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| *Travel Tips>>>Washington, D.C. Travel Tips |
Moving to D.C. for graduate school. If I can't get into a dorm, where should I look to rent? |
Travel Info Are there any reasonably priced and safe areas inside the district? Is Alexandria too far of a metro ride? Should I consider Maryland? Travel Tips It really depends on which school you're going to. In general though, I would try and stay in the Northwest part of DC. These are the safest areas in general and probably the most fun areas as well. There's lots of good neighborhoods with stores, restaurants, bars, etc. as well as public transit. Look especially into Dupont Circle, Adams Morgan, Friendship Heights, Cleveland Park, Foggy Bottom (close to GW) or Van Ness. You could try Maryland, particularly around Bethesda or Rockville on the Metro's Red Line (many of the universities are on the Red Line - GW, American, Catholic). Also Silver Spring as well - that's closer to Catholic as well as the University of MD. Also try your school's housing office - they might have advice. Others Can't answer this without knowing where your school is. American University is different than Catholic which is different than Georgetown which is different than Georgetown Law. Check with your school's housing office or repost with more detail. It really depends on where you're attending school -- is it GWU, Georgetown, Catholic, UDC, American, Johns Hopkins, U of MD? Do you want to be near the metro? There are tons of universities in this area. Some areas to look into (by metro station) may be Dupont Circle (pricey, but safe and fun), Cleveland Park, Foggy Bottom, Rosslyn, Courthouse. Which school are you going to? "Reasonably priced", "safe", and "inside the district", well, you can only get two out of three. One bedroom apartments in Bethesda run $1850/month. Really depends where you're going, as the other posters said. I'd stick to places along the Red Line in the Northwest quadrant of the city if you want safe and accessible. Note that Georgetown (main campus) isn't on ANY metro line and for that your best bet might be Rosslyn (in Northern Virginia). Northern Virginia is slightly cheaper than the District itself. Similarly, Silver Spring, MD and the Bethesda area are both safe, have a number of students there and are (slightly) more affordable. Also, Penn Quarter (near Chinatown) is pretty safe these days - yet sadly not cheaper! What school? I go to U of MD, and a lot of college kids live in Silver Spring (in MD/North of D.C.- they take the metro to school). Others live near Capitol Hill and Adams Morgan, Takoma Park (MD), Riverdale (MD), and College Park (MD). I'm not indigenous to the area, so in my view they're all sort of dangerous/crime-ridden. That's just a reality of life here. If you have a car and saftey is an issue, I recommend living in the 'burbs and commuting to school. You can commute to a park and ride and take the train into DC if you're going to a school in the district. Alexandria is not a far metro ride into DC, but kind of far for College Park. I like Alexandria- nice town. Red Line is good advice but sadly, most of the neighborhoods along the Red Line are among the most expensive in the city. Dupont Circle apartments go for over $1500/month for a studio; Cleveland Park, Woodley Park and Tenleytown are not much more affordable! Look into Columbia Heights, Petworth, Shaw and Logan Circle--- these neighborhoods are all much safer and nicer than they used to be; crime is down and new businesses are popping up everywhere but rents are still reasonable compared to the rest of the city. The Brookland/CUA neighborhood is also nice. Forget the Maryland suburbs--- on the Montgomery County side, it's extremely expensive, and the Prince George's County side is having serious crime problems right now. The Virginia suburbs--- Arlington is extremely expensive; Alexandria is very large so make sure you know which part of Alexandria you're getting yourself into; some of Alexandria is quite convenient and some might as well be in Richmond! |
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