-200 bucks a month to live in a much less desirable area. Save up and, if you can, live in the area you want and make the best of your year. Who knows....you might even like it enough to stay!

2.) You're going to be paying 900 for a decent place downtown and 700 mid-wilshire. Hermosa and Manhattan beaches will run you about 900 for a studio. Expensive? Yeah...yeah it is. But you'll be in an amazing area.

The beaches aren't spectacularly more expensive than other nice areas--orange, nice parts of town, and are significantly cheaper than Santa Monica and Beverly Hills.

Just my 2c

[vegaspilgrim]

Originally Posted by WestCoDude

1.) If you're only going to be in LA for a year, why not make the best of it? Don't resign yourself to saving 150-200 bucks a month to live in a much less desirable area. Save up and, if you can, live in the area you want and make the best of your year. Who knows....you might even like it enough to stay!

Yep, that's what I'm thinking. Although I also have to ask myself, wherever I end up living, would I really be "living" there or just sleeping there? You do have a point-- as of right now, I'm not planning on staying in LA after I graduate-- I want to work for an accounting firm in either San Diego or Denver (my two favorite cities as of right now). The recruiting process starts as early as this fall semester (September), so I don't really have much time to live in LA before I figure out whether or not I want to stay there. This summer, by the looks of the program I'm going into, I will probably be busy as a bee and not have much time to explore and have fun. If I lived in an area I found myself really enjoying, maybe I would be more inclined to stay in LA and work there after graduation?