<p>Hi folks. I'm coming to UCSD this fall for my PhD. Has anyone ever lived in one of these single graduate apartments? I see the fairly low rate but does that mean it's not so clean or lack of anything or something else? Will I have to share my room with anyone or is it just a single room? And will there be an extension after the first 12-month lease?</p>
<p>Thanks for any info. Opinions on other aspects are extremely welcome.</p>
<p>Single Graduate Housing is basically an undergrad dorm that they decided to throw grad students into (in between a bunch of other undergrad dorms). Most of the people who live there are decidedly antisocial and the social ones move out almost immediately (3 people in my cohort alone did within 6 months of getting there), so it really compounds the problem. 4 people to a “suite” doesn’t leave a lot of room, although some have nice balconies. </p>
<p>A better option would be the new Arris Verde apartments, which come semi-furnished and seem like they’ll at least attempt to have a community feel. </p>
<p>The One Miramar apartments are now cheaper, but are also shoddily and stupidly constructed (for instance, they put the smoke detectors right outside the doors to the bathrooms so every time someone takes a steamy shower the alarm goes off; they also didn’t seem to plan on it ever raining, so rain likes to flood random hallways and just sit there for days as puddles) and have a pretty lame social scene as well.</p>
<p>The best apartments for grad students are Coast- you get an awesome view and everyone there seems to be laid back and friendly. There’s always a party of some kind going on too. Of course, the waitlist for here is probably the longest, so you won’t get into it initially. </p>
<p>Note that the new rules for housing mean you basically get a 2-year contract for wherever you initially get, but you can immediately apply for the waitlist to another housing option (and probably should since the waitlists for Mesa and Coast are 18-24 months themselves).</p>
<p>Thanks vig180. I’m on a budget so just looking for a cheap option. I’m coming this fall and this is the only offer I got so far and if the room is ok I’ll go for it. If you can please comment on the conditions of the SGA housing, like how clean and spacious they are</p>