Pulaski

She's arriving right at the start of the academic year and is worried that by the time she has found her feet she'll be left choosing between accommodations that are unattractive for one or more reasons.

Bob

Just take them with a pinch of salt. They're often only reviews when people haven't had a good time and/or lost their deposit.

Often don't see reviews of good stays.

You want to make sure you understand any lease breaking clauses and what the costs are.

Also if you aren't driving, cut what you think is a decent walking distance down by a massive amount because you'll want to minimise this to the extreme in winter, as carrying bags and walking over snow banks will not be fun.

SuperScienceGrl

I think I've picked my top place now! Thanks for your help; a labmate is going to look at it some time soon. I'm so invested in this one place now that I really hope it works out! It's 14 mins' walk from work, and not too far from the supermarket either. Online people reassure me it's a quiet location, and I think these people are real because they replied to me on Reddit. It's the only place where the management have responded to me within a week by email too - in fact they responded within a day both times!

However, it is a big risk, especially because it's unfurnished. If I get there and buy furniture for this place and it goes to shit, I won't be a happy bunny!

Good thinking. Luckily this one is close to the main road, and they plough that in all but the most Hel-ish conditions. Alternatively my boss won't mind if we get snowed in and I spend 24/7 in work over the winter. (Just kidding. I think)

Pulaski

If I can translate Bobese into English for you, "snow banks" are the result of ploughing. ..... Snow that is cleared off the road gets thrown/ piled into gawd-awful banks that block driveways, access roads, and access to pedestrian crossings (American English = crosswalks). If the pavement is close to the road the snow thrown by the ploughs can completely bury the pavement. Not only can the banks be high and jagged, they set as hard as concrete in big blocks of ice, and can hang around for days/ weeks after most snow melts.

Jerseygirl

The snow banks quite often completely cover vehicles parked on the road too. Top tip...don't park your car on the road when a snow storm is forecast.

Bob

This, pretty much.

I don't know where the OP will be walking, but the usual priority for snow clearing are the main roads, side roads, pavements down town, then possibly other pavements if town ordinance isn't for owners to clear the snow.

Then once the walkways are cleared, they start snow removal where they cut the snow off the road and dump it somewhere, then they move to the snow bank on the pavements.

Till then, you can't realistically cross the road because the cross walks are blocked in and usually at every driveway as people dump the snow out.

There's still snow in Boston in some of the snow dumps, from all the snow that was cleared this winter...it's right minging, but there's some that think it might not all be gone by the end of summer still.

As a side note. Getting anywhere in winter after the snow usually ends up being double the time. I wouldn't want to walk 15 minutes carrying a bunch of stuff in winter...never mind doubling that to avoid falling over on the ice. I walk every where when I can, but it's not fun and really unsafe if you're carrying a bag of groceries.

retzie

Which is a better use of time: having the same conversation the Nth time about how crazy your lab is? Or, meeting someone in the music program, say, and discovering that they have to practice 8 hours a day, in addition to doing about the same amount of work that you do? You can't put a price on perspective.

Ways to meet other people: go to the start of semester event that the University throws for grad students and/or internationals and talk to people you don't know; live with roommates (speaking of apartments); get involved in existing hobbies. There are also higher investment/higher reward options: I was a grad student rep, which brought me into contact with grad students and faculty across campus. In the meantime, I'd make a point of talking to the people you already know about things that are not school, lest you lose the art of conversation entirely.

It's also worth mentioning that this one-eyed approach can be highly counter-productive when it comes to jobs. To be able to interview (in academia or not), you need to be able to communicate (impressively!) with people outside your field. Incidentally, the number one most talked about item on my CV is a public lecture I did via a very random social connection in a completely unrelated field.

Eh gads... The people foundering at the end of their terminal degree drive me bananas. IMO, this is at the heart of the 'adjuntification' problem - too many graduates who have no idea how to operate in the real world!

Pulaski

Holy moly!

Bob

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/07/us...st-summer.html

The Boston snow pile is down to 12 feet from the 75 foot high at the worst of winter

I say snow, it's really just a mountain of ice and rubbish that got ploughed up, but you get the idea.

RoadWarriorFromLP

The place itself may be fine, but that isn't a good criteria for choosing a place or for otherwise rejecting a place that doesn't email you back.

Not to be the old curmudgeon here (because I'm not old), but we have these things called "telephones" that allow us to speak to people over vast distances. And these days, you can probably call the US from the UK for a few pence per minute. NOW GET OFF MY LAWN.

Pulaski

Indeed, a business that responds quickly might just be desperate for tenants, and one that responds slowly has demand sufficient that they don’t need to put much effort into marketing.

In truth the speed of response is a very poor indicator, positive or negative, of the quality of the apartments.

RoadWarriorFromLP

Property management is not a magnet for tech-savvy people. I would assume that a lot of them give a low priority to email, particularly when they have people on the phone and in the flesh who are demanding their attention.

SuperScienceGrl

Interesting. I was using email as an initial approach and then moving onto phoning them once I'd had some sort of confirmation their places existed. I definitely did get a lot faster answers by phone though (most of them were along the lines of "no, that place is taken, sorry about that").

Well I got a friend to look around the place I was mostly interested in, and he doesn't seem to like it too much. It doesn't have central A/C (or air con, lol), and you have to supply a window unit. But it's several rooms, so that doesn't sound like it'll be enough. (Unless I'm savvy enough to get a building corner apartment and get two window units... hmm I wonder). ARGH I had got so interested in this place I gave up the hunt for others! Perhaps I'll take it anyway - nowhere's perfect.....

Pulaski

I would guess that not having A/C would make it an older unit, and may be indicative of other age issues, both design and wear. It also seems that in the US apartments progressively slide down-market because as they age they are are seen as poorly equipped and/or in need of renovation.

BTW AC systems in a modern installation also provide heating, so it just makes sense to build with AC included. How is the unit without AC heated? I would not want a unit with "base board heat" (installed along the bottom of the wall where skirting board would be) as it is electric and can be expensive to run.

Bob

Not necessarily.

It could be oil fired and forced air...which is worse...but some places are gas, which isn't bad.

Base boards are shit though.