By junior year, moving off of the South 40 becomes a very attractive option for most students. Besides fraternity members, who often choose the cheaper frat-house option, most upperclassmen decide to find an apartment in a nearby residential area, either through University subcontractors like Quadrangle Housing and Apartment Referral Service, or through a private realtor. University City seems to be the most popular area, with several streets such as Washington Avenue, Kingsbury Boulevard, Pershing, Waterman, University Drive, and Kingsland populated almost entirely by students. There are centrally located apartments east of Skinker and north of Delmar, as well, which are less popular but have generally cheaper rent. The Wash U-owned apartments, like Greenway, tend to be more expensive than privately-owned ones, but they have the benefit of amenities like Ethernet, laundry rooms, and package utilities. Plus, the advantages of not having to spend weeks knocking on doors looking for apartments, calling realtors, and later dealing with unhappy surprises from your landlord (“Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, the roaches here have dune buggies”) are worth considering.
There is fierce competition for the choice apartments, of course. Many are owned by Wash U, so your lottery number and those of your roommates will be decisive in whether or not you get something through the Wash U housing process. For the private route, the key is to first find someone living in an apartment you like who will be leaving next year (either by word of mouth, or by knocking on doors). Get them to sign a sheet saying they’ll turn over the lease to you at the end of their contract, and you’re set. Many apartments are handed down from friend to friend this way, but there’s always the old-fashioned door-to-door option, which has been known to work on occasion.
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Off-Campus Housing at Washington University in St. Louis
melster
Urban Studies and Affairs '15
4.6
A
Good
off campus housing is great. wash u does a great job of helping students out and many times off campus housing is much less expensive than on campus
May 11, 2012
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Off-Campus Housing at Washington University in St. Louis
D+
Not Very Safe
They do not provide a "how to"manual on where and where not to go: students have absolutely NO CLUE as to where the safe locations and non safe locations are in St. Louis off campus
Nov 16, 2011
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Off-Campus Housing at Washington University in St. Louis
B-
Great
Leasing is really inexpensive in St. Louis, but the apartments close to campus are older and have really high utility bills.
Dec 09, 2010
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User rating for Washington University in St. Louis - Off-Campus Housing is
3.5 out of 5
based on 21 user reviews.
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