The email finally came. Sure enough, you were among the chosen. Now that you’ve been accepted, the real work begins. Tender your resignation and prepare your successor – that’s easy enough. Take out a loan? Check! Pack your boxes and find a place to live? Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Ah, the joy of apartment shopping – an exercise that reminds you how little power you have…and just how good you had it before. Out there, it’s cutthroat competition for cramped quarters replete with 1970s-style fixtures and crusty carpets. You know the drill: no nails, no screws, no paint – no personal style whatsoever. The hidden fees are par for the course, as are leaky faucets, indifferent heaters, and raucous neighbors. And yes, that was a gunshot you just heard!
RENTS RUN $3,000 A MONTH OR MORE AT NYU STERN AND MIT SLOAN
Stanford GSB Highland Hall: The purple ball is a signature style element of Mexican architects Legorreta + Legorreta
Alas, MBA students rarely face such horrors. Some schools, such as Stanford GSB, boast campus living quarters that would rival the Marriott. Other programs, including Chicago Booth, can rely on landlords who cater to MBAs – even offering study space and computer labs to boot. Still, where you live has a big impact on your MBA experience. If you live away for campus, you’re bound to miss out on those impromptu gatherings that feed your relationships. Fact is, some housing – both on- and off-campus – are extensions of school culture, which means more opportunities for collaboration and community.
That’s one reason why mbaMission examines housing options in its newly-released Insider Guides. These free annual guides, which are available through Poets&Quants, examine 16 leading American MBA programs (and INSEAD) top-to-bottom on everything from clubs and culture to curriculum and concentrations. As part of its section on where to live, the mbaMission guides look at the dorms and apartment complexes where students are living; how much they are paying for rent; the transportation options available; and the local and regional attractions – including bars and restaurants and cultural and entertainment venues available to MBAs at each school.
Naturally, rent is a major concern for MBAs. In concert with Rentometer, mbaMission tabulated the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment near programs like Harvard, Chicago Booth, Stanford, Wharton, Columbia, Michigan Ross, and Duke Fuqua. Not surprisingly, New York and Boston units were most expensive. Notably, an apartment within .2 miles of NYU Stern cost $3,157, with MIT Sloan and Harvard Business School students shelling out $3,041 and $2,777 respectively. Mind you, these numbers don’t count university-run housing. Even more, they don’t doesn’t necessarily calculate deposits, utilities, and fees either.
RENTS FALLING…IN NEW YORK CITY!
At the low end, you’ll find college town programs, with Charlottesville (Virginia Darden), Hanover (Dartmouth Tuck), Durham (Duke Fuqua), and Ithaca (Cornell Johnson) all ranking among the lowest rents for top tier MBA programs. This isn’t necessarily a hard-and-fast rule, however. Notably, MBA students will pay slightly more in Ann Arbor (Michigan Ross) than in Hyde Park (Chicago Booth) or Evanston (Northwestern Kellogg). By the same token, rent in neighborhoods surrounding the Wharton School – the world’s top MBA program in some rankings – averages just $1,396 – nearly a $1,000 less than Berkeley.
That’s because finding a place near Berkeley is becoming an increasingly expensive proposition. Looking at rental costs between the 2016 and 2018, the price of a one bedroom pad for MBAs has jumped 44.5%, the large gain among the programs that mbaMission evaluates. Similarly, rent within a 1.5 radius of the Duke Fuqua campus in Durham has climbed 40% — an increase nearly matched by UCLA Anderson (39.5%). That said, there is one region where MBAs are experiencing a decrease in rent over the past two years: New York City. Within .2 of a mile of Columbia Business School, rent has fallen by 12.5%, a number slightly better than its Greenwich counterpart (though both schools’ numbers are based on a different radius from 2016, which could explain the two year changes at several MBA programs).
Where exactly do MBAs live among top schools? What are these facilities like? What kind of walk or drive is involved in these locales? Here are Insider Guide excerpts that offer a look at where school peers choose to live – and why!
Members of the Berkeley Haas Class of 2019. Photo courtesy of UC-Berkeley Haas School of Business
U.C.-Berkeley (Haas): Both on- and off-campus housing are available, but most Haas students live off campus, approximately 15–25 minutes away. Many live in the neighborhoods surrounding Berkeley and walk or bike to school, though some students (mostly second years) do commute from San Francisco (approximately a half-hour drive with no traffic). Berkeley is easily accessible via San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit system, called the BART, and the Berkeley BART Station is a 15-minute walk from Haas (campus shuttles are also available without cost for students)…
The university’s Cal Rentals housing service offers assistance with both on- and off-campus housing; however, we learned that most students typically find their housing through Craigslist. According to the Haas website, the average rent in off-campus housing in the area was from $750 to $1,000 a month for a studio, $850 to $1,400 for a one-bedroom, and upwards of $1,200 for a two-bedroom apartment. As one second-year student noted, “It’s high for most of the country, but nothing compared to Manhattan.” On campus, the Manville, Garden Village, and Ida Jackson Apartments are designated for single graduate students, while married students— with or without families—can choose between East and West Village within University Village (Albany).”
