Housing information can be found through the Office of Student Affairs, which maintains a housing webpage. An important additional resource for housing information is the Harvard Housing Office, which offers a wide range of housing options for graduate students. HPRE is responsible for Harvard-affiliated apartments, and keeps lists of other apartments that are available in Cambridge and the surrounding communities. It also runs a roommate exchange and provides various other real-estate services.
"As for housing suggestions, I would say the biggest help for me was to go to the Harvard Housing office and look at their note cards that list people looking for roommates. And, along those lines, not to be afraid to live with people you don't know. Most graduate students are so busy that you don't spend much time with roommates, and you can find really nice, cheaper housing that way. Also, I recommend keeping an eye on emails from the TEP office -- they often send out good info from prior TAC members and others."
- Jed W., current TAC student
"If you can afford it, come here and look for housing. Looking on the internet is not enough! Especially if you don't have a car, you want to be sure you are near transportation, groceries and laundry facilities."
- Abby P., current MCMS student
"Once you are admitted, you will be put on an email list for incoming TEP students. TEP students and Ed School students who are leaving the area will post to this list, and you can contact these students if you're interested in taking their apartments... Just be prepared that housing here is EXPENSIVE! One-bedrooms and studios start at $1000-1400!
"Other good resources are: the Harvard Affiliated Housing office. They should send you something in the mail once you're admitted, and you can sign up to be in their lottery for housing (separate from dorm housing). Most of it is pretty reasonable, but sometimes hard to get. There is also a fee. For more information, visit the housing website on the HGSE website.
"Also, you can check around different areas or neighborhoods in the Cambridge/Boston area. There are plenty of different places to live if you don't mind commuting to the Ed. School. You will probably end up commuting a lot anyway since you will have to be at a school site over the course of the fall and spring semesters. A T-pass will get you far. Though, again, rent is pretty high everywhere around here."
- Audrey T., current TAC student
"I also got a great lottery number for affiliated housing and, while I pay a lot of money in rent, my apartment is a great space, is very clean and VERY safe, my utilities are pretty low, my location is AMAZING in relation to campus (15 min walk) and my school placement (6 min walk) so I save both time and money on transportation, and my landlord (Harvard) is excellent at getting back to me ASAP. Even though it's hard to get, I would recommend that students try because the comfort and your sanity is worth the extra money you spend."
- Lisa M., current TAC student
"People in Cambridge often acted as if Arlington were a hundred miles away, but in East Arlington I was exactly 3 miles from Harvard Square and a mile and a half from Davis Square. It took me a 1/2 hour on the bus or 15 minutes on the bike to get back and forth from Harvard. It was quiet in Arlington, there are no bars but there are some good restaurants. It was a great place to live with small kids, the school system is excellent, my kids learned Spanish in school and Arabic from their friends. Parking was never an issue, and in the Boston area this is no trivial matter. Arlington is not the center of everything, but it's not far from it, and rent is a little bit cheaper. I loved it." - Jen B., TAC '02
"Jamaica Plain will have you a roll out of bed away from Boston English High School, which really helps out for that 7:00 am student-teacher arrival time. Yeah, you're 45 minutes from Harvard, but when do you want those 45 minutes to come into play, before you've opened your eyes, or after they've already been open? The best part about living in JP is that it will keep you connected with the communities that you are supposed to be serving. How can you relate to working class urban students if you're never in the working class urban environment? You will not live in the Harvard Cambridge Abercrombie and Fitch bubble. Riding the Orange Line everyday will give you a taste of what Stevie Wonder meant when he sang, "Living just enough... just enough... for the citaayyy." - Mike L., TAC '02