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Hi everyone. Currently living in MA, looking at grad schools, prepared to relocate to just about anywhere in the U.S. (not much choice, as there aren't many good graduate programs in my field in MA). I'm considering Oklahoma University (University of Oklahoma?), among others, and need to know whether living in Norman will work for me. One key point: Money's tight, so I won't have a car at first, maybe not the whole time I'm in school. So, the first question is whether it's possible to find a place to live in Norman that's affordable on a student budget, and is within walking distance of campus, shopping, entertainment, etc.
I'm older than the typical student, and would prefer living where there wouldn't be so much of a heavy student party scene nearby. Not having to share an apartment would be preferable as well. Doesn't have to be a big place--a studio would be fine. Is their on-campus housing that might work? If not, I don't mind a bit of a walk, but would prefer being not much more than about a mile from campus, so I wouldn't spend all day getting places.
Speaking of transportation, is there a bus to OKC, or some other way to get there? I get the impression it's a nice city, and if I were going to be so close by it would be nice to be able to get there occasionally. Now that I mention OKC, it's less likely than OU, but I might be looking at OKC University as well, so the same questions go for that area as for Norman.
Okay, now the obligatory question for those thinking of moving to Oklahoma: Just how many tornadoes ARE there, anyway?
And one more: What about critters? I don't care so much about snakes or scorpions or whatever if I'm out in the boonies hiking (though info on what to look out for would be helpful). I'm outdoorsy and I'm aware of how to take care of myself in the bush. I get a little creeped out, though, at the thought of creepy-crawly things right where I live. What about those little brown spiders? I understand that the south-central states are the main turf of the brown recluse. I don't exactly have a phobia, nothing that would stop me from moving there, but it would be good to know what to expect. Do you have to shake out your clothes before dressing in the morning? Wear gloves if you reach into the back of a closet? Or is this nothing much to worry about?
Hey, and anything else a newcomer would need to know? Thanks
My daughter goes to OU (University of Oklahoma) and she lives about 3 blocks from campus in a little duplex. I think she pays $400 per month, but her neighborhood is great. This is on the west side of the campus. She has a car, but walks or rides her bike most places because of traffic congestion. Norman is one of the flat areas of OK so it is easy to ride bikes in Norman, and very common. She had to work her way up with her landlord. She lived in an apartment with about a mile walk to OU and no place to keep a bike for a year, but then was able to rent one of the more desirable properties he owns. The place is far from new, typical student housing, but it is a great location. So, yes, I think that would be possible.
There is bus transportation between OKC and Norman, but you would have to really want to go somewhere before you took the bus. Mass transportation is not one of the strong points around OK, but it does exist.
There are not THAT many tornadoes. You will probably never see one or ever have any damage from one, let alone get killed. You do have to watch the weather though, just in case.
As for the brown recluse, or fiddleback, I see one about once a year, usually outside around some of my garden junk or in some cluttered spot. If you keep your house fairly clean and don't have stacks of junk in your house you should not have a problem.
Anything else? If you choose OU, hope you like football! Good luck!
University of Oklahoma (but we also say OU) was a great school for me many years ago. My opinion is that it has improved and is improving even more now. Lots of great things happening on campus including about $100 Million worth of construction and major fund raising for the endowment. I think it is definitely a school worthy of consideration.
Norman is really nice. It is far enough from Oklahoma City to have a true downtown and the University adds a lot of vitality and cosmopolitan feel than one might otherwise expect. It is pedestrian and bicycle friendly especially around the campus area. There is a nice campus corner area very close to campus with both retail and restaurants. There are many more places within bike range of campus. The big box centers are farther away but numerous.
I don't really know about housing now but there used to be quite a bit of relatively inexpensive housing around campus.
I think you need to get a ride with someone to Oklahoma City. I really don't know about bus travel. I do you can catch the Heartland Flyer that runs to Fort Worth from Norman. You definitely will want to visit Oklahoma City and there are several excellent developing districts now. Bricktown is the best known but there are several others including an excellent Asian district.
There is a lot of talk about light rail but it is still just in the planning stage.
The University is competing in rowing now and the Oklahoma River is becoming a significant venue for the sport. OU is building a boat house in fact.
There are tornadoes but the advance warning is amazing and Norman is the home of the National Severe Storms Lab.
No, you do not need to wear gloves to reach in your closet. I don't shake out my clothes. We do have brown recluse spiders but they don't call them "recluse" for nothing.
Hopefully someone younger and more familiar with Norman and OU will post more for you.
This is helpful. Norman sounds nice. It sounds like what I've pictured--fairly close to a city but with enough going on locally to have the sense of being its own place, not just a generic suburb--but it's good to get a picture from people in the know. It also sounds as if the rents in the area are in line with what I expect to be able to afford, and that it's easy to get around in Norman without (motorized) wheels.
When I asked about tornadoes and spiders I was being a bit tongue-in-cheek, though both of them do make me a little nervous. I've kind of guessed that the fact that the buildings in OK are not all concrete bunkers is a clue that the tornado situation is manageable. Also, the info that recluses are most likely to prefer living in clutter, so that keeping things reasonably neat should head off any problems, is good to have.
My question about busses to OKC was more about Greyhound and the like. I know that the local transit system shuts down early in the evening (kind of surprising for a city this large). If I can get downtown by intercity bus, I don't mind walking around quite a bit. I can check on intercity busses easily enough. The last I checked, the Amtrak Heartland Flyer made only one run per day in each direction, and those were the wrong times--going TO OKC at night, and FROM the city toward Norman in the morning. If this has changed, I'd be glad to get the latest info, since traveling by train would be a pleasant way to get there.
