I don't know cities, and I especially don't know this city

I've been specifically told not to live near the campus. I assume this is so you can get out of the Hyde Park bubble. Hyde Park is quite nice and plenty safe, but it's expensive, annoying to get out of without a car, and definitely feels separated from the city. You might decide that's a good thing, I don't know. The complication with living outside of Hyde Park, though, is that it's going to be a pretty long commute to get there from anywhere else. Distance-wise, you may be happiest in the hipper parts of Bridgeport and taking the Red Line in. And then you'd have to wait for the 55 bus, which (at least when I lived in Hyde Park) comes sporadically at best. Depending on your budget, the South Loop might be an option for you, too, and you could get there via the 6, 2, or 10 bus pretty easily. Anything farther north and you're going to be looking at an hour commute, which is fine I suppose, but would personally drive me nuts. As for the safety thing...I'm probably not the best person to address your concerns. I'm 28 and have lived here for 10 years (after growing up in an extremely whitebread low population suburban area). There are dangerous areas, sure, but I haven't encountered any problems. When I lived in Hyde Park, I regularly walked through Washington Park to the Green Line (Garfield stop) at all hours rather than waiting for the bus to take me there. People were horrified. It was always fine. But your personal comfort level is going to be what matters most here, and that's really something that only you can answer. Definitely spend some time walking around an exploring to get a feel for the place when you're out here for your interview.

I would really not write off living in Hyde Park. I lived there as a single woman and didn't find it unsafe. Parking near campus is rough during the day, and the public transit situation in Hyde Park isn't great. It's doable to get there from hipper Northside neighborhoods, but it's a long commute. The university isn't on the El, so you're looking at either a bus commute or El plus bus. You probably don't want to walk from the El: it's a long walk.

Yellowcandy said almost everything I wanted to say about Chicago and neighborhoods and how people talk about them, and I really wanted to second that. You will hear a lot of coded talk when you go to look for apartments! SURE there are neighborhoods with higher crime rates in Chicago, and yes there are places still probably not to go (I visited Cabrini-Green in the 1980s, ask me anything!). But Chicago is viciously segregated for a diverse city, http://www.wired.com/2013/08/how-segregated-is-your-city-this-eye-opening-map-shows-you/#slideid-210391 that New York and Los Angeles are not, and the way people describe where it is "safe" to live and "not safe" to live (particularly when speaking in an all-white room) is remarkable and also remarkable for its inaccuracy. (In fact, if you were concerned about "property crime," you would avoid The Loop, http://crime.chicagotribune.com/ has the highest property crime rate.) If it helps, which it sort of doesn't, here is the http://crime.chicagotribune.com/chicago/shootings heat map. (It doesn't in particular because http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/May-2014/Chicago-crime-rates/. But yeah, a lot of the Chicago experience is long, long L rides. :/

Unfortunately, the University of Chicago campus is poorly served by public transit, and is particularly a pain to get to from the fun, busy neighborhoods on the north side that tend to appeal to single 30-somethings. It can certainly be done, but it might take longer than you'd like. There is not really an L stop by the campus; you'd have to transfer to a bus from the Garfield Red Line station. Your other option is the Metra Electric line (commuter rail), which runs from downtown right to the University. However, you'll have to factor in getting downtown (probably on the L) unless you actually want to live in the Loop, and the fact that the Metra runs less frequently than the L, so you won't be just showing up to catch the next train, you'll need to know the train schedule and time it so that you catch a specific train. (At rush hour, Metra trains run pretty frequently, but at midday, they might an hour or more apart). Biking might be an option; the Lakefront Path goes past the campus. But again, depending on where you live, it could be a pretty lengthy bike ride to do every day. Hyde Park proper is safe, but everything in that neighborhood revolves around the university, and almost everyone there is going to be affiliated with the school in some way. For that reason, I personally would not want to live there, but obviously for some people that might be a selling point. If I worked at U of C I'd be maybe looking in Pilsen or Bridgeport, which are both neighborhoods a bit south of the loop (so you'll be closer to Hyde Park than you would be in any north side neighborhood), with restaurants, hipstery bars, etc (Pilsen moreso than Bridgeport). However, I suspect neither of these is going to feel safe enough for you. But it might be worth checking them out on your visit to form your own opinions firsthand. There's also the South Loop itself. This would probably mean some kind of high-rise building, and it tends to be more expensive. While the residential population here has been increasing, it can still be kind of a ghost town at night, and has less of a neighborhood feel, fewer cool restaurants/bars/things to do. I wouldn't want to live here but I know people who love it. And transit-wise it's hard to beat living in the Loop when it comes to getting to any part of the city quickly, since every L line converges there.

