When I first came to Philadelphia to start my program, I struggled to find housing. It's hard because you don't know anyone in the area yet and you don't have much of an opportunity to go looking at apartments (especially if you're from farther away). I got lucky because my mother went to college and law school here and has friends in the area who let us stay with them while we looked at apartments. But what do you do if you don't have that?
One resource I made good use of was the Penn Housing webpages (http://www.upenn.edu/provost/graduate_admissions/moving/housing/) Here I found information about on-campus and off-campus housing, and joining the off-campus search site helped me to find my current roommate. Penn definitely tries to provide as much assistance as possible in the housing search, but you do have to take some initiative in signing up for sites and sending messages to potential roommates.
I think one thing to note is that it IS important to do what you can to come visit and take a look at places here. Even if it's out of your way, it's worth it to make sure you're making the right decision when you sign a lease. I couldn't tell you how many places my roommate and I visited that sounded good but looked terrible when we actually went to visit.
This year, I had a bit more luck in finding a new roommate to share my apartment, since my current roomie's program is only one year and she's leaving once it's over. I used Penn's housing Facebook page, Craigstlist, and Penn's off-campus roommate site to find a new roommate, and in the end found someone through my roommate's recommendation.
All in all, it's not easy to find housing once you get your GSE acceptance letter. But I recommend following these tips:
- Start early!
- Use Penn's resources
- Facebook is your friend
- Visit before you sign!
- Don't be too concerned about getting as close to campus as possible (sometimes a place further from campus is the perfect place for you)
- Love where you live <3
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