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Thank you everyone for your thoughts and the great information about the Clipper card and Caltrain!
My daughter will be doing her own independent research project which focuses on the VW emissions scandal, industry regulations/accountability and environmental protection. She won't be enrolled at any particular one university but will make use of the facilities at UC Berkeley, UFSCA and possibly Stanford. She's seriously considering going to graduate school at Berkeley and wants to get a feel for the campus and establish some contacts there.
She'll also need to travel to Cal EPA in Sacramento from time to time in order to interview people there. Is it better to go by bus or train from SF to Sacramento in terms of cost, comfort and frequent connections?
Thank you everyone for your thoughts and the great information about the Clipper card and Caltrain!
My daughter will be doing her own independent research project which focuses on the VW emissions scandal, industry regulations/accountability and environmental protection. She won't be enrolled at any particular one university but will make use of the facilities at UC Berkeley, UFSCA and possibly Stanford. She's seriously considering going to graduate school at Berkeley and wants to get a feel for the campus and establish some contacts there.
She'll also need to travel to Cal EPA in Sacramento from time to time in order to interview people there. Is it better to go by bus or train from SF to Sacramento in terms of cost, comfort and frequent connections?
If I were her, I'd try to see which of these universities she'd like most access to, and aim to be nearest that one (although I have listed my recommendation below on what I think would be best).
Also, when thinking about that, she'll want to consider the distances between the 3 schools. For instance, the distance (and travel time) between Stanford and Berkeley is quite large, even on express trains (downtown Berkeley to Milbrae is nearly 1 hour (~55 minutes) on BART, and the Caltrain ride from Milbrae to Palo Alto can range from 22 minutes (on the Baby Bullet express) to 34 minutes (on the local)...so she's looking at a door-to-door travel time of at least 1 hour and 30 minutes (and possibly longer if she misses a transfer)...something to really consider there.
For what it's worth, there is cell service on the entire ride, so she could work on a laptop with a cell phone (I do this frequently).
Living in SF might be "half way" between the two, but the issue there is that the cheapest areas of the City (where she'd want to try to find that $1000 room) are generally not going to be near the BART line (Market St. through Mission and outer Mission districts) or the Caltrain line ("South Beach"/SoMa and Potrero Hill)...so she'd have to spend time getting to either of these areas to transfer to BART or Caltrain to get to Berkeley or Stanford (respectively).
And if she wanted to live near the University of SF (USF), this is not near either of the rail lines (located near GG Park in the intersections of Western Addition and the Richmond Districts) nor is it in a cheap area of the city.
Daly City could be an option, but then she'd not be near any of the schools and would spend a lot of time traveling between the 3. Also, Daly City is not a very hip area for a young person to be (I personally find much of it quite run down)...I personally wouldn't want to live there as a young international student. It's also still quite expensive, especially considering what you're getting.
After reading what you have wrote, and considering her circumstances and (what I think are) her preferences, I think she would be best off near UC Berkeley. Especially if she is considering possibly going there sometime in the future.
If she is near UC Berkeley, she'll:
be near one of the 3 schools (she should aim to be near at least one of them) - and of the 3 this is the school that she should probably be around the most due to her already-existing interest in it
be very near BART (for getting to SF and (eventually via Caltrain) Stanford)
be around a lot of young people/students (important, imo)
have "decent" short-term housing options due to the transitional nature of housing in that area from all of the students coming/going
be somewhat near Amtrak for getting to Sacramento for Cal EPA - Berkeley has a stop but it's not right next to UC Berkeley (easy taxi/uber ride) and the Sacramento stop is only a few blocks from Cal EPA in downtown)
I don't know very much about taking the bus to Sacramento, but the train is quite comfortable and recommended. A lot of people actually use it to commute into the Bay Area for work.
Capitol Corridor: Capitol Corridor Bay Area & N. California Rail Transportation
I don't believe the Clipper card is accepted on this train, but there are ways to get cheaper/discounted tickets (for frequent riders, such as the 10-ride or monthly pass).