UCLA Anderson MBA Students
UCLA Anderson: “Several Anderson alumni and students we interviewed for this guide informed us that although on-campus housing is available, most students choose to live in apartments off campus and primarily occupy several neighborhoods on the western side of Los Angeles, namely Westwood, Brentwood, West Los Angeles, and Santa Monica. According to a second year with whom we spoke, university-owned apartments are scarce, and students who are interested in such housing should apply for space early. This individual also recommended that students with children live in university-owned housing, because it tends to be more affordable than off-campus apartments. Four university-owned apartment complexes are located in the Palms/Mar Vista areas (approximately five miles from Anderson’s campus), and two are in Westwood Village, within walking distance of the school…
Getting around Los Angeles via public transportation is certainly possible, but for most Anderson students, like other Los Angeles residents, cars are the primary means of transportation (contributing to the city’s well-known traffic problems). In fact, one alumna told mbaMission that having a car at Anderson is critical.”
University of Chicago, Booth School of Business
University of Chicago (Booth): “For years, Hyde Park was maligned as a dangerous part of Chicago, but the neighborhood has gentrified significantly and appears to have even earned some cachet. Hyde Park is now perhaps best known for being the Chicago home of [Barack Obama]. Some Chicago Booth students are not concerned about Hyde Park’s safety but told mbaMission that the area is fairly quiet at night and that students who do not live downtown might miss out on all that Chicago has to offer. Still, Hyde Park has its charms, being a neighborhood where both professors and student families live, and it is economical, with one-bedroom apartments costing approximately $1,200 per month (according to real estate website Trulia.com), compared with approximately $1,900 per month downtown…
Commenting on the preference many students have for downtown living, one first year wrote in an April 2013 post on her personal blog, “MBAs have been out of school for at least three years (some of us even 10+ 13 mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Booth School of Business · 2018–2019 years) and have become used to living a certain way. If we have the opportunity to maintain that lifestyle (lack of income and debt be damned), we’re going to do it. Hyde Park is lovely, but most of us just aren’t about that 2.5 kids, Sunday at the park life quite yet. Chicago’s public transportation makes it easy to commute to school and we have lockers so that we can keep the stuff we need on campus to avoid extra trips. Given these conveniences, we choose to live where Chicago’s night life does.” One first year who had enrolled in the program with their partner wrote in a November 2016 guest post on the Booth Experience blog: “Residing in the Loop neighborhood has proved to be the perfect urban adventure, offering us quick access to restaurants, shops, museums, and Chicago hallmarks. Exploring the city is our favorite pastime activity.”
Columbia Business School
Columbia Business School: “Because CBS—like most locations in New York City—can easily be reached via public transportation, students set up residence in many different neighborhoods. Incoming students who were living in the New York City area before enrolling in CBS often keep their established apartments. Downtown New York is an approximately 30- to 45-minute commute to campus by public transportation, but given that Manhattan is notorious for cramped, expensive apartments, those seeking more space or more affordable housing may opt to live in Brooklyn, Queens, or New Jersey instead, though commuting from these areas can take an hour or more…mbaMission learned that generally, CBS students choose to live near campus, either in the Morningside Heights area surrounding the school or approximately 15 minutes south of campus on the Upper West Side (though apartments in this area can often be more expensive than those to the east)…
Rent is undoubtedly a factor in where most CBS students choose to live. Roommates are almost a must for single students…Prospective students should be aware that choosing to navigate the Manhattan real estate market with the aid of a broker often requires paying a fee and putting down a security deposit, which means that renters need a significant amount of cash up front to find and secure a place. CBS is aware of this issue and offers apartment listings for incoming students, but the school’s resources in this area are reportedly limited. Through email groups, first-year students can sometimes find other incoming classmates with whom to share housing. Some incoming students even arrange to take over the apartments of graduating second years, which in some cases allows the incoming students to avoid a broker’s fee. In general, students who share housing with a roommate should expect to pay at least $1,500 a month.”
The Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island
Cornell University (Johnson): “Johnson students generally live in apartments and houses near campus. Although Johnson offers some on-campus graduate housing, the best bet seems to be renting a place off campus. The Collegetown neighborhood is a short walk to campus, but some students with whom we spoke complained about density (in the form of limited parking space) and noise (in the form of undergraduates). According to a 2017 student survey available on the school’s website, titled “Destination Johnson Guide to Ithaca Housing,” the largest concentration of Johnson students—30% of respondents—can be found at apartment complex Collegetown Terrace. Rent, which includes most utilities, at Collegetown Terrace ranges from $1,050 to $1,560 for a studio up to $3,345 for a three-bedroom apartment…Renting private homes—either alone or in a group—is very common within the Ithaca housing market, but those hoping to stay closer to campus tend to opt for newer apartment complexes.
Tuck Tripod Hockey
Dartmouth College (Tuck): “More than half the first year class lives on campus in furnished dorm rooms with private baths, such as in Tuck’s Whittemore Hall, which opened in 2000, and the sleek and modern Living and Learning Complex, which opened in 2009 (and which includes Achtmeyer and Pineau-Valencienne Halls). Tuck’s residential community also provides convenience, allowing classmates to easily meet for study group sessions and social activities.
At roughly $12,100 to $14,700 per school year, the cost of on-campus housing is comparable to that of off-campus accommodations. However, only single students are eligible to apply for on-campus housing, which is limited to 145 rooms and is determined through a lottery. Referring to the quality of Tuck’s living options, a first year we interviewed commented, “There is no bad place to live on Tuck’s campus.” A second-year student told mbaMission that the dorms are “one of the really cool things for single people coming to Tuck. Because the dorms are connected to the classrooms, you get a large group of people who live, study, party, hang out, do everything in this series of buildings, which builds community…
Second-year students have off-campus housing options in Hanover and neighboring towns, which can be as close as a 10–15 minute walk to campus or as far as a 10–20 minute drive. Advance Transit provides free public bus service between the Dartmouth grounds and nearby communities, according to Tuck’s website. For those who prefer to live alone, one-bedroom apartments closer to campus tend to cost between approximately $700 and $1,300 per month, sometimes including heat and hot water.”
The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University (Photo by Alex Boerner)
Duke University (Fuqua): “A second year we interviewed claimed that the majority of Fuqua students live in one of two apartment complexes—Alden Place at South Square (formerly Alexan Place at South Square) and Station Nine—and that the students in these complexes are evenly divided between the two. He noted a definite demographic split between the two residences in that students who choose to live in Station Nine are generally single and from the United States, whereas Alden Place residents are typically married, in committed relationships, and/or international. A first year we interviewed agreed that Station Nine was among the most popular, but nominated the Berkshire Ninth Street residence as the other most popular option. International students reportedly also prefer the apartment complex ARIUM Pinnacle Ridge. All these complexes are independent of Duke University and are located within fve miles of the business school. All have ample parking and impressive amenities, such as pools, 24-hour health clubs, laundry rooms/machines, and club houses. Students often live in the same complex for both years of the MBA program.”
The Harvard Business School campus
Harvard Business School: “More than 80% of HBS students live on campus in dorms or apartment complexes, including One Western Avenue, a LEED Silver-certified tower that offers views of Boston, Cambridge, and the Charles River. Because of the high demand for on-campus housing, spaces are assigned via a lottery. Boston’s housing market can be quite expensive, and on-campus housing is no different. For example, rents for a one-bedroom apartment in One Western Avenue range from just over $2,000 to approximately $2,450 per month…
Most students are able to get around town without a car,
thanks in large part to the easy availability of taxis, buses, and, especially, the “T” (short for MBTA, or Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority), Boston’s subway system.”
Ross students working up their Ross Diaries talk in Story Lab.
University of Michigan (Ross): “The affordability, safety, and accessibility of public housing allow Ross students to easily live within walking or biking distance of campus. Those who live further away from grounds can take public transportation or drive to get to campus; however, parking is often limited. Of the more than 600 students who completed the Ross MBA Housing Guide 2017–2018 survey (conducted by housing search company VeryApt), 75% reported that they commute by foot, while 10% use public transit, 6% drive to campus, 6% bike, and 3% use a cab, an Uber, or a Lyft.
Most of the respondents reported that commuting to campus takes them five to 15 minutes on foot or five to ten minutes by bike. Proximity to campus is something to consider, given the severity of Michigan’s winters, which could make for an unpleasant commute for those not accustomed to snow or frigid temperatures. Half of the survey respondents said that they live in a mid- or high-rise apartment building, while 43% reported that they live in a standalone apartment unit, low-rise, or a house, and 7% said they live in a mid- or high-rise condo building. The majority, or 34%, said their household has three or more bedrooms, while 30% lived in a two-bedroom, 29% in a one-bedroom, and 7% in a studio or efficiency.”