If you're willing to bend on your public transportation needs and would ride the Metra rather than the CTA, there are two Metra stations that serve the University of Chicago campus via the http://metrarail.com/metra/en/home/maps_schedules/metra_system_map/me/schedule.html line, and it's about a 15-minute ride from Museum Campus/11th Street, which is in the South Loop neighborhood. As stated above, that area has a lot of undergrad students living around there, but Printer's Row is a nice 'hood itself, and I lived at a building at 11th and Michigan for two years and felt safe as a single lady, and I always had something to do. Your commute will directly impact your happiness. If you have the choice of going for a shorter commute with a less fun 'hood or a longer commute with a more fun 'hood, pick the former, at least for your first year here. The time you get back in your day will allow you to do more exploring. The Metra Electric runs northbound every hour after 7pm until just after midnight, so as long as you time your late departures wisely, you can always get home.

My friend is at UC and she lives in Ravenswood, a far northside neighborhood. So she does the Brown line to the Metra. It's a long-ish commute (though less than an hour each way), and she loves it. She claims to do her best reading on trains. I would recommend against living near Wrigley. That neighborhood is a special kind of awful.

Theme one: homebase If you live on campus/Hyde park area you will have more time to hang out and socialize with your fellow students. If you live off campus you will not be part of the grad student posse. Hyde park has lots of amazing bookstores, including powells, the seminary and 57th, green monk parakeets flying around and is simply a pleasant space to live/exist in Chicago land. The restaurants aren't amazing, but I like Medici, Rajun Cajun, Far east kitchen and istria cafe, in addition to the five guys and there's giordano's for pizza. Friends from other parts of the city will find it a hassle to get down and visit you. Around Hyde Park is a very poor neighborhood, which I regularly work in. I have personally had zero issues but there has been one incident with one of my staff in three years. As you can pick up from the previous comments - there's also a considerable racial tension in the area. For example the U of C hospital is being protested for not providing services that would benefit the local community. Theme two: transportation U of Chicago has a https://d3qi0qp55mx5f5.cloudfront.net/safety-security/uploads/files/2013_Trans_and_Parking_Guide.pdf that covers your options in great detail. Note- as a student there is always night time security rides available. https://www.divvybikes.com/ is the bike sharing program and is 75$ a year, and there was only 4 months this year (the coldest in a while) I didn't ride regularly. Great stuff. http://www.enterprisecarshare.com/car-sharing/program/uchicago car sharing is 25 to sign up, 25 a year for U of C students and then you choose a plan - usually "the keep it simple" and then its 8.50$ an hour. There is also Uber which is like a taxi but will actually show up. And costs more. It's an app. Parking is generally pretty crowded but not completely insane in the areas you'll be trying to go to. The transit system is ok to the area- the electric metra doesn't run often enough, the L is too far and so you'll end up on one of the many buses that serve the area to compensate. Folks who actually ride those services will know best if there is an evening time cut off. For example I would discourage tourists from riding the Green line past 9 PM on an average night.

You won't want to take the El as such to/from Hyde Park -- it really doesn't go there -- but the #6 bus and the Metra both service the east side of Hyde Park and take you downtown quickly. Use this in the reverse direction if you end up commuting *to* HP! That part of the neighborhood is also nice for being close to the lake (Promontory Point is amazing!) and for being a little less university-bubble than the other areas. The safety issues for Hyde Park are way overstated (I'm a petite woman and will happily walk home on my own at any hour of the night and nearly any street in the neighborhood). The University of Chicago police are everywhere, not just on campus. There aren't a lot of bars/restaurants/shops/fun stuff compared to other neighborhoods and it's kind of a schlep for anyone living on the north side to come down and visit or vice versa, so it is kind of an isolating place to live unless you have friends who also live in the neighborhood. But also, in just the past couple years the university has enticed several new bar/restaurant things and more are coming in the next few years -- the area around 53rd & Lake Park is rapidly increasing the amount that it's a place you'd want to go to hang out and eat/drink/whatever. Having a car is a more important amenity here than in typical urban areas; you can certainly get around without one, but if you can only leave Hyde Park via public transit you won't do it very often and then you'll probably feel claustrophobic/bored as posters above describe... you may want to get Zipcar or a friend with a car if you don't want to have your own. Also, there are several Divvy bike stations in the neighborhood and this is a good way to get to places like Bridgeport, the South Loop, etc. -- at least for the 2 months of the year that it's bearable to be outside in Chicago.

http://ask.metafilter.com/255390/Chicago-convince-me-its-awesome AskMe may be helpful to you in thinking generally about Chicago.