Advice on moving to Chicago.?

My boyfriend & I are planning to move to Chicago next summer. I am 23 and he is 28. We are both in college and need to know where we can live for a decent price. We plan on being servers in a restaurant until we find something that pertains to our careers - mine in nursing and his in business. What is the best way to go about finding an apt.? We live in Michigan, so we can't go looking in person all the time. Also, how do we go about choosing another college to transfer to? Are all of the colleges in close relation to the city? And I have a dog. Are there many apts. in the city that allow dogs? We basically need as much advice as we can get! :) Any help will be greatly appreciated.

One of the best sources to