25F Moving for grad school, need advice!!
Hi everyone!! I’m moving to NJ this summer for medical school in Nutley (SO excited) and could really use some advice on where to live because I’m honestly getting overwhelmed searching.
I’m a 25F moving from out of state. I specifically want a solo 1-bedroom apartment because I previously had a really bad roommate experience and cannot handle the added stress during med school.
My priorities are as follows:
- SAFE area
- within ~15-20 mins of Nutley
- ideally around $2k/month give or take
- in-unit washer/dryer (I feel like for these NJ prices this is not an insane ask 😭)
I don’t care about nightlife/luxury amenities/fancy gyms/etc. I just want somewhere clean, safe, and professionally managed where I won’t be fighting management constantly or worried walking to my car alone.
The issue I’m running into is that every apartment building I find has horrible reviews OR suspiciously perfect reviews that are called out by other reviewers for being fake/incentivized. Since I’m not from NJ, I also don’t really know which towns/areas are considered safe vs areas to avoid.
Right now I’ve been looking around Nutley, Clifton, and Bloomfield, but I would REALLY appreciate honest local opinions from anyone, but especially women.
If you have:
- apartment complexes you actually recommend
- management companies to avoid
- areas/neighborhoods that are safest
- realistic expectations for my budget
- advice about commuting/traffic around Nutley
I would be super grateful. Thank you so much :)