<p>Hello,
i've been reading CC for some months after i got a plan studying in US. Long story, but i'll try to be short. I hope my topic fits this forum (University of California - Berkeley) the most
I'm from Scandinavia and finishing my undergraduate. I'm planning on applying to Berkeley or Stanford in 2012 for graduate studies. So this summer i'm travelling to CA with my college female friend and will visit the universities. My question is about finding in San Francisco bay area an apartment or maybe even a room on campus? Sadly i don't have any relatives in USA but my friend who lives there told me that no one will take a risk to rent an apartment to foreigners if we are not recommended by any locals.
I know that universities keep all the conversation in archive (these letters will affect when i'll be applying) so before writing to universities about apartments for a month this summer i'd better ask here in informal style how to ask, whom to ask or maybe i don't even have to rent a room from Berkeley Uni if i just stay in CA as a tourist, so any colleges' apartments would suit (san jose uni, stanford etc etc). In addition i'd prefer lower prices of course.
To conclude, I looked on berkeley.edu and found that the prices for rooms are $1000month/person. Any suggestions would be really appreciated what should i choose. I'm planning to be in USA from the beginning of July till mid-August and my purpose is to have tours at universities and meet professors from preferred faculties.</p>
<p>Universities don’t usually provide on-campus housing for tourists. In order to qualify for on-campus housing it’s often required that you are a current student.</p>
<p>Your best bet is to look on craigslist.org for sublets/temporary places in the bay area. It’s a little early to look now if you’re coming in July so you may want to start looking around May. You shouldn’t have problems finding something for 1-2months though. You can also spend some of your time in a hostel.</p>
<p>Oh, and writing to universities about looking for apartments won’t affect your chances of admission in any way.</p>
<p>hej,</p>
<p>living costs in the Bay area are pretty high. An one-room-apartment in the east bay, where Berkeley is, is easily 1200$/month, and in San Francisco even higher. If you are here as a tourist and plan to travel around, it might be well cheaper and more comfortable to sleep in hostels. Also, don’t underestimate the size of the bay area; getting from Stanford to Berkeley takes more than an hour by car, even if there is no traffic, and more than 2 hours by public transport. Also, you probably won’t spend more than one or two days per university you visit, and for the other 28 days you might find you want to go to Yosemite, Grand Canyon and not been stuck to an appartment somewhere in the bay area. </p>
<p>Also, you might also want to consider cancelling the trip and just applying to grad school, typically universities fly in prospective graduate students (assuming you want to do a phd), and you get a MUCH better picture of grad student life than if you were just to get a campus tour.</p>
<p>That said, craigslist usually has tons of sublets available for the summer. I had no problem finding a room in a shared house for my first month when I came over from Europe.</p>
<p>Go to a vacation rental web site, just as if you were planning a stay in Paris or some beach spot in Europe. Maybe vrbo.com or google similar for Berkeley, CA. It may be possible that there is a small, inexpensive apt available. If needed, check tripadvisor.com and post an inquiry.<br>
Agree that you are completely free to ask the U. Just phrase your question to focus on visiting the U, getting to know the area- ie, not that it’s a vacation. Admissions may refer you to one of the housing offices, but I highly doubt they would record your name and hold on to it if you haven’t applied yet. Good luck.</p>
<p>Room in fraternities that open their house to boarders. I know the fraternity that I am a part of is very flexible and we have had many foreigners in the same exact situation staying for just one or two months or those studying just for the summer with pretty good rates. Message me privately with your e-mail and any more information that you think I should have and I can send this along.</p>
<p>The fraternity is just three blocks away from campus if that helps you.</p>
<p>You should look for a summer sublet.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Try Craigslist: [craigslist:</a> SF bay area classifieds for jobs, apartments, personals, for sale, services, community, and events](<a href=“http://sfbay.craigslist.org/]craigslist:”>http://sfbay.craigslist.org/). Search for a sublet or post that you are looking for a place. You can get a room for ~$800/mo, depending on how nice it is.</p></li>
