Northwestern Law C/O 2016 (2012-2013 Applicants) Forum

[twinkletoes16]

Subway system in Chi is great. Hopefully my wife can find a good gig there and we can graduate nearly debt free
Such a dream. One of the best schools for finding a good job and not needing to worry about 10 years of crippling, life-altering debt.

Living north is definitely your best option. I live in a 1 BR on the river (near olgilvee) for $1700 with garage parking and that's actually a steal. Comprable, although not as central, apartments in the ravenswood, Andersonville, lakeview, east lakeview, or Lincoln park can be had around $1000-$1500. One thing to keep in mind in these areas is parking because its mostly street parking and tough to come by. The "L," which is the "subway" you guys are referring to is the way to go. CTA has its issues but its definitely a solid option.

I can talk all day about living in Chicago so feel free to ask here or PM.

do any/all of the neighborhoods you mentioned have the L right there? i saw that there's a trader joe's very close to the law school on the western side. any cheap apartments over there?

is the L expensive? BART is what i'm used to and it's $$$$

[feralinfant]

5:30 in Chicago... who else didn't get a scholly offer today?

This guy. If they gave me 45k I'd deposit tomorrow.

+1

really really hoping for some love tomorrow. Have a long weekend coming up and this would be a great way to kick it off. I'd probably be happy with even less than that to be honest. Anything at all to slightly diminish my terror at the debt.

[bk1]

do any/all of the neighborhoods you mentioned have the L right there? i saw that there's a trader joe's very close to the law school on the western side. any cheap apartments over there?

is the L expensive? BART is what i'm used to and it's $$$$

NU gives you a "free" pass for use during the school year (not really free since you're paying them 55k/year in tuition). Otherwise it's something like $90 a month for an unlimited pass if you bought one on your own. Definitely cheaper than BART. On par with Muni, iirc.

[Samara]

Subway system in Chi is great. Hopefully my wife can find a good gig there and we can graduate nearly debt free
Such a dream. One of the best schools for finding a good job and not needing to worry about 10 years of crippling, life-altering debt.

Living north is definitely your best option. I live in a 1 BR on the river (near olgilvee) for $1700 with garage parking and that's actually a steal. Comprable, although not as central, apartments in the ravenswood, Andersonville, lakeview, east lakeview, or Lincoln park can be had around $1000-$1500. One thing to keep in mind in these areas is parking because its mostly street parking and tough to come by. The "L," which is the "subway" you guys are referring to is the way to go. CTA has its issues but its definitely a solid option.

I can talk all day about living in Chicago so feel free to ask here or PM.

Thanks, I appreciate it.

Is north really the cheapest option? I thought living more western toward the burbs would get lower rent. 1700 is still pretty high. I was hoping I could find some roommates and get my housing costs down to 900 or less. I'm so spoiled living in Gainesville all these years hahaha.

You can get a studio for less than 900/month, even in the near north neighborhoods like Lincoln Park or Lakeview. And if you live on the east side near the express buses, you can get to campus in 20 mins. If you want even cheaper, you can go out to Ukrainian Village, Bucktown, Wicker Park, Roscoe Village, etc. It's a longer commute, but a fair number of students do it.

This should give a pricing ballpark.

[Samara]

do any/all of the neighborhoods you mentioned have the L right there? i saw that there's a trader joe's very close to the law school on the western side. any cheap apartments over there?

is the L expensive? BART is what i'm used to and it's $$$$

NU gives you a "free" pass for use during the school year (not really free since you're paying them 55k/year in tuition). Otherwise it's something like $90 a month for an unlimited pass if you bought one on your own. Definitely cheaper than BART. On par with Muni, iirc.

It's not even "free." It's like $80/year.

[untar614]

You can get a studio for less than 900/month, even in the near north neighborhoods like Lincoln Park or Lakeview. And if you live on the east side near the express buses, you can get to campus in 20 mins. If you want even cheaper, you can go out to Ukrainian Village, Bucktown, Wicker Park, Roscoe Village, etc. It's a longer commute, but a fair number of students do it.

This should give a pricing ballpark.

ilu...

is Ukranian Villiage really that cheap?! If a studio is only 750, a 3/3 should be pretty damn good deal. How long would that commute be? I want to keep my rent as low as possible (without living in a sh*thole), but don't wanna go over maybe 35 minute commute if i can avoidit.