MIT Sloan, Class of 2018 members
MIT (Sloan): “MIT itself sits right on the Charles, halfway between Central Square and Kendall Square. The school’s relatively new Sloan building, which was completed in summer 2010 (see the Facilities section for more information), offers views out over the river. MIT’s graduate campus housing, which consists of six dormitory/apartment buildings and two family buildings, can accommodate approximately one-third of the MIT’s graduate students. Many married students at MIT live in the Eastgate Apartments if they do not already own a home or rent a place in the Boston/Cambridge area. Eastgate is open to all MIT students, but the school limits how long residents can live there to just two years before accepting reapplications via lottery. As a result, and also because of its proximity to the MIT campus, it tends to attract more MBA students than, for example, PhD students…
Those we interviewed informed us that the most popular dormitory for Sloan students is the Sidney-Pacific, located at the intersection of Sidney and Pacific streets in Cambridgeport, an approximately 15-minute walk from the Sloan campus. International students tend to choose the Sidney-Pacific because moving to a dorm is easier than navigating Boston’s real estate market. Shared quad suites at the Sidney-Pacific rented for $863 per person, per month in 2017–2018. Monthly rent for a two-bedroom suite in the building was $1,295 per person, while private efficiency apartments rented for $1,454 per month. Other Sloan students typically live in apartments located along the T’s Red Line—which affords them easy access to campus via public transportation—in Central Square, Harvard Square, and Kendall Square.”
NYU’s Stern School of Business
New York University (Stern): “Stern offers one on-campus housing option for its students; however, at NYU, the phrase “on campus” means something unique. Stern’s on campus housing is clustered in and among non-NYU apartment buildings. The 13th through 16th floors of Palladium Hall, which is located near Union Square (roughly a 15-minute walk from campus), are reserved for approximately 120 Stern students and/or incoming international exchange graduate students…The building offers a traditional dormitory type feel, with both single and double room options, as well as a fitness center, an on-site laundry, and computer facilities on the MBA floors. According to information posted online by NYU Stern’s Office of Student Engagement, for the 2017–2018 academic year, applicants were asked to pay a $999 reservation deposit, while the housing rate was $10,714 per semester for a single at Palladium.
According to a member of the Stern admissions team, many of the school’s students, particularly those with children, choose to live off campus in housing they acquire independently and/or with the help of NYU’s Off-Campus Student Housing Office. The Admissions Office at Stern partners with the greater NYU Housing Office to assist students.”
Kellogg School of Management’s Global Hub was the second Northwestern building to receive a LEED Platinum certification
Northwestern University (Kellogg): “Kellogg students generally live in several apartment buildings near campus, which are 5–15 minutes from the school by foot. Evanston Place, The Park Evanston, and The Reserve at Evanston are considered the more “luxurious” apartments, offering such amenities as doormen, fitness centers, and pools. Rents in these buildings can range from approximately $1,600 to nearly $3,000 per month for a one-bedroom apartment. Meanwhile, the older 1500 Chicago Ave building is considered nice but is not as expensive, with a one-bedroom apartment costing between $1,450 and $1,525 per month, and is the furthest from campus. Some students, particularly internationals, choose to live in McManus Living and Learning Center, a university-owned building on campus that offers several sizes of fully furnished suites. One-bedroom apartments in McManus rent from nearly $5,000 to more than $5,800 per quarter (fall, winter, and spring). Because students tend to live around the Kellogg grounds, few take their cars to school. Many walk, and commuting is reportedly not an issue.
The city of Chicago is a 25-minute cab or train ride away. Students with whom we spoke reported traveling to Chicago anywhere from once a week to once every two weeks. Almost all Kellogg students live in Evanston and tend to like the town, so many “choose to ‘live’ Evanston,” as one second-year student told us.”
The Wharton School has poured significant resources into entrepreneurship recently. Courtesy photo
University of Pennsylvania (Wharton): “Wharton students have a wide range of options. Most students choose to rent apartments in Center City, near Rittenhouse Square. Often considered the ritzy part of town and boasting a plethora of restaurants and bars, Center City offers a variety of housing choices: brownstone walk-ups, mid-rise buildings, and high-rises with doormen and elevators. From Center City, students can commute to campus by walking or riding a bicycle (25 and 15 minutes, respectively), taking public transportation in the form of a bus or trolley (each approximately 15 minutes), or grabbing a cab (ten minutes with light traffic)—the preferred option of those who find themselves late for class.