<li><p>Contact all the motels. Sometimes, they’ll give you a weekly or monthly rate that’s much lower than the daily rate.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Check out the Monroe in SF–it’s more or less dorm/ hostel situation in San Francisco–lots of students. Craigslist is also a good source.</p>
<p>As Wyfind said, lots of frats offer summer rentals at really good prices. I’m wondering if anyone knows if I-House also does this? I think so. Also, some of the university housing, like Channing Bowditch has year leases to students and a number of them sub-let in summer if they leave – although I’m pretty sure they first get their flatmates to agree to whomever they plan to let to. The only other negative to that is if you’re planning on subletting with someone of the opposite sex, you might not be able to share an apt or dorm room.</p>
<p>Actually, the University would do well to let out a few dorm buildings for summer student travelers. I know they do that in Europe. In fact, I spent a week at a student apartment in Trondheim in the '70’s. It was great!</p>
<p>What part of Scandinavia are you from?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Actually, [it</a> offers rooms in one residence hall to visitors and conferences](<a href=“http://www.housing.berkeley.edu/conference/summervis_index.html]it”>http://www.housing.berkeley.edu/conference/summervis_index.html). Also, [additional</a> residence hall housing is available to Berkeley summer session students](<a href=“http://www.housing.berkeley.edu/conference/summersess_index.html]additional”>http://www.housing.berkeley.edu/conference/summersess_index.html).</p>
<p>So does the [url=<a href=“http://berkeleystudentcooperative.org/summer-housing]Berkeley”>http://berkeleystudentcooperative.org/summer-housing]Berkeley</a> Student Cooperative<a href=“formerly%20University%20Students’%20Cooperative%20Association”>/url</a> for those who are full time students (at any college or university) for the spring or fall term around the summer session in question, or are attending Berkeley summer session.</p>
<p>Hi again,
thank you all for your replies. I got clarity for my questions. I’m from Estonia (well Baltic region also). Anyway the biggest fear i had that no one would rent me an apartment for a short period of time because i’m a foreigner. But as you state, it’s not a problem in finding a place to stay for a month or two. Furthermore, i will travel to USA with my friend of opposite sex from uni (she has also plans about studying in US), so some privacy would be needed which means that dormitories won’t be an option IMO. </p>
<p>Due to the fact you said that universities won’t store any records before applying, i’ll give it a try then and call universities and ask about housing in there. I like calling and chatting informaly about the situation before i’ll be writing them an e-mail.</p>
<p>I have an idea to move to other country, so this summer i’ll travel to USA and will be living there about a month and if the people over there and lifestyle is what i expect, i’ll be thinking of going to university over there and perhaps even remain there after studies. I’m studying business information technology (it is CS/informatics, but with just a little bit less CS theoretic classes and some more economics/marketing etc). I had to finish my undergraduate studies last year, but due to full-time work as developer-analyst i just didn’t have time to finish my thesis. So i’m not wasting time now and i take courses from graduate study atm, so this June i’ll finally get my BSc diploma and in 2012 June hopefully MSc diploma. I put all my free time and effort into my studies, IT as a hobby, better GPA and work. I’m trying to give my best at work, so my employeer would write a really good letter. Despite the fact that i will get MSc diploma, i still want to apply for graduate studies in US university, because as i have seen on different departments homepage, you have really narrow study area in graduate studies and i’ll meet more people and make friends than in Phd.</p>
<p>Wow, we should warn you that Berkeley is just not representative of other uni towns in the US. You understand that, right? Even San Francisco- even the whole Bay Area- is unique, in comparison. You know that, right?</p>
<p>Hey, i get that of course. In tried to make my reply more diverse, so i didn’t have to repeat Berkeley in every sentence and wrote more abstract. I thought that forum “CC Resources for University of California-Berkeley” is most suitable for my question, because Berkeley is my first priority, and this summer i’m going to SF bay area exactly cause of Berkeley anyway.</p>