Also, how is parking by most of the L stations? (I'm assuming a lot of places are too far to walk to the station)

[shntn]

45k here

WOOT!

[twinkletoes16]

but seriously can i live by/inside of the trader joe's for semi-cheap



IM SO HAPPY THERES ONE SO CLOSE



also, i have heard things about northwestern bros. tell me more.


how is the gym at northwestern/where is it?

[bk1]

do any/all of the neighborhoods you mentioned have the L right there? i saw that there's a trader joe's very close to the law school on the western side. any cheap apartments over there?

is the L expensive? BART is what i'm used to and it's $$$$

NU gives you a "free" pass for use during the school year (not really free since you're paying them 55k/year in tuition). Otherwise it's something like $90 a month for an unlimited pass if you bought one on your own. Definitely cheaper than BART. On par with Muni, iirc.

It's not even "free." It's like $80/year.

They made it optional? I thought it wasn't optional.

[teiswei]

You can get a studio for less than 900/month, even in the near north neighborhoods like Lincoln Park or Lakeview. And if you live on the east side near the express buses, you can get to campus in 20 mins. If you want even cheaper, you can go out to Ukrainian Village, Bucktown, Wicker Park, Roscoe Village, etc. It's a longer commute, but a fair number of students do it.

This should give a pricing ballpark.

ilu...

is Ukranian Villiage really that cheap?! If a studio is only 750, a 3/3 should be pretty damn good deal. How long would that commute be? I want to keep my rent as low as possible (without living in a sh*thole), but don't wanna go over maybe 35 minute commute if i can avoidit.

Also, how is parking by most of the L stations? (I'm assuming a lot of places are too far to walk to the station)

Ukrainian village and some of the northwest neighborhoods would be kinda a crapy commute. You will quickly discover how it's much easier to travel north and south and east and west. Gold Coast will have so cheaper studios too but the more north you move, the better deals you'll find (in general). South loop is an option as well but it's not my type of area.

[teiswei]

There are tons of TJs in Chicago but you have to check out the Lincoln Park While Foods. It'll change your life. Has several food options and two bars!

[untar614]

You can get a studio for less than 900/month, even in the near north neighborhoods like Lincoln Park or Lakeview. And if you live on the east side near the express buses, you can get to campus in 20 mins. If you want even cheaper, you can go out to Ukrainian Village, Bucktown, Wicker Park, Roscoe Village, etc. It's a longer commute, but a fair number of students do it.

This should give a pricing ballpark.

ilu...

is Ukranian Villiage really that cheap?! If a studio is only 750, a 3/3 should be pretty damn good deal. How long would that commute be? I want to keep my rent as low as possible (without living in a sh*thole), but don't wanna go over maybe 35 minute commute if i can avoidit.

Also, how is parking by most of the L stations? (I'm assuming a lot of places are too far to walk to the station)

Ukrainian village and some of the northwest neighborhoods would be kinda a crapy commute. You will quickly discover how it's much easier to travel north and south and east and west. Gold Coast will have so cheaper studios too but the more north you move, the better deals you'll find (in general). South loop is an option as well but it's not my type of area.

Yeah, I know down where UChicago is is near Englewood, and I really wouldnt wanna be there. Are there areas to the south that are cheaper but I wouldn't get shot at?

[teiswei]

^^ south loop is relatively safe and printers row is hip. That's really all. They are really trying to build up south loop and there are nice restaurants, whole foods and TJs, target, movies, etc.

ETA: south loop is not really near U Chicago.

[twinkletoes16]

There are tons of TJs in Chicago but you have to check out the Lincoln Park While Foods. It'll change your life. Has several food options and two bars!

two bars like a salad bar or bar like "i'm gonna get drunk at Whole Foods" bar?


i'm interested either way.

getting so stoked for ASW!

[HankBashir]

how is the gym at northwestern/where is it?

It doesn't have one. You get a discount at a local gym that makes it ~$200 a year.

[teiswei]

There are tons of TJs in Chicago but you have to check out the Lincoln Park While Foods. It'll change your life. Has several food options and two bars!

two bars like a salad bar or bar like "i'm gonna get drunk at Whole Foods" bar?


i'm interested either way.

getting so stoked for ASW!

Like craft beer bar with some wine and a full wine bar. My girlfriend and I will spend afternoons there eating and drinking.

[untar614]

how is the gym at northwestern/where is it?

It doesn't have one. You get a discount at a local gym that makes it ~$200 a year.