Yep train is the way to go to get out to Sacramento. The Capitol Corridor Amtrak line has stops in Berkeley and Emeryville and they run a bus out from San Francisco which then connects to the train in Emeryville (although I heard this might have changed recently). The Sacramento train stop is just a couple of blocks walk from the CalEPA building.
Sounds like Berkeley will be the most suitable place for her to stay while she is there.
Wow, thx a lot HockeyMac18 and everyone else. That's some great detailed information!
We've found a few places on Craiglist in the Mission district and Richmond that are in the price range that we're looking for but we haven't heard back from them yet. I've heard that Richmond is generally a very safe district but that parts of the Mission can be a bit sketchy. What are your feelings on that? The idea of her staying with complete strangers has me a bit worried, especially as Protagonista mentioned that there are a lot of scammers on Craigslist.
We're also looking at the homestays and residence clubs option--personally, I think that they might be a better option because she would be staying with a family or someone that has been vetted by the organization. She'd also be surrounded by other students in the residence clubs and have some company.
I also think that Berkeley could be a very good fit due to the university and all the campus activities. Speaking of activities, could anyone recommend a good site or organization for students that want to experience the great outdoors in the Bay area. It would be great if she good join a club for active people and explore the area when she's not doing research.
Finally, are there any reliable carpooling services that you could recommend? That might be a good option if she's traveling a bit further outside of the SF bay area on a weekend trip.
Wow, thx a lot HockeyMac18 and everyone else. That's some great detailed information!
We've found a few places on Craiglist in the Mission district and Richmond that are in the price range that we're looking for but we haven't heard back from them yet. I've heard that Richmond is generally a very safe district but that parts of the Mission can be a bit sketchy. What are your feelings on that?
Yes, this is mostly true - The Richmond district (where I used to live) is one of the safest neighborhoods in the City, and the Mission (depending on exact location) can be grungy/sketchy - Mission st. and east of it (especially late at night) is less safe, whereas Valencia and west is better.
These are just general guidelines, though, since "bad" stuff can happen anywhere in the City anytime, unfortunately.
I'll also mention that while the Richmond is much safer, it's also quieter/less hip (some prefer this, some don't) and has less stuff to do for young people. While I think this fact can sometimes be a bit exaggerated since there are still plenty of restaurants/bars (along Geary and Clement) and the eastern side of the Richmond (known as the "Inner Richmond") is close to USF (so you'll find plenty of young college-aged people around that part), this is still something to consider when comparing neighborhoods.
Especially once she starts meeting people and they all want to go out in the Mission/SoMa (on the opposite side of SF). The Mission is and one of the hip centers of town (so draws many young people), and if she plans to spend time there (which she might once she meets people in the area), getting there from Richmond is not super easy (getting to the Mission from Berkeley might actually be easier because of easy BART access...which might sound crazy).
Quote:
Originally Posted by alan_overseas
The idea of her staying with complete strangers has me a bit worried, especially as Protagonista mentioned that there are a lot of scammers on Craigslist.
Craigslist really isn't that bad - it's the MAIN way that people find apartments, roommates, roomshares in the region. Honestly, renters and landlords very rarely use anything else, so if she wants to increase her prospective living options the most, this is the best way to go about it.
Also, most people are very careful about her they choose to live with - often to the point that they have "interviews" and ask for "resumes" for prospective housemates...I think you'd be surprised at how thorough some people can be.
This does make renting something sight unseen (from the UK) difficult, though - you often need to be local to find that place. It might be easiest if she stays in a hotel/hostel for the first few days while she finds something more permanent for her stay.
Quote:
Originally Posted by alan_overseas
We're also looking at the homestays and residence clubs option--personally, I think that they might be a better option because she would be staying with a family or someone that has been vetted by the organization. She'd also be surrounded by other students in the residence clubs and have some company.
This isn't a terrible idea and could be worth looking into. When I worked at Stanford, we had multiple visiting post-docs/researchers who were only here for a few months at a time, and they usually stayed with a local family. They really enjoyed that experience! They felt safer and it gave them a group of people that would show them around/give them advice on local activities/places to go.
Quote:
Originally Posted by alan_overseas
I also think that Berkeley could be a very good fit due to the university and all the campus activities.
