Looking for creative idea where to find reasonable accommodation for summer in Cambridge, MA to be able to attend internship. I know that Boston area is very expensive.
This could be a great choice if they still have rooms available. It is one of the independent living groups associated with MIT. It is actually where I lived when I was in college. During the summer, they rent out the rooms individually, and they prefer college students in the area for internships, etc. At least when I was there, not all of the summer residents would be women, but most of them would be. I don’t know what their policy is now.
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Thanks we will explore this option
I would contact ResLife in the area schools (ex. MIT, Harvard) and see if they lease out dorms over the summer to students in Boston for internships/work over the summer.
ETA The schools may also have offices of off-campus housing or people familiar with opportunities for the summer.
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My daughter is a grad student at BU and subleases every summer, many students do, maybe see if colleges have social media pages for off campus housing sublets.
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Thanks! If anybody has any links with internet sites that do any summer sublets, I would greatly appreciate it.
I just checked out BU parents page on Facebook, search betches of Boston (all females) and foundstudy.com.
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I have a son who will be in Boston for an internship. Tufts and BU have internship housing. I couldn’t find anything for Harvard.
Craigslist temp housing/sublets has many roommate situations for the summer.
https://huhousing.harvard.edu. No password challenge for registration. BU and Northeastern also have websites. All are “powered by” Apartments.com
Facebook marketplace also has some listings, but many are agent listings that don’t make sense for short-term or carry a broker’s fee or both.
Depending on budget, https://www.theblueground.com has corporate housing that is furnished and available short term. Their pricing structure is high.
Craigslist has some great listing. A helpful Craigslist delimiter would be “no broker’s fee” and probably the “month of arrival”.
As a visiting student in Boston or Cambridge, unless you want to live right in the neighborhood of your internship, I’d consider Back Bay. Walkable to the Prudential Center / Copley for a food court, Newbury street for window shopping, good eats. Safe. Boston is pretty small and decentralized, and some areas can feel remote (Somerville, Allston, Brighton, Central or Porter Square, Longwood) or can be more residential than fun. Fenway can be a bear during Baseball season in terms of noise, traffic and fans.
Back Bay is an easy jog across the Longfellow or Harvard bridges to Cambridge. It is comprised of Beacon Street, Commonwealth Avenue, Newbury Street, Boyleston Street and cross streets are arranged alphabetically starting at the Boston Common and up to Massachusetts Avenue. Just some search terms for Craigslist that I hope helps.
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Depending on the type of internship, if a faculty member will endorse your son as an intern, other Harvard options may be available like Vanderbilt Hall at HMS as one example… Something your son might ask his mentor.
Thanks. I picked yesterday and Boston prices for a room (not a single apartment) are astronomical. We will need to dig. Otherwise, money for internship will not even cover housing (forget about food or utilities…)
We will have to do something creative. DD can take a car, but driving far and parking are separate problems that should be avoided…However, I am sure we will find some solution…
Any more ideas, please continue to add!
Goal is reasonably priced and safe. Within 30 minutes drive (I have no idea about traffic in Boston). Also do you need AC in Boston in summer?
Potential internship is private business. So no connections to particular college.
We know nothing about Boston (just visited as tourists twice) so any info is useful.
My daughter is in Allston and pays about $1200 a month for her room in a 4 bedroom 1 bath apartment. Where we live in NJ it’s about $1000 per bedroom in a multiple bedroom apartment so I don’t think $1200 is too much. It takes her 20 minutes on the T to get to BU.
On craigslist I think $1200 is about the average. Check both apt. and sublet/temp listings in Boston or Cambridge, wherever the internship is. There are sometimes student houses listed too, with one room in a sort of rooming house situation. There are a lot of listings. Lots of prewar brick buildings with better rents.
Do they need to bring a car? Much easier without. Finding a room outside the city might be harder actually.
I have never had AC in Boston or Cambridge. It does get hot, but uncomfortably hot maybe 5 days per summer. If you want AC, generally prices are higher.
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My daughter just bought a $200 window unit for her bedroom. Our 100+ year old home doesn’t have central a/c, we survive.
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Check out rentcollegepads.com
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do you have friends living in the area at all?
There are lots of local facebook groups, or even local email lists that people use for this purpose…and often is “my friend’s kid needs a room” kind of thing…
My college has multiple FB groups for Boston area, people post in those for this sort of thing all the time…
Central A/C isn’t super common given old housing stock, but it is very rare not to have window units in apartments/houses. And I personally couldn’t live w/o at leas a window unit in the area…that said not sure about dorms - my guess it it varies dorm to dorm…
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Unfortunately not… That is why I came here for this question…So I appreciate any links. General ideas do not work that much and I do know how to Google, but feet on the ground is much different level of knowledge.
If you haven’t looked - check out Airbnb. Big discount for longer stays. Very popular in the LA area for interns to get an extra bedroom in a house - guessing a good option in Boston too - but no first hand experience in that market.
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