For those who want to live closer to Wharton, University City offers a variety of apartment types and eating options, as well as the hubbub of a college campus. MBA students who opt to serve as Resident Advisors for undergraduate students at the University of Pennsylvania (known as Penn or UPenn) enjoy cheaper rent but arguably noisier quarters. Students who desire a little more separation from MBA life can fnd housing in other Philadelphia neighborhoods such as Old City (east of Center City), Northern Liberties (northeast of Center City), and Queen Village (southeast of Center City).
Stanford GSB’s Knight Management Center
Stanford GSB: “Most students opt to live on campus during their first year to be closer to their classmates, their classes, and the many extracurricular activities the school offers. Candidates who apply in the first or second rounds of MBA admissions can add their names to a lottery to be selected randomly to receive on-campus housing.
Two residences are dedicated to GSB students only: Highland Hall, which welcomed its first residents in the fall of 2016, and the Schwab Residential Center, which opened in 1997. The 145,000-square-foot, 202-unit Highland Hall complex was a $75M endeavor for the school and features three courtyards, nine common living or gathering areas, and a four-story tower at the entrance. According to the school, nearly all first year students are able to reside in the complex if they so please. The complex is located approximately 300 feet from the business school, with apartments set up as two-person suites; each resident has a private bedroom with study space and a private bathroom; the two suitemates share a kitchen.
The Schwab Residential Center is an apartment complex adjacent to Highland Hall that houses approximately 200 unmarried students, primarily those in the first year of the MBA program. Schwab also offers a computer lab, 34 study rooms (each equipped with a computer), outdoor areas, two TV lounges, parking (with permit), and a fitness room, and is located next to Stanford’s main exercise facility. Students can either select a suitemate themselves or can fill out a questionnaire on their habits and preferences and then be matched with another student to share a suite at Highland or Schwab. Rent at both residences for the 2017–2018 academic year was set at $1,875 per person, per month…
Other on-campus housing options exist for singles, as well as for couples and families. These include Escondido Village, known as “EV,” which is the largest apartment complex on campus; the Liliore Green Rains Houses; the Lyman Graduate Residences; and the Munger Graduate Residences. EV offers low-, mid-, and high-rise apartments for students from all of Stanford’s graduate schools; monthly rents range from approximately $795 (per student) for a triple-occupancy apartment to $2,627 for a premium one-bedroom 13 mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Stanford Graduate School of Business · 2018–2019 couple’s apartment. The Rains Houses—home to almost 800 single students—include the Multicultural Theme House, which supports the needs of students of color.”
First year Darden classroom
University of Virginia (Darden): “Students generally live off campus but close to the school; many live either in Ivy Garden (an apartment complex) or Huntington Village (a townhouse complex)—both of which are situated directly adjacent to campus. An alumnus described Huntington Village to us as having “a community feel; you’re all living there together, but it is not as insular, as on-top-of-each other, as a dorm.”
We asked a first year about his living arrangements, to which he replied, “I’m living in Ivy Garden—located right beside Darden—the most popular place for first years … I would recommend [that] first years, especially international students, stay at Ivy Gardens, because you won’t have much time for anything else. However, if you are coming with a spouse and/or kids and pets, whether you are a domestic or international student, I recommend reaching out to current students or the admissions office for help and advice in finding the right accommodation for your needs.”
A class at Yale School of Management
Yale SOM: “Although graduate student housing is available, the majority of SOM students (an estimated 95%, according to a first year we interviewed) live off campus in the neighborhoods surrounding the university. The East Rock area, also known as “graduate student ghetto” or “Grad Haven,” is on the Yale Shuttle line and has rents averaging approximately $1,500 per month for a two-bedroom apartment. A first-year student told mbaMission that one housing complex popular with SOM students is Mansfield, which constitutes of five buildings a block from campus and less than five minutes from the school.”
MORE HOUSING RESOURCES
Looking for additional information on MBA student housing? Below, you’ll find links to each school’s housing page, which includes information on various housing options as well as services and resources provided by the school in this area.
Northwestern University (Kellogg)
University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
University of Virginia (Darden)
To download your free Insider Guides, click here.
DON’T MISS: NINE SCHOOLS BREAK $200K TOTAL COST BARRIER
BEST & BRIGHTEST MBAS: CLASS OF 2018
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1 comment:
Thanks for sharing knowledgeable information. We are a student accommodation provider in USA. We often get queries from student about the top business school. I will definitely share your blog with students.
thanks & Regards
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