Hi everybody
I’m a sophomore transfer at CAS and until now i assumed I would be living on campus (Warren) due to lack of any good cheap apartments (at least i found) in th Fenway/kenmore area. I decided to just decide based on proximity as Warren is closest to CAS. However I now found one and is located in west campus near brookline. It’s about a 20 minute walk to CAS. However I wonder, is distance to the college really worth the struggle of living in a smaller dorm (I heard warrens pretty terrible)?
What has been your experience/ what do you think? I’m saving a ton of money by moving off campus although I do not know if the distance almost a mile could negatively affect my studies. Such as not being able to make it on time (i have no idea how reliable the T is) as well as cooking my own food taking a ton of time as well.
Thanks!
My son stayed in Warren his first year. I asked him recently, if he knew now after being at BU for two years, would he have chosen to live in Warren and he said he would choose Warren again, because of its proximity to CAS as well as the fact that because of the number of students living in there, there is a lot of diversity and found it easy to find a group of friends with similar interests. However, in your case, as a transfer Sophomore, you would probably want to stay out of a dorm that is primarily Freshmen. I don’t know if you still have the option of housing, but you might want to see is there is availability in Towers, 575 Comm Ave (aka HoJos) or Myles that have a large number of Sophomores. West Campus also has a mix of Freshmen/Sophomore students. Did you pay your housing deposit? If so, you could check out Summer Swap for dorm rooms that become open over the summer and may be more to your liking and convenience.
Because of the layout of BU’s campus, unless you live in Warren, Bay State, Towers, you’re going to have a walk to classes. Therefore, an apartment near West Campus would be fine. I don’t know if you heard weather/news reports of last winter but being dependent on the “T” can be a problem. The “T” had a lot of mechanical issues last years and some days didn’t work. My son was thinking of getting an apartment in Brighton/Allston for this year but opted for a BU apartment instead so that he wouldn’t need to take the T.
Walking a mile to classes isn’t bad once you get used to the routine. Also, you might be near a BU shuttle stop which would cut off some of walking time.
Good luck and enjoy BU!
It all depends on you. Do you like to wake up earlier to get to class or do you want to roll out of bed and walk across the street? I have a lot of friends who live off campus and it seems to work just fine for them, the freedom to do what you want with you room, the space, the ability to throw parties, etc. On campus has the upside of being more safe (security guards), the BU shuttle can drop you off/pick you up, maintenance number to call if something goes wrong, etc. So there are upsides and downsides to both.