Where is the best place to live, and what university is best in Chicago?

Question

My boyfriend and I are moving to Chicago in January. He's going to grad school, and I'm hoping to continue my education part-time. We want to know where the best places are to live on a fairly limited budget, and what universities are best for both grad school for him, and for part-time undergraduate attendence (not necessarily the same university) for me.
He's thinking of applying to either Northwestern or the University of Chicago. Which one would be recommended?
I know this is a lot to ask, so if you can only answer a part, it all helps.

Answer 1

If I had to pick the two best colleges in Chicago, it would be Northwestern and U of Chicago.
Chicago tips the scales because it has the most Nobel prize winners on staff. They discovered nuclear fusion, for crying out loud - Enrico Fermi, et al.

UC is on the south side, in the Hyde Park neighborhood.
Northwestern is in Evanston, a suburb just north of town.
It is probably more affordable than Hyde Park.

Getting into grad school at either one, his transcipts had better be pretty impressive, as well as his GREs. Best of luck on making it through all the hoops (been there, done that).

Answer 2

Well, if he goes to Northwestern, try Rogers Park or Evanston itself. Northwestern is in Evanston and you may be able to find something reasonable there. Rogers Park is the Chicago neighborhood closest to Evanston and both are right along the lakeshore. The rent there is pretty cheap right now and it's a pretty cool neighborhood. A few independent coffee shops (and, yes, a Starbucks), a few storefront theater companies, a small three screen movie theater (I think they still have midnight showings of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show") musical instrument stores, non-chain book stores, etc. Loyola University's lakefront campus is located here as well. There is a bit of a crime problem in the area, but people are working together to reduce it and it seems to be working. Rogers Park always had a bit of a hippie hangout reputation and it's still there (a little bit). The Heartland Cafe is sort of the central meeting place for all of the bohemian types.Like I said, rent is pretty cheap there right now and I think you can get a one bedroom for aboutg $600 a month (maybe even a little less). As for the University of Chicago, it's situated in the Hyde Park neighborhood. It's a mixed neighborhood and while it has a lot of shops, I don't see a lot to do there. There's a movie theater and a couple of bars that are frequented by U of C students and faculty (Jimmy's woodlawn Tap is the main one), but other than that, most people have to go downtown or beyond for entertainment. It's close to the Museum of Science and Industry but after a few visits you're pretty much done with it. Admittedly there is a crime problem there; just this morning there was a news report about a pizza restaurant manager there who was killed in a robbery in the restaurant's kitchen. It's not a bad neighborhood, it just doesn't feel like the people there are "together". This group stays with this group and that group stays with that group and everybody just tolerates each other. At least in Rogers Park there is a lot of diversity (black, white, asian, latino, Indian, etc.) and there is a lot of good interaction.

Other schools he might want to check out are DePaul (in an expensive neighborhood but you can easily commute there from anywhere) and the University of Illinois at Chicago (a changing neighborhood that is being take over by condos, but again, you can commute there from anywhere).

Answer 3

Members have already given you some excellent advice -- although finding a good affordable place to live might be quite challenging, everything is so expensive. A member said that there are rentals for $600 or so, in the Rogers Park area. Haven't seen a decent one at that price as of yet. Be ready to spend more in the area of $800 - $1200. if you want live within the areas with the great transportation system.

As far as schools go.... the two are on opposite ends of each other, both are in good areas. As far as deciding which one to go to, it all depends on your field of study. University of Chicago is "Old Money" has been around for a long time and is an Ivy-league school, very prestigious. Northwestern is just as good but I wouldn't place the two in the same category.

Answer 4

Your best bet would be going to Northwestern, because it is a highly successful school, and they have some of the best education there, and as for your wanting to live in the area, I would recommend living inland, because living by the lake costs $1,000 and up, and I believe living in the northwest side is all right, but the South Side of town is the cheapest, and to get to Northwestern, you take the Red Line to Howard, and then you hop on the Purple line, and I think Northwestern should be close to the Purple Line.

Answer 5

Not too sure about the colleges, but as far as living goes, check out Wrigleyville. It's by Wrigley Park and is typically a younger, college aged crowd. It's a little farther off of the lake too, so it's not as cold. You shouldn't have to worry about where in the city you are either, because the public transportation system is great. Very thorough and easy to understand. There are a ton more places too...try the Chicago craigslist too...they should be able to help out more.

Answer 6

The University of Chicago is by FAR the most prestigious school in Chicago (it's where my little sister currently goes). It is Ivy-level, unlike Northwestern, and has sent a larger percentage of its graduates on to Harvard Law School and Yale Law School than Northwestern. Its campus is SPECTACULAR: see pictures at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Chicago

More facts:
-All of the current Supreme Court justices went to one of four universities: Harvard, Yale, Stanford (my alma mater), and the University of Chicago
-The University of Chicago has more Nobel Prize laureates than any other school in the country
-The University of Chicago was the site of the first nuclear reaction in world history
-The average SAT score at the UofC is the 7th highest in the country, and its peer assessment rating in the U.S. News and World Report is a 4.6, one of the highest in the country as well (for comparison, Northwestern's is 4.4)

Downsides: The University of Chicago unfortunately is very elite and hard to get into. It is a private school where over half of its student body come from families that make over $100K. It is like a large prep school only with Nobel-prize winning professors (there are NO teaching assistants at the U of C...at all!).

The biggest downside however is that it is often confused for a public school by the ignorant masses of Illinois. However, go to NYC or the Northeast (where I grew up) and everyone knows what you're talking about when you say you went to the University of Chicago. If you decide to study economics there, you're pretty much financially set for the rest of your life.

(In fact, if you read last year's Aims of Education address, you'll find that over half of UofC's alumni from the 1970s are currently millionaires (net worth), and without exception, all of them are in the Top 25% income bracket of the United States! You should really read the entire address...it speaks volumes about the institution.)

Answer 7

UIC is the bomb!