I know a lot of you out there are getting ready to make your final decision about where to attend law school - and some of you have probably never been to the NUSL campus, or to Boston generally. Although I had visited before I made the decision to attend, it was still daunting to think about moving to a new city and find housing in a place I knew so little about. So let me tell you a little about how I choose an apartment and a neighborhood.

I didn't want to make a decision without having seen a place, so I came to Boston for one weekend, sure that within that time frame I could set up an apartment. Well, I did get an apartment, but it didn't go as planned. I had lined up places to look at via ol' reliable Craigslist, but none of them turned out to be what I expected. Either the apartment didn’t look as advertised, or the roommates didn’t seem like a good fit. With only hours to go before I left Boston, I ducked into a real estate office and had the broker show me some apartments. I ended up signing a lease that day on a one bedroom apartment (which cost about $1300 a month), and with it a large check that included a broker fee. For me, the convenience was worth the fee, but if you have the time to look around, you should be able to find a place on your own, without a broker (and without that annoying fee).

If I didn’t know Boston, how did I decide where to live? Luckily, I had a few friends in the area and sent them the apartment listings that interested me, asking if the locations were any good. If you don't have friends in the area, another way to find out about neighborhoods is to take part in the online chats the admissions office holds, where you can ask current students about Boston and about housing.

If you are new to Boston, like me, I would recommend choosing one or two neighborhoods that seem like a good fit to you and then going from there. The most popular places for NUSL students to live are the area around Northeastern (sometimes just labeled Northeastern on listings, sometimes called Fenway area, and sometimes labeled Back Bay), and an area a bit further away from the school called Jamaica Plains (J.P.). I chose to live close to Northeastern for the convenience of being able to walk to school, and the closeness to shops and restaurants. The downside of the area is that it’s expensive and filled with students, like me, instead of having a more neighborhood-y feel. J.P., on the other hand, is a bit further from school (although accessible via the 39 bus or the Green and/or Orange line of the T), however there are more housing choices (houses as opposed to just apartments, for instance) and it’s a much quainter and quieter place to live, with families and schools as opposed to all students. I have stayed in my over-priced but perfectly located apartment for the first two years of law school, and love being able to walk home between classes. However, for my final year, now that I know the area, I am looking to switch places, maybe moving into the slower pace of J.P. We will see how that switch goes.

One final note, a lot of people ask me about housing when you are on co-op. I was worried about this as well, and convinced it would prohibit me from leaving Boston on co-op. However, it is so much easier than I expected. Since students are moving around all the time, I haven't had any problem getting great sublettors for when I am away. This coming year, a friend who is on the opposite co-op rotation from me is going to split the lease, so that neither of us has to worry about finding a sublettor! Perfect.

Next post I’ll write about some of my favorite things in Boston, to try to give you a sense of what it’s like living here. Good luck with the housing search!