Florida State Class of 2013 Forum

[Tuyarp]

Thanks for taking questions, green918. For mac users, is iWork adequate or MS Office is required?

[GTLAWSCHOOL]

Thanks for taking question:

I am planning on taking a trip to FSU sometime soon to take a look at apartments. Looking for something semi nice, maybe next to a coffee shop or something. Care to share some places I should check out close to the law school. Thanks in advance.

[shootermcgavin]

Thanks for taking questions, green918. For mac users, is iWork adequate or MS Office is required?

I am a mac user. You can use whatever you want. I use Office in notebook mode. A couple people use Pages. I have seen a few people using OmniOutliner or Circus Ponies Notebook. I'm probably going to give OmniOutliner a shot starting this summer because it seems pretty cool for organizing notes and outlining.

The only thing that they require is that you can load Exam4 which works on macs (arguably better than on PC's).

[ksd05c]

Thanks for taking question:

I am planning on taking a trip to FSU sometime soon to take a look at apartments. Looking for something semi nice, maybe next to a coffee shop or something. Care to share some places I should check out close to the law school. Thanks in advance.

I'm in Tallahassee now bec I did undergrad here and I've been looking for months to find the right places, but that's because I am super picky. Make sure to double check anywhere the law school admins tell you. They tell people Polos on Park for some reason, but it's actually quite a haul out there from the law school.
Phoenix Management manages a lot of places near the law school. Mostly one beds/studios. I'm not sure how pricey they are, but they're the closest you can get to the school probably.

[mango26]

have any of you applied for the Grad Plus loan yet? (for those of you doing it). do you know when we are supposed to if we want it?

[Mitch McDeere]

have any of you applied for the Grad Plus loan yet? (for those of you doing it). do you know when we are supposed to if we want it?

I applied last week, not sure when the deadline is though. Anybody know how long it takes to find out if you've been approved?

[ram jam]

I sent in my application for grad plus letter in last Tuesday. I signed the promissory note and did entrance counseling on Tuesday as well. I received an email this Tuesday, one week later, about the gradplus. They gave me the full amount to cover COL (I have full stafford unsub and sub). Once you get the email, it is available to view in your financial aid status. Make sure you do the entrance counseling and the sign the promissory note before or soon after you apply.

[mango26]

I sent in my application for grad plus letter in last Tuesday. I signed the promissory note and did entrance counseling on Tuesday as well. I received an email this Tuesday, one week later, about the gradplus. They gave me the full amount to cover COL (I have full stafford unsub and sub). Once you get the email, it is available to view in your financial aid status. Make sure you do the entrance counseling and the sign the promissory note before or soon after you apply.

is there some sort of deadline for this? is it bad if i wait til next week to do it?

[ram jam]

Just get it in before school starts. I think the earlier you submit, the faster the turn around as paper work begins piling up as everyone starts applying a couple weeks before school. The FSU fin aid/admissions office does a really good job. Just apply as early as you are able.

[green918]

Thanks for taking question:

I am planning on taking a trip to FSU sometime soon to take a look at apartments. Looking for something semi nice, maybe next to a coffee shop or something. Care to share some places I should check out close to the law school. Thanks in advance.

Sorry for the delay! Finals just ended last Thursday and summer class starts tomorrow.
For housing, I think the two most important things to figure out are 1) what you want to spend 2) what area of town you want to be in.
I'm living on loans so I focused on one bedrooms that were less than 600/mo for rent and my apt. is 560. I know some other people
who pay closer to 800/mo. Def. check out the apartments across from the law school if for nothing else other than the location.
Be warned that they are not great. But i think it's worth the hour it will take for you to swing by and take a look. It's really nice
to be able to walk to class.

For area of town, law students in general live all over the place. I live two blocks from the law school on West Park Ave. in a small building that I found on craigslist. I would check out craigslist if you want to stay away from some of the bigger Polos on park type places but don't want to live in a dump. There are a lot of people who rent out condos/townhouses or houses. I only checked out a couple of places before I found my apartment, so I can't offer specific places to go to, but check out craigslist if you want to be close to campus because that means living downtown and a lot of those buildings are individually owned and all you're going to get on those apartment websites are places geared towards undergrads. All saints coffee shop is down the street. and of course you'll be near everything down town. Good luck!

[lawschoolstudent85]

...

[ksd05c]

Thanks for taking question:

I am planning on taking a trip to FSU sometime soon to take a look at apartments. Looking for something semi nice, maybe next to a coffee shop or something. Care to share some places I should check out close to the law school. Thanks in advance.

