I haven't seen a forum for accepted applicants who've decided positively on GULC. I'm curious if anyone has started to look into housing options on or off-campus...

I will probably do on-campus housing first year. I visited a month ago and the 1L's I spoke to recommended living in their dorm (although I only spoke to people in the dorm). I think that especially in the first year being on campus will make everything more manageable, I don't want to deal with transportation, real estate agents, or landlords.

Count me in. I will be married by the time I start school, and we're planning on living in Arlington or Alexandria, somewhere along the metrol line so I can just walk to the train and ride it into the city. Thanks for starting this thread!

If anyone has any GULC questions feel free to PM me.

Is anyone having problems with the admitted students website? I can log-in successfully, but I can't navigate away from the welcome page without being kicked back to the log-in screen.

Never mind that last post. Just realized I had cookies disabled on my browser. Anyone planning on attending the event in January?

anyone looking at housing yet? i am moving in may and looking for roommates.

Checking in. Accepted today. Not entirely sure where I will end up, but it nice to finely crack the T14.

Barring some kind of miracle with Michigan ED this next Wednesday, there's a near 100% chance I'll be here next year! LOVE DC, and visited GULC and loved it too So excited to be accepted!

Current 1L living on campus; feel free to ask me questions. I'm in the day division, curriculum A.

how do you like living on campus? i'm trying to figure out what housing arrangements to make. It doesn't seem like on campus housing is the cheapest way to go but it would definitely be more convenient.

I like it -- for me the convenience was more important than anything else. And you have your own bedroom so it's not really like a dorm. There technically aren't even "quiet hours" but since it's a graduate dorm noise isn't really an issue in the first place. I'm sure I'll be off-campus next year like most 2Ls, but I'm definitely happy with my choice to be on-campus this year. I'm definitely leaning toward living near campus or at least on the Red Line next year though. But lots of 1Ls live off-campus for various reasons as well, such as saving money by having a bunch of roommates, or because they are married or have kids or whatever.

Has anyone else found themselves just completely overwhelmed in trying to look for housing? This would be much easier if I wasn't going to be married by the time I move up there. The only neighborhoods that seem safe enough within the city are too expensive for us, and I don't know enough about the metro and everything to figure out what parts of Arlington would be best. Were I by myself I wouldn't mind living in a sketchier neighborhood, but she will not go for that, and I don't think i would want her walking around by herself in a place like that anyway. These are my biggest questions, if anyone who is knowledgeable would be so kind as to answer them.

1) Is there a general consensus as to whether or not it's better to live on the orange or yellow line?

2) Are there any townhouses/rowhouses/duplexes available that are reasonably close to a metro station?

3) Are we destined to end up living in an apartment comples?

4)Is it feasible to try and ride a bus to a metro station, or will that just result in a 45+ minute commute? Or maybe just to ride a bus all the way?

My brother's girlfriend lived up in Alexandria for awhile. I'll ask her some of these questions and try to post her responses. Also, a family friend attended Georgetown (however, he attended back in the 70's), he told me lived in Arlington for his 1L, but would NOT recommend it and hated the commute... I am not sure how the public transportation has changed since then. I am also interested in this info. My top two choices atm both have insane cost of living... FML.

Thanks. I don't think the metro was built until pretty recently, and most of what I've heard indicates that the commute from Arlington is about as bad as from some places in DC. It would still be probably 30 minutes or so, but that's really not that bad I don't think. For my 1L year we may very well sacrifice some comfort for convenience. Either way, living in DC doesn't seem to be feasible for us as expensive as it is. A lot of single guys share rowhouses on capitol hill or in chinatown, which while it may not be the nicest neighborhood, it's less expensive and very close so it's something you might consider. I don't want my wife living there, though..

Have you thought about getting something up the Red Line in Maryland? The eastern branch (Glenmont branch) is more middle-to-working class and more affordable, but basically safe from what I can tell (i.e. it's not in Prince George's County, much of which is more questionable). Plus you wouldn't have to change trains.

"1) Is there a general consensus as to whether or not it's better to live on the orange or yellow line?

2) Are there any townhouses/rowhouses/duplexes available that are reasonably close to a metro station?

3) Are we destined to end up living in an apartment comples?

4)Is it feasible to try and ride a bus to a metro station, or will that just result in a 45+ minute commute? Or maybe just to ride a bus all the way?"

Hey, I'm an undergrad in D.C. right now, with a lot of recently graduated friends that live in and around DC. I'd say you should def. look around Arlington, near one of the metros, like rosslyn, clarendon, ballston, etc. which are orange line, or pentagon city which is blue/yellow. A lot of grad students/young professionals live in these neighborhoods in either apartments, or condos. They usually range in price with how far you are to the metro station.

In DC you could look at U St./Adam's Morgan or around Union Station. But these places aren't usually as nice as No. Virginia, and the most options are usually townhouses you'd share with other people.

The metro is convenient enough that if you're near a station, it doesn't matter which line it is. Although I think the orange/blue line hits a lot more hot spots in DC than yellow.

A lot of people do take a bus/metro combo to get places, which is usually fine, but I will say that buses can be really SLOW during rush hour. A lot of people ride bikes around. Personally I walk a lot, especially during non-peak times when the buses/metro trains are less frequent.

If you haven't seen it already, this is the metro website: http://www.wmata.com/
The trip planner part of it is really great.

This was probably inarticulate, but I could give more info if you have any other questions.

Thanks for the input guys. I had considered Maryland, but for other reasons if we were gonna have to commute, I would much rather live in VA than maryland. Any good places for a 1br very close to the law school?

Not sure about that... I'm on campus so I'm not really sure what there is for 1br housing near here. There are apartments nearby, but I'm sure they're expensive.

If you want to be in VA, the Yellow Line would be a better option because you could walk easily from the Chinatown stop without transferring. Orange would basically require a transfer automatically, unless you want to walk all the way from Metro Center or L'Enfant Plaza.

is anyone looking for a roommate? ive been looking at places in arlington/dc, seems like it'll be cheaper to live with roommates than by yourself.

Does anyone know if people find it more difficult to meet people/get involved/network/etc when they commute from somewhere like arlington?

Possibly, but if you don't mind staying on campus for more than just class, this helps. The Metro is cheaper after 7 pm anyway.

I just discovered the various apartments at Pentagon city, some of which are directly on top of the metro station. I mean, living on the metro with a 12 minute train ride to the Gallery place station wouldnt be too much longer of a commute than I would be looking at living in the district, right?

I appreciate you guys humoring me with these probably redundant and ill conceived questions, it's just kind of frustrating trying to find a place to live from halfway across the country. I will be able to visit when I come for ASW, though.

I know which apartments you are talking about-I lived in the area a couple summers ago for an internship. The area is very nice and there are grocery stores, Costco, and a mall nearby (the mall is right next to the metro stop), but from what I remember many of the apartments were pretty expensive. Again, though, they were pretty nice ones. The metro is extremely convenient as well. Just remember, though, that you do not want to get stuck out in the district late at night on weekdays as the metro stops running between 11 and 12.

Thanks. I realized not too long after posting that that those apartments are not much less expensive than those right by the school at 425 Mass and Mass court, the Meridian, etc. It may be worth it for the first year at least to shell out the extra dough for one of those places right by the school. Does anyone know if parking is extra at those apartment complexes? The websites list garage parking as an amenity, but they don't say whether or not it is free. I'm guess it's probably not, but that would be great.

Relatively speaking, is that neighborhood (400-500 Mass) pretty safe?