Housing Dilemma- Location vs. Nightlife vs. Price
I will be working for a top boutique in Midtown this summer and have yet to find a place. Unfortunately, I won't know anybody working in NY or living in NY, so I was thinking my social life would be constrained, depending on my living situation.
My options with perceived pros and cons of each are as follows.
Columbia Housing (east campus) - the cheapest, but far from work; A great chance to meet a lot of new people via dorm life
The New School Housing - a bit more expensive, but closer to work; also near Union Square - which is close to NYU Housing - another good chance to meet new people
NYU SVA - the most expensive option, but the closest to work and also in decently social area
Sublet on Upper East Side - I'd imagine i can get something that isn't overpriced; would be great to live in this area because of the nightlife, but I won't have as great a chance ot meet new people
I wanted to see what you guys thought about my options - keep in mind that I don't want to just work all day / night - I do want to go out and enjoy the city. Unfortuantely, I don't know anybody in NYC, so it'll be tough to acclimate myself into the nightlife by myself, unless I'm in an area where there are other interns (I'm assuming).
Go with The New School housing. I've done the sublet on the UES, and would not recommend it. Union Square is a great place to be as a SA. There's a ton of young people in the area and you're close to every major subway line. Not to mention, the upper east side lacks any sort of personality and the night life you speak of is overrated.
Columbia housing is just too far. You're not going to want to make that commute, especially at 3AM on a regular basis.
Would it be hard to meet new people since I actually don'tknow anybody in the area? - I'm hoping that New School housing will also have a bunch of interns as well.
Actually, more people than you would imagine come onto Wall Street not knowing anybody (esp. those from non-targets). Just don't be socially awkward and you'll be fine.
I second the New School Housing opinion, just because of its proximity to work.
Unless you are socially inept it is very easy to meet people in the city. You dont have any friends from school or acquaintances who will also be working in the city for the summer? You will be working a lot more than you are partying but def take advantage of going out with your colleagues when you can.
http://www.newschool.edu/studentservices/housing/suinterships.aspx?s=9:6
I'm not that familiar with NY, but it doesn't look like the NS Housing is actually near Union Square... The Willam Residence is past Greenwich Village and the other residence is in Stuy town.
I might actually go SVA Housing if I were you - closer to work and Union Sq.
Proximity to work is most important, so I would go with Union Square or SVA Housing. Both of them are fine neighborhoods. You'll find places to hang out anywhere in New York. In fact, people in the city seem to think that being more than 20 minutes by subway is "far"...and since I'd lived in New York for over 20 years, I didn't realize how far out of touch with reality this was till I moved to Texas, where people regularly drive at least half an hour to get to work (and that's considered "close" here!)
hey Jwitty, I was in the exact same position as you are in. I found a great place on the upper east side for only around 800 bucks a month. If it's just for the summer, that'll do just fine, plus you safe some money, and still find plenty of people to socialize. I didn't know anyone either. Feel free to email me if you have any questions. [email protected]
Just my opinion, but I'm not 100% sure if you should go UES if your main concerns are convenience and meeting new people. As nystate said earlier, UES is a good place to play, but certainly not as great as you might think it is.
You'd also have a LONG commute ahead of you - while it doesn't seem like much now, it will be hell @ 3am when you're tired as hell.
Just my opinion, but I'm not 100% sure if you should go UES if your main concerns are convenience and meeting new people. As nystate said earlier, UES is a good place to play, but certainly not as great as you might think it is.
You'd also have a LONG commute ahead of you - while it doesn't seem like much now, it will be hell @ 3am when you're tired as hell.
If the office in question is on 50's, lower part of UES is actually much closer than Union Square...
i was worried about meeting friends last summer as a BB intern since i didn't know anyone from the east coast either. you'll get super close to your SA class during training and stuff and you won't really have a hard time meeting people at all. assuming you like some of the summers - you'll go out with them, they'll bring friends from school/home etc if they have any and you'll have a blast. no one i knew last summer @ my BB made friends based on where they lived/who they lived with. you're at work too many hours and all you want to do when you get home is crash - it's not like the dorms freshman year. so that being said i wouldn't live in columbia housing - it's WAY too far away. i'd honestly say that you should sublet in the UES, it's amazing not ahving to live in one of those shitty program dorm things - people will be so envious of you. having to sign in constantly is a pain in the ass.
the guy never said whether he's in midtown west or midtown east. but either way, being around union square affords the best commute...and most people his age will be hanging around midtown or downtown areas anyway. if he's midtown west, he definitely shouldn't consider living up UES if commute is a concern to him unless he doesn't mind transferring on subways or taxiing crosstown every day
no top boutique is in midtown west anyway. He can take 6 line from UES to 51st station. I agree there're much more subway lines around Union Square tho, and better nightlife.
Lazard is in Midtown West
does rockefeller plaza (Lazard) really count as midtown west? all you have to do is make 1 transfer on the 6...
also, if you wanted to go to 30 rock, youd still need to make a transfer if you lived in say, union square park (or anywhere thats not directly on the bdfv line).
So where should I pull the trigger? NY SVA is 4,000, New School Housing is 3500, but Columbia is only 2900. I could get a sublet in Union Square via CL if it came down to it (hopefully.
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