Moving from Los Angeles to Boston for grad school (Cambridge: where to stay, apartments)

[rohank]

The title says it all, I am just finishing up my undergraduate degree and moving to boston in 2 months for grad school. (Boston University)

I've never been to boston except for a few visits and was hoping to get some advice as to where to stay, what to do, and/or any other advice that would be helpful for a newly imported boston resident.

To be honest I don't even really know the neighborhoods except for the ones right around BU and Cambridge, and I'm looking for how feasible it is to stay around the university area.


Thanks!

[clevedark]

Allston, Brighton and Somerville are popular for students and newly graduated--Somerville more of a commute for you. Also parts of Brookline are close to BU, but more $$. I don't think you'll have any problem finding a place, but you should start looking now because I hear it gets busy.

Good luck!

[bostonguy1960]

You could search Craigslist for apts. in the Fenway neighborhood. It would only be a 15 -20 min. walk to BU Central.

Apts. are costly. Older Fenway 1Brs probably start at $1100-$1200 per month, but at least you can walk to Shaw's supermarket and Whole Foods Market. Plenty of trolleys and busses nearby-- plus world-class hospitals up the street and a famous baseball park.

The Muddy River nearby offers walking trails up to Jamaica Pond. Or, stroll in the park near the back of the Museum of Fine Arts. A movie complex is nearby also.

[DreamworksSKG]

You might try looking into Brookline village you'd have to take the "D" line to Kenmore and then either the 57 bus, or the "B" Line from there outbound to BU or you could walk to some parts of BU from Kenmore on a nice day

[DreamworksSKG]

You should also look in the Fenway area near Fenway park. its in a great area. not far from Kenmore Square. etc. Boylston St. Copley Square or Back Bay/Newbury St area. Back Bay might be good too.

[ogre]

Will you have a car? This can have a bearing on which neighborhoods would work best, as parking is more of an issue in some neighborhoods than others. For example, if you won't have a car, I second the suggestion of Brookline Village, and would also suggest the streets in Brookline just off of (south of) Longwood Ave. However, Brookline prohibits overnight parking on the street, so if you'll have a car, in Brookline you'd need to be sure to find a place with on-site parking, which may add some to the rent, or be prepared to shell out extra money for a rented parking space.

Since you'll be a grad student, another question is whether you'd like to avoid neighborhoods with high concentrations of undergrads, and the noisy parties that sometimes go with them. The Fenway, and a number of areas in Allston and Brighton are big undergrad areas. Brighton roughly west of Market St. will have fewer undergrads, though from many neighborhoods in the western part of Brighton you might have to leave the immediate vicinity for nightlife beyond small local eateries and neighborhood bars.

Unless you really would prefer to be around students, you might consider Jamaica Plain, which has some gentrified, young professionals kind of neighborhoods, and is served by the green line transit branch which goes right to the B.U. area. If JP sounds appealing, you'll probably want to ask here about more details on the best areas. I don't know JP well enough to make recommendations myself, but some regulars on this forum do. Good idea to get advice of this sort, because JP is known to have a lot of variation from neighborhood to neighborhood--even from street to street--in safety and general quality, so you'd want to make sure to find a place in the right area in JP.

[shiver]

I went to grad school at BU and dealt with BU's "rental property management." BU owns a bunch of apartment buildings in and around the BU campus. Most of the people living in these buildings are grad students, visiting professors and only the very occasional undergrads. The apartments are perhaps a little more expensive, but you're not paying a realtor fee, you're definitely near the main campus and they are pretty good about maintenance. It's like renting any other apartment; first come, first serve basis and they don't have all their apartments available at once, unfortunately.