Football? Well, two other schools on my list of possibilities are Ohio State and Nebraska (sorry about considering one of your rivals, but at least it's not Texas!), so there are a few places I could end up where I would need to like football. It's not so much a question of liking football as the fact that I'm generally more interested in professional sports than college (maybe because up in the Boston area, where I'm from, about the only sport where most local colleges have traditionally been strong is hockey, which is one sport that doesn't interest me much). But hey, I can adjust!
Bottom line: It's clear that Norman would work for me, so I can concentrate simply on looking at OU's graduate program, without being concerned about whether living in the area would be manageable. Thanks again for the info!
No, you would definitely not want to take the Heartland Flyer to Okc. I just mentioned it because it is a nice day trip to Fort Worth and back and I know a few people who have done that just for the trip itself.
Transportation to OKC is a problem but when I was in school there was usually someone that would offer to drive. You need wheels right now to enjoy Oklahoma City.
I know nothing about Ohio State. Lincoln is probably more than twice the size of Norman. But I really haven't spent enough time there to give much opinion one way or another.
Practically everyone here thinks that OKC will end up with the Seattle SuperSonics since OKC investors bought the team last year and Seattle seems to not be inclined to finance a venue. OKC really supported the New Orleans Hornets for the last two years. The Blazers is the local hockey team and there seems to be to be excellent fan support to me.
Im currently attending the school and absolutely love it. The campus is very well planned and confined within a small area ( two ovals) compared to many that I saw which look liked some designer threw up. The campus life is relatively mild and I have not seen any trouble at all so far. ( I avoid the greek row, however, so I can't speak to that. It sounds like you wont be going to that area either. ) We are definitely not a huge party school if you don't go purposefully looking for it. Everyone I've met is friendly. What are you planning on studying?
There really isn't any on-campus housing for you. Its all dorms. I don't think much of the upper-classmen population stays around so it's going to be mostly freshmen. The only apartments on campus are furnished, and they technically aren't "on-campus" in my opinion. They are called traditions but are pretty far south of the main campus. Besides, furnished = college students which you said you would like to avoid. There are a lot of smaller and older houses just to the west of campus you could look into. I dont know specific prices, but costs are very low in Oklahoma compared to other areas. There are several apartment complexes as you go east on Lindsey street from the main campus. A bus runs the stretch that several of my friends take to school. These are all older, but that also means less college students. My friend lives in the Springfield apartments at 12th and Lindsey and pays 200 a month split with his roommate just to give you an idea on pricing (2 bed 1 bath). I, myself, live in a furnished apartment which is probably not what you are looking for, as I said. A lot of apartment complexes have shuttles that go to the campus, but they are also going to be mainly the ones directed at college students. You get free transportation from the Oklahoma city metro bus system with your student ID. There is a respectable system around Norman ( which includes the lindsey route previously mentioned) and this connects with the system up in Oklahoma City.
Here is a link to the transportation map and route schedules: Norman CART (broken link)
They've put some apartments and places on there to look at. The Sooner express is the bus to Oklahoma City.
I graduated from Oklahoma City University and OU. Both universities are great. Better education at OCU though.
I concur with the above poster^. Norman really is a beautiful town. I recently had a wonderful meal on main street at a new italian restraunt. The row of historic buildings are really impressive on Main and other streets that make up the downtown area. Norman is really a large city. But feels so small. The city did a good job of keeping the big boxes walmarts/lowes and others on the west side of I-35. So you have great access to many rests and many stores/theatres while still having the wonderful feel of a small town.OUs campus is what he said^. It is by far the most beautiful stunning campus with the best architecture in the state. I have been to Harvards campus and other ivys and OU stands its ground with regards to campus beauty. You cant beat campus corner. David Boren is the president and is a former Oklahoma governor and senator. I will TRY to post pics (losing hope) of OCU and OU. OCU has one of the tallest towers for a university at 24 stories. It is a monster. The campus along with the new facilities are very impressive for less than 4000 students. OCU is all mac/all steinway/JD school with a lot of hot dancers and asian students. The new Wanda Bass music Center is considered one of the best facilities in america-no joke.
Norman sounds really nice. I had already gotten that impression from things I had read. For example, I understand that on one of the best-places-to-live lists in the past couple of years (Money magazine's list, I think), Norman placed very well, something like 41st in the top 100 places in the U.S. It's still very helpful to have detailed information from people who really know a place. I wonder whether anyone has information on the size of the town. I understand that Norman has the population of a small city, something like 100,000, but that it has an especially large land area, and much of the area within the city limits is actually rural, or exurban. Does anyone know approximately how many people live in the urbanized core where it actually seems like a town, and how much of the population is spread around the rural countryside? Thanks for all the information you've all provided already. It's very helpful.
Pop density is hard to apply to Norman. Im sure someone could give the numbers. I personally think that foot traffic/Bicycle traffic is very high...you have to watch out or someone will slam into you. Norman has great sidewalks and almost everyone one of them have a ramp or whatever you call it, to smoothly get you around town/campus. Unfortunately I didnt even learn how to pop a curb very well when I was going to classes. Also there is a lot of country on the east side of Norman. Man it is beautiful. I would drive around and find little vineyards w/ wine tastings ....old country homes w/ beautiful horses and stables. Fresh air with that country smell driving on rolling hills;some are kinda steep- very nice. So, yes Norman/OU has a much higher density in its urban core and has country living in the outskirts. I lived there for 4 years and loved it. Lots of large old trees and historic homes.
Norman does have beautiful trees. I don't ever recall hearing about any tornadoes or ice storms in Norman, both of which heavily damage trees. I have wondered whether they are blessed by a high water table or something else that would contribute to the beautiful trees there. (Yes, I am a dirt loving tree hugger!)
The highest density would be right around the university, then in West Norman there are some newer developments on larger lots, then some pretty rural areas, all in the city limits.
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Thanks for the info
