Moving To Philly, but clueless (Philadelphia, Lancaster: apartment complex, rental, co-op)

[Rhymes with Orange]

Hello, my name is Nick and I'm going to be attending Drexel University in Philadelphia come fall. I am 23, just coming back from my second tour in Afghanistan and pumped to finally go to school again.

However I have lived in the SF Bay Area my entire life and never even visited Philadelphia, but from everything I have heard it sounds like a great place and Drexel seemed like a great school. If you all could maybe help me get a feel for what living in Philly is like, recommend a neighborhood, or just anything I should know would be awesome. I filled out this little questionaire thing from the other thread to try and be more helpful.

When are you moving? July-August
Where are you coming from? SF Bay Area
Why are you moving? College
Where will you be working? No clue at the moment, how is the job scene for part time jobs while I go to school?
Have you been here yet? Nope

Will you buy or rent? Rent, I'll be living off campus.
If renting, are you looking for an apartment, a townhouse or loft? How much can you spend? around $1600/month
Do you prefer hi-rise or walk up? hi-rise

Are you married or single? Do you have children? Single
Do you have pets? No
Do you want or need a yard? No
Are you keeping a car? Is it possible not to, how is public transit?
Do you prefer bustling activity or calm and quiet? bustling sctivity

What do you want to be closest to?
I would love to be close to the campus and parks.

Also, how far is NY, DC, and Baltimore? How urban is Philly really?


Hopefully that will give you guys a better feel for what I am looking for. I would be so eternally grateful if you guys could answer even some of these questions for me.

[solibs]

Originally Posted by Rhymes with Orange

Hello, my name is Nick and I'm going to be attending Drexel University in Philadelphia come fall. I am 23, just coming back from my second tour in Afghanistan and pumped to finally go to school again.

Also, how far is NY, DC, and Baltimore? How urban is Philly really?

Hopefully that will give you guys a better feel for what I am looking for. I would be so eternally grateful if you guys could answer even some of these questions for me.

Just move right to University City. If you decide after your first year that you want to be a little further from campus it sounds like you can afford a spot in Center City. Just make sure you're close to the subway or el for a quick ride to campus.

Transit is pretty solid here. At least as good as what you have in the Bay Area. We have trolleys, buses, subways and trains to the suburbs. The main difference is that instead of having a system like BART, we have two subway lines in the city and a third that runs out to NJ then we have 13 lines (like Caltrain) that run through the city and suburbs.

Baltimore is 90 miles, NYC is 90 miles and DC is about 125 miles. Without bad traffic it usually takes about 90 minutes to get to Baltimore and about 2 hours to DC. NYC is somewhere between 90 minutes and 2 hours. It just really depends on where in those cities you are heading. Trains and buses make it easy and cheap to get back and forth.

Philly is as urban as San Francisco - most of Philly is actually more dense than SF - but people here are generally less wealthy so you don't have as many neighborhoods with trendy shops and restaurants. It would be more like East Bay living than West Bay . . . still, living in Center City or U. City would be little different (in terms of lifestyle) than living in SF proper.

[newmarlig]

Also look into the Rittenhouse Square area. That's center city west. You can get a bus to campus (the 21 or 42 - about a 10 minute ride) or even walk on a nice day. You can find a place in your price range.

[bryson662001]

Be sure to examine all the threads in this forum for all the information you could possibly want. You won't be clueless for long.

[pman]

no car is needed. there are many trains to NY and Baltimore, and over 100 buses a day to NY.
since you're a little older than the typical college student you may want to consider center city first, or a bit further out in west philly (say 44th/45th and locust area). you could tend bar (there's a bustling nightlife) but you may want to keep an eye on the Amtrak job board. Amtrak's station is adjacent to Drexel and the railroads have a long history of hiring ex-military.

[Finger Laker]

did you get in under the Yellow Ribbon program? - If so you are getting a pretty sweet deal

Yellow Ribbon Program - Drexel SRC/Financial Aid

as for where to live - there are plenty of places near campus that students rent - you can grab a house rental (a lot of students are south of baring/north of race between 32nd and Lancaster) ... there also used to be an apartment complex in that area that wasn't too bad

none of the places are spectacular, but they are convenient and you'll be around students

i stayed by the art museum for a summer and liked it - not a bad walk to campus

23 won't put you out of range for socializing with many students - but your experiences probably wont jive with a lot of kids fresh out of HS (or even sheltered upperclassmen)

you may be happier around center city though

you can get by without a car for the most part - it's a fairly urban environment, although different in feel than SF

[Rhymes with Orange]

Yeah the yellow ribbon program is an amazing deal ,I almost didn't believe it myself.


So the center city looks like the place to be, and from what you guys have said and what other threads have said it seems like the kind of urban close living I'm looking for.

I hadn't really thought of the whole age difference problem. I figured there would be a lot of students who just didn't feel like going to college immediately or went traveling or something. I hope its not filled with a bunch of immature 18 year olds, but I can deal even if it is.

I would love to hit up that amtrack if its just across the street, not only for a job but travel as well. It seems like I'm really going to like it here.

[Finger Laker]

the amtrack station is convenient - very easy to get connected to other NE cities, the airport, etc

drexel is pretty well served by public transportation as well

I think you'll also find that their campus is pretty urban - and coming from SF you probably wont even bat an eye at the variety of bums that live on campus

are you doing the 5 years with the cycle of 3 co-ops?

the first year will probably be a bit of an adjustment and if you are taking freshman level classes that is where you'll probably run into the most immaturity - a lot of kids away from home for the 1st time

usually when they come back from their 1st co-op and have a taste of work the growing process starts to take effect

overall it's a pretty mellow campus and a good student body

best of luck and I hope you enjoy it - thanks for your service as well

[Avalon08]

Hey, Rhymes, welcome to Philly! I'm a local, and San Fran was actually the only CA city I felt was similar to Philly, with the urban, sophisticated, stylish vibe. Good luck to you, and I thank you too for your service!