How is the gym? Is it one that I can do some real lifting at (i.e. has squat racks and dumbbells up to 100 or 120 lbs, you know, legit free weight stuff), or am I gonna have to find another one?

[maxmartin]

how is the gym at northwestern/where is it?

It doesn't have one. You get a discount at a local gym that makes it ~$200 a year.

How is the gym? Is it one that I can do some real lifting at (i.e. has squat racks and dumbbells up to 100 or 120 lbs, you know, legit free weight stuff), or am I gonna have to find another one?

100lbs dumbbell, you are a beast!

[fruitoftheloom]

I'm looking for apartments virtually and moving there in May for the AJD program. I highly, highly recommend using craiglist map view. It's somewhat new (at least, wasn't there last time I tried to use craiglist to find an apt). It's AMAZING.

[teiswei]

For visuals:

The beer bar is almost like a coffee shop and you'll see a lot of writers and people studying.




The wine bar is more relaxed and they do cheese and charcuterie plates.

[untar614]

how is the gym at northwestern/where is it?

It doesn't have one. You get a discount at a local gym that makes it ~$200 a year.

How is the gym? Is it one that I can do some real lifting at (i.e. has squat racks and dumbbells up to 100 or 120 lbs, you know, legit free weight stuff), or am I gonna have to find another one?

100lbs dumbbell, you are a beast!

Well, I'm not there quite yet. I can only do 4-5 reps with 90lb dumbbells for db bench right now. Mostly working out with 85s currently. but i wanna have that room for improvement. I think if I keep at it I should be benching the 100s by end of summer. DBs are harder than barbell, but if u think about it, for benchpress, 200 isn't really that high.

U aware brah?

[letsjustsee]

.

[cookiejar1]

but seriously can i live by/inside of the trader joe's for semi-cheap



IM SO HAPPY THERES ONE SO CLOSE



also, i have heard things about northwestern bros. tell me more.


how is the gym at northwestern/where is it?

Lol wut.

[feralinfant]

You can get a studio for less than 900/month, even in the near north neighborhoods like Lincoln Park or Lakeview. And if you live on the east side near the express buses, you can get to campus in 20 mins. If you want even cheaper, you can go out to Ukrainian Village, Bucktown, Wicker Park, Roscoe Village, etc. It's a longer commute, but a fair number of students do it.

This should give a pricing ballpark.

ilu...

is Ukranian Villiage really that cheap?! If a studio is only 750, a 3/3 should be pretty damn good deal. How long would that commute be? I want to keep my rent as low as possible (without living in a sh*thole), but don't wanna go over maybe 35 minute commute if i can avoidit.

Also, how is parking by most of the L stations? (I'm assuming a lot of places are too far to walk to the station)

Ukrainian village and some of the northwest neighborhoods would be kinda a crapy commute. You will quickly discover how it's much easier to travel north and south and east and west. Gold Coast will have so cheaper studios too but the more north you move, the better deals you'll find (in general). South loop is an option as well but it's not my type of area.

I will be living in Uke. Village myself. The 66 bus might not be as great as the L but its so cheap and i love the neighborhood enough that its worth it to me. Also one thing to keep in mind is an advantage i normally ascribe to trains is not really present w/ the L. Namely that when it's cold outside, taking a train will not mean being underground in a nice warm subway station, so there's not a real difference between waiting for a bus or a train in that regard.

But yeah while the 66 bus is certainly inferior in the L I definitely don't think its too prohibitive. I'm sort of under the impression it might even be a little easier than bucktown or wicker park would be since you jsut take a straight shot down chicago ave but i could be wrong about this.

[twinkletoes16]

Also got $60k, emailed this afternoon. I am grateful for the award, but I hope NU is open to scholarship negotiations. NU has always been one of the select law schools that I was putting a lot of hope into, but the remaining total COA is still WAY too high.

Congratulations to those who got the fantastic $120k awards today! A special congratulations to Twinkletoes! With your strong aversion to debt, I know you were starting to question attending law school, period. Hopefully, this makes the decision an easier one!

thanks! and yes i was. going to some other ASWs helped though, and now I am REALLY excited for NU's!

For visuals:

The beer bar is almost like a coffee shop and you'll see a lot of writers and people studying.


The wine bar is more relaxed and they do cheese and charcuterie plates.

damn that looks amazing. maybe this is why NU's CoL is so high. so. sick.