Welcome crusaderterry...
It's dead on this board this time of year...even moreso after many consecutive awful seasons of basketball.
I was a commuter, so I have no experience with any of the dorms or apts...loved Greektown though....mmm, Mr. Greek's...I believe that's one of Curtis Granderson's favorite spots. While I was there, that always seemed like a safe section of campus....it was as you traveled more west that is got kind of shady, but even over the past 10 years, they've really improved the area...project housing came down (at least most of it)...new development up...especially just a couple minutes south down Halsted in University Village, which is really nice (not sure if you made it that far down).
As for the Tailor Lofts, until somebody here can give you a better review, I'll just point you to this post at UIC's reddit page. Obviously, take the comments with a grain of salt (some of it sounds exaggerated)...but here's what I found.
www.reddit.com/r/uicwhatshot/comments/s1fws/uic_class_of_2016_any_tipsinfo_for_an_incoming/[–]sixteenth 1 point 28 days ago*
Also, UIC's Mega Path Finder. You're welcome. Helps tremendously with finding classes.
Edit: For apartments, I really suggest using a realty/leasing company and find something in Uni Village or further up north. This is a subjective opinion, but I had a very bad experience living in one of those "student living" apartment buildings (Taylor Lofts, I hear Automatic is equally as bad, etc.). If you want to know more, PM me.
[–]Warshredder 1 point 28 days ago
I'm curious to know why you hated the Taylor lofts? I did a 'tour' and also hated it, but I want to hear an opinion from somebody that lived there.
[–]sixteenth 3 points 28 days ago*
Well, I don't want to completely diss them, so let me give you the pro's first:
• Great, friendly staff
• 24 hr gym
• Tanning bed (if you're into it)
• Elevators
• Doorman
• Internet and AT&T Uverse was satisfactory despite the entire building on one hub
That's about it. Here are the cons with living there
• It's a glorified dorm. Literally. Do not expect much more except a shorter walk to the gym if you use the one in the building.
• They imposed "rules" alike to living in a dorm AFTER I signed my lease. There was no mention of these rules on the lease I signed. These rules included fines for just about anything a dorm would fine for: $ for noise complaint 1st offense, $$ for second offense, possible eviction for 3rd, $ for garbage in the elevator, hallway, gym, tanning bed, or parking garage even when left by other residents, $ for open containers, etc. Some of these make some sense depending on a case-to-case examination, but my problem is with the fact that they imposed these rules after I signed my 12 month lease.
• Maximum two guests per resident may be inside the building. They did not point this out during the tour, neither is it on the lease.
• Everyone was loud. My neighbors were the loudest boneheads on the planet. I studied in my bathroom because it was only quiet place in the entire building.
• The gym was always a freaking mess.
• The tanning bed was always a freaking mess.
• The computers in the computer lab rarely worked due to residents downloading massive amounts of spyware/malware onto them. Printer broke every day.
• The rent is terribly expensive. They try to convince you that the first $100 covered for the electricity is worth it, but with central air and 3 other roommates, it will NEVER cover it.
• All of the furnishings are crap. They fall apart without the slightest amount of unintended force. The plastic leather on all of our couches and chairs were coming apart after completely usual use. Be prepared to pay for this at the end of your lease!
• The wall paint chips off if you brush it with a feather.
• Windows are not insulated whatsoever. In the winter, this becomes a major issue for your electricity bill. The heaters are electric floor fixtures that take hours to actually warm up enough to heat a room. When battling a poorly insulated space, they take 10x longer. We each had to make the choice to just pay a higher electricity bill or bundle up. I chose the latter.
• I had my clothes stolen twice from the laundry room.
• Instead of throwing their garbage down the trash chute, people would just leave it next to it until it piled up into a massive heap in the trash chute room and someone would have to be called to dispose of all of it. It was disgusting. The floor is forced to split the cost of whoever they hired to clean it up, of course.
• The elevators broke every other day due to misuse by the residents.
• Hundreds of underage drunk kids being drunk.
Most these problems are not linked to the administration of the building, but to the people who live there. Just want to make that clear. Don't expect anything more than what you would get in the dorms; except a lighter wallet because it is more expensive.