My fiancee has been wanting to attend UC berkeley as a grad school for sometime now. We live in Sacramento now and i'd like to know a few things. Where's the best place to live based on cost of living? i did my HW and it seems most areas in the BA are 70% higher in every respect compared to sacto Anyway, we're looking for a location that's an easy, short commute etc. We pretty much want everything handed to us on a silver platter So.... if you were me where would you live!? What would be your "plan of attack"

I really need to know and really appreciate anyone's input.

Eric

 

hunters point

its super cheap

 

stay in sac and tell her to stop with them stupid ideas of schjool and an education.. SHe should just know how to cook and clean and be good in bed damnit.. all these damn edumacted women runnin around now a days are allways up to no damn good.

 

Richmond, but you have to pay your rent in crack rocks

 

if u want a house out in the bay specifically berkeley/emeryville area...good luck...a lot the homes out there r way over priced for what u get...u might find some decent apartments out there but u still pay a lot for a little hole in the wall...u can try pinole/hercules, san leandro, hayward...or stay in sac and have her go to davis...

 

yeah what does she want to go to grad school in? Davis might be better in that category than berkeley...

 

Unfortunately, the rental price in the entire bay area is way over-priced. For an average 2-bedroom apt or house in Berkeley or nearby area, you are looking at around $1500 per month.

If you want a short local drive, you can consider Albany or El Cerrito, both are immediately north of Berkeley and very close. If you go further north, that's Richmond - it's cheaper but not too safe. If you go south, first major city is Oakland - not too safe (most part).

So depends on how close you want to be near school. If you guys plan to marry soon, she could apply for University Village housing which is located in Albany - 10 minute local drive to school.

 

Albany is so darn cute!

 

Pinole might be a good idea. From what I remember, it's ok there.

 

Commute from Pinole to Berkeley might suck though as does parking near/on campus. Check into that situation before you look anywhere too far from BART. BART opens the possibility of living in SF if that appeals but its not going to be cheap

You are going to have to trade something. Only you can say what's most important to you. If it was me, for a couple of years I'd maximise the Berkely experience and get a close to campus as possible and put up with a lack of facilities. You can always move after 6mos if you find its not to your liking and you know the area better. You'll pay more for less but being close reduces commute pain/cost and the lifestyle might be worth it. That assumes you don't have kids of course. Then different things apply.

If you want modern suburbs you are probably going to have to commute a long way to get anything affordable.

Albany is pretty expensive because it has a good school district. I think the same is true of El Cerrito to a slightly lesser extent There are some towns like Kensigton that are less because they are technically in the Richmond school district (I think) which is supposedly awful. The Richmond hills are ok, I think, and are probably cheaper for the same reason. Starting to get a bit far from the campus tho.

 

Hell, i tried to convince her to attend sac state too. I figure a grad program is a grad program in the end!? She's the the type that will buy jeans on sale at a thrift store, drive around in a hybrid car because it's economical, then drop $120k on an education because it "wallpaper" for her resume. The only reason why she went to an ivy league school was because her family in japan knew that paticular school. I love her to death but it seems like she's wants a masters for the wrong reasons. oh well...

Anyway, i also tried to convince her to try davis. I figure the student loans might be close to berkley (less I hope). At least we wouldn't have to deal with moving to a different place, you know? As much as i enjoy the BA it's just too much of a PITA to close shop and deal with a bunch of ****ing hippies.

So if Chuck, Mike (Slack & Dorifto88 etc) and whoever else reads this that attends Davis i need a favor. Could you tell me if Davis has a good language dept... Japanese to be exact!? I'd really appreciate it a lot. I want to hear what davis has to offer from an actual student, not the internet.

thanks, eric

 

I don't know anything about Davis' language departments but you should talk to Bemani(Alan), I think he majored in Japanese(along w/ engineering), he would probably be able to give you a better idea than me.

 

All I can add to this thread is: Davis is cheaper than Berkeley.

 

Actually, I just minored in Japanese. The professors are very knowledgable. The language classes were pretty well taught, and there were always TAs available. They offered quite a few classes, so you have a good choice of course to take. It was more enjoyable than engineering, that's for sure

 

live in downtown oakland..off E 14th street if possible. Cheap rent..and very safe...