I think Berkeley will be the best overall option since it's a very college-age-oriented place, more "affordable" (still very expensive by most measures) compared to the areas around USF and Stanford, and is conveniently-placed near BART/transit for getting around the region. She also has an interest in that school, so it would suit her well to be near it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by alan_overseas
Speaking of activities, could anyone recommend a good site or organization for students that want to experience the great outdoors in the Bay area. It would be great if she good join a club for active people and explore the area when she's not doing research.
There are an absurd amount of groups/clubs for these kind of things in the Bay Area. Most schools have their own little groups (Stanford's, and I know Berkeley has one - they're not exactly advertised to outsiders, but I also know they don't really turn people away (especially if they're young students) - so could be worth checking out).
Meetup.com has TONNNNNNS of clubs for these kind of activities...almost too many...here are some to get her started: Find your people - Meetup
Quote:
Originally Posted by alan_overseas
Finally, are there any reliable carpooling services that you could recommend? That might be a good option if she's traveling a bit further outside of the SF bay area on a weekend trip.
Most schools have organized carpooling services, but I'm not sure how you'd access them if you're not a matriculated student. At Stanford, there was an area in the student center where people could advertise that they needed a ride or were driving somewhere and were willing to take someone with them. There is a carpooling page on their site, but it's mostly for people commuting into work at the university (Carpools).
If I were her, I'd just try to find activities to get to know some people in the area (such as a local hiking group) and then try to organize rides in the future with these people. I used to drive around friends that I worked with at Stanford who didn't have cars for various things...
The Amtrak train (Capital Corridor), as mentioned is the best public transportation option in the SF Bay Area, in my opinion. It's really pleasant, there's a dining car with simple food and coffee and even alcoholic drinks, and wi-fi.
The next best public transit option, in my opinion, is the Cal-Train.
I personally hate BART, as it's really noisy (loud screeching as it goes along the tracks), it's dirty and can be packed to the gills with people depending on the time of day. It can get you where you want to go, but I find it really unpleasant and avoided it whenever possible (when I lived there).
As far as your daughter finding others to do things with, there are a ton of meet-up groups.
Your daughter may want to try posting her housing needs on the "housing wanted" section on Craigslist. I did this when I first moved to SF and needed a sublet for specific dates, and I got better results this way than wading through the sublets section. Somewhere in the vicinity of UC Berkeley (including Rockridge, a really nice Oakland neighborhood near campus) sounds like it'd meet her needs really well. There's also an Amtrak stop in Berkeley, which will get her to Sacramento. Many students sublet their rooms for the summer around campus, so she should definitely be able to find a place.
A quick update. So far, we haven't heard back from anyone at Craigslist but we've made some progress as far as the residence clubs go. We're considering Vantaggio Suites and I'd appreciate your thoughts on the location and safety of the three locations. The receptionist at Vantaggio really downplayed the dangers of the SF bay area and said that people exaggerate the amount of crime in SF but I'd appreciate a second opinion on these locations. ;-)
Their locations are 835 Turk St., 246 Mc Allister and 505 O’Farrell Street. Is one of these locations better in terms of safety, going out/attractions or being more central than the others?
We're also waiting to hear back from sanfranciscostudenthousing.com which also offers dormitory style living.
Finally, could anyone recommend something similar to the residence clubs in Berkeley? My daughter seems torn on whether to stay in San Francisco or Berkeley.
Location: "Silicon Valley" (part of San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA)
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NoSnowForMe, I was thinking of hostels too, but you can only stay at a given one for two weeks at a time (I checked it earlier). And it would be more than 1000 for a month, actually. He might be able to keep it under that if she just rents a bunk in the hostel. But their bunkrooms are typically coed. :-O
It's a hard question because he can't really use craigslist for this purpose. People are weary of renting to somebody without meeting them first, in most cases.
Well, OP, if you are willing to go over 1000 USD by a little bit, you could use either a private room in a hostel (contrary to popular belief, hostels do have private rooms) or a budget hotel, such as Motel 6. Those two options allow to arrange it via the web.
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