<p>I'm a freshman at a US school right now and I got into McGill for next fall. I have no clue if I'll end up going; I'll have to wait until mid-May to hear back from all the other schools I applied to. Anyways, the whole off-campus thing really confuses me.</p>
<p>First of all, I didn't do anything stupid by not bothering to apply for residence, right? That's only granted to freshmen?</p>
<p>More importantly, though, how should I go about applying? I should just use McGill's lists to look for roommates, right? When should I start looking? All the listings right now seem to be for summer school people. I don't want to wait too long, though, and end up with an apartment 30 mins from the school.</p>
<p>Lastly, any tips or anything? How's living in an apartment like? I'm kinda excited by the thought, but at the same time I think it might feel a bit weird living among adults in a major city half an hour away from school.</p>
<p>im not sure about mcgill specifically, but at most canadian schools there's a "student ghetto" located very close to the school where most students live-you shouldn't be too far from campus. and though most schools do have upper-year res, it's never guaranteed like first-year res is. regarding roommates, does mcgill have a livejournal community where you can post, or something similar? that might be your best bet when it comes to meeting potential roommates etc.</p>
<p>One piece of advice: avoid the ghetto, it's overpriced and far from the best place to live. Once you're close to the metro lines (provided your not near their ends), commuting is easy (and cheap, much cheaper than the difference in rent between the ghetto and elsewhere, half an hour of commute ain't bad). Leases in Montreal often begin on July 1st for the year, so you should start looking soon (early April sounds about right).</p>
<p>Hey guys, thanks for the help. I think I heard somewhere else that the ghetto was overpriced and pretty much impossible to get, so I guess I wasn't even considering that in the first place. It's a pity, because it seemed pretty nice when I visited the area. Then again, I didn't actually see any apartments so I wouldn't know.</p>
<p>Early April? Crap. Think I could pull off waiting till the middle of May? Otherwise I'd have to withdraw if I got in somewhere else... then again, maybe that's not a huge problem.</p>
<p>Yes, you will still have possibilities later, it's just that if you start now you'll have the most/best choices (that would be of course, if you're in town to visit the places as well). I mid-May you'll be looking at the same time as everyone else, so you'll have fewer possibilities (don't be afraid to look east of St-Laurent too, most student that don't opt for the ghetto go west to places like NDG and the Concordia ghetto...).</p>
<p>Actually I live in the ghetto, and I got my apartment like...in August. At the last minute basically...there's a lot of vacancies as long as you're willing to pay. Seriously, on the streets like Hutchinson, Durocher, etc...there's a few vacancies in large buildings. Depends if you want to pay a lot and if you want a 1 1/2, 2 1/2, etc.</p>
<p>Yes, apparently, the housing crisis we've had in Montreal for the last few years is resorbing. It's definitely not as bad this year as it used to be.</p>
<p>To give you an idea, my d. has rented a small 1 1/2 on Lorne, one block from campus for $595 Cdn. inclusive of all utilities, except phone and internet for next year. This may be expensive by Montreal standards, but it is reasonable by NE US norms.</p>