Sorry for the delay! Finals just ended last Thursday and summer class starts tomorrow.
For housing, I think the two most important things to figure out are 1) what you want to spend 2) what area of town you want to be in.
I'm living on loans so I focused on one bedrooms that were less than 600/mo for rent and my apt. is 560. I know some other people
who pay closer to 800/mo. Def. check out the apartments across from the law school if for nothing else other than the location.
Be warned that they are not great. But i think it's worth the hour it will take for you to swing by and take a look. It's really nice
to be able to walk to class.

For area of town, law students in general live all over the place. I live two blocks from the law school on West Park Ave. in a small building that I found on craigslist. I would check out craigslist if you want to stay away from some of the bigger Polos on park type places but don't want to live in a dump. There are a lot of people who rent out condos/townhouses or houses. I only checked out a couple of places before I found my apartment, so I can't offer specific places to go to, but check out craigslist if you want to be close to campus because that means living downtown and a lot of those buildings are individually owned and all you're going to get on those apartment websites are places geared towards undergrads. All saints coffee shop is down the street. and of course you'll be near everything down town. Good luck!

There are some pretty terrible reviews online about those apartments across the street. Do you have any personal experience with them? I'd love to live that close and am willing to sacrifice some of my standards but they sound like a death trap.

I looked at them once when I wanted to live in a one bedroom place and they're not horrible. They're perfect for one person who doesn't need tons of extra space or storage ( closets are on the small side and such).

[eros]

While we're on the whole housing issue, how critical is it to find a place relatively soon would you say? I've been researching on craigslist and whatnot, but I wont be able to actually make it up to tally til beginning of June, so I'm wondering if that's gonna put me at a disadvantage in terms of finding a nice 1/1 kind of along the lines of what green918 is talking about from the sound of it... Any thoughts appreciated.

[ram jam]

Just start shopping for a place in the area, put down a deposit, and schedule a move in date when it is convenient for you. Sooner than later is best, because an influx of students in the thousands is guaranteed in August for the fall semester.

[lawschoolstudent85]

...

[green918]

Thanks for taking question:

I am planning on taking a trip to FSU sometime soon to take a look at apartments. Looking for something semi nice, maybe next to a coffee shop or something. Care to share some places I should check out close to the law school. Thanks in advance.

Sorry for the delay! Finals just ended last Thursday and summer class starts tomorrow.
For housing, I think the two most important things to figure out are 1) what you want to spend 2) what area of town you want to be in.
I'm living on loans so I focused on one bedrooms that were less than 600/mo for rent and my apt. is 560. I know some other people
who pay closer to 800/mo. Def. check out the apartments across from the law school if for nothing else other than the location.
Be warned that they are not great. But i think it's worth the hour it will take for you to swing by and take a look. It's really nice
to be able to walk to class.

For area of town, law students in general live all over the place. I live two blocks from the law school on West Park Ave. in a small building that I found on craigslist. I would check out craigslist if you want to stay away from some of the bigger Polos on park type places but don't want to live in a dump. There are a lot of people who rent out condos/townhouses or houses. I only checked out a couple of places before I found my apartment, so I can't offer specific places to go to, but check out craigslist if you want to be close to campus because that means living downtown and a lot of those buildings are individually owned and all you're going to get on those apartment websites are places geared towards undergrads. All saints coffee shop is down the street. and of course you'll be near everything down town. Good luck!

There are some pretty terrible reviews online about those apartments across the street. Do you have any personal experience with them? I'd love to live that close and am willing to sacrifice some of my standards but they sound like a death trap.

They are definitely not great. I know some people who are staying another year, and some people who can't wait to leave. Their apartments all look fine. I have the most experience with Florida Towers. They're pretty spacious, but they're outdated and i've heard a lot of people complain about maintenance issues. You are definitely paying for the location, not the amenities.

But, if you're planning a trip to Tally, I think they're worth checking out. It doesn't take that long to stop by. If you don't like them, your options for being right near the law school are pretty slim because the law school is between downtown and the undergrad campus. I know there are a few buildings on st. augustine you could check out. And if you drive down Park, there are several buildings with for rent signs out. IMHO, If you want to find a good deal around here, you will have to do the leg work. Drive around town and see if anything catches your eye because most of the apartment complexes cater to undergrads and they either really suck or they are crazy expensive. Like I said, I had the most luck with craigslist.

[green918]

While we're on the whole housing issue, how critical is it to find a place relatively soon would you say? I've been researching on craigslist and whatnot, but I wont be able to actually make it up to tally til beginning of June, so I'm wondering if that's gonna put me at a disadvantage in terms of finding a nice 1/1 kind of along the lines of what green918 is talking about from the sound of it... Any thoughts appreciated.

Just start shopping for a place in the area, put down a deposit, and schedule a move in date when it is convenient for you. Sooner than later is best, because an influx of students in the thousands is guaranteed in August for the fall semester.

Agreed. It's best to look sooner, rather than later. I think you'd still be ok with beginning of June though. I started looking really early and I actually had a bit of trouble trying to find a place at the beginning of summer b/c everything on craigslist at that time was for summer subleases instead of the fall.

[procrastinator]

I sent in my application for grad plus letter in last Tuesday. I signed the promissory note and did entrance counseling on Tuesday as well. I received an email this Tuesday, one week later, about the gradplus. They gave me the full amount to cover COL (I have full stafford unsub and sub). Once you get the email, it is available to view in your financial aid status. Make sure you do the entrance counseling and the sign the promissory note before or soon after you apply.

I assume I have to wait until the financial aid office determines what my eligibility limits are, right? I was admitted a few weeks ago, but nothing's showing up on my blackboard financial aid tool yet.

[Dallas4thewin]

Made my finial decision today, excited to meet everyone in the fall. Anyone make any finial decisions on any housing yet?

[procrastinator]

Made a deposit at Delaney Park yesterday.

[melyanair]

Does anyone knowanything firsthand about the FSU owned apartment complex - alumni village? I know the distcace form the law school, and all teh reviews I've read makes it sound like I woule not wanan even drive by ... but hoping someone on here has either lived or toured ther and can give some input. I applied for housing there before reading the reviews, and am now wondering if I ought to look elsewhere.

[Dallas4thewin]

Anyone have any luck with the roommate referral service yet?

[Protolaw]

Hey guys, if anyone is looking for a place to live, I just signed a lease at a place called Avalon Apartments and I would love some FSU Law student neighbors. It's at the intersection of Pensacola and Stadium, and it's a really small community. I timed travel to the law school, and hitting every red light along the way except for one, it took about 5 minutes 30 seconds to get there. I haven't explored it yet, but it also has a walking/bike path that goes in a tunnel under stadium and seems to connect one end of Pensacola (which dead-ends into Stadium) to the other (which is the side the law school is on), which would make it really fast to make it to class on a bike. It has three small buildings with a 2/2 apartments and one building with four 1/1 apartments. What's really nice about the 1/1s is that none of them are on top of one another so you never have to deal with noisy neighbors above/below you, and it's only 4 apartments in total attached to each other. It's a little small, but I think it's perfect for a solo law student. It definitely is more modern than most of the other apartment communities I've seen around the campus. It comes with a washer/dryer, fridge, microwave, and dishwasher (the only place I've found so far that actually comes with a dishwasher), and central HVAC. Rent is $595/month for the 1/1 apartments on the "inner side" of the building that share wall space with two other apartments, and $625 for the two 1/1 on the "outer side" of the building that only share wall space with one other apartments (utilities are not included in either). I don't know what the rent is for the 2/2s. Parking is only allowed for residents, which kinda stinks but at least it ensures that there won't be any crazy parties going on. I ran into one of the current residents who is an FSU undergrad, and he said that it's a really quiet community. So far, I'm the only person who's signed a lease for a 1/1 there (unless someone did just today), so there's three 1/1s available right now (again, not sure how many 2/2s are left). All of their leases start the first week of August, but there's some openings for move-in right now too from some residents trying to sublease. Check them out at --LinkRemoved-- and you can see them in Google Maps Street View at http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 04,,0,5.07.

If anyone ends up signing a lease there, let me know - like I said, I'd love to live with some law student neighbors!!!

[Protolaw]

The new 1DCA looks like it's almost done. That bodes well for the conversion of the old 1DCA to classroom/courtroom space by the time we hit 2L year.

When I went on an admissions tour last week, I was told that the DCA is moving to its new building by next summer, and then FSU Law is going to spend the entire next year renovating it, so we really won't be able to utilize the final product until we're 3Ls. But I was also told that, in anticipation of getting the new building, the old court room in the FSU Law building is currently being turned into a lounge because obviously the DCA building will offer a far superior court room, and that the renovation of the old court room should be done this Fall. This means that we won't have our own court room for our 1L/2L years, but I was told that the DCA is willing to let us use their building for a court room in the mean time when they aren't using it, so at least we'll be able to use that part of the facility right away regardless (which probably is the greatest benefit we'd get from using it after FSU Law renovates it anyway).

[Dallas4thewin]

As we are getting closer to August, how is everyone's housing search going?