Kellogg/Northwestern Housing

Unlike my Kellogg MBA classmates, this year I'll be living in downtown Chicago and not Evanston. The JD-MBA program begins at the law school, which is downtown, and I want to live as close to campus as possible. Once I begin my studies my second year at Kellogg, I'll plan to move down to Evanston.

Aside from not seeing a lot of my Kellogg buddies regularly, I'm pretty psyched to live downtown. Chicago is an amazing city; it's open late (4 and 5 am), has a lot of fun spots, has lots of cool people, and is cheap relative to comparable big cities (NYC, SF, LA, Boston). What's also great is that there are a lot of places to stay that are just a two blocks or so from the law school campus.

I'll be living downtown in a high rise at the end of on East Ohio. It's on the 40th floor and has a view of the beach on Lake Michigan. It's a great building that's pretty new, includes utilities in the rent, has a modern design, and has a gym, lap pool, and free business center inside. A lot of the JD-MBAs and law students will be there, so I suspect it will be a really good time. All you Kellogg'ers should definitely give me a shout when you make it out to the city, which I hear is about once per week for many of you.

Speaking of Kellogg folks, I've recently chatted with a lot of Kellogg friends about Evanston housing decisions for the first year. A lot of the new admits I've met will be living in one of two places.

1) The Reserve. I hear this place is the best deal for how nice the place is. Everything is new there, and it also has a gym which is a nice selling point. The downside is that I've heard some people don't enjoy the neighborhood because its noisy with too many students.

2) McManus. This is a nice seven-story apartment complex that's pretty central to campus. It's definitely convenient, close to campus, includes utilities, and is filled with Kellogg kids. This place is great, because you can leave for the summer without having any fees. The negative here is that it feels a bit dormy.

Of all the alternatives I've heard of, McManus is the most appealing to me. But I've got a long time until I need be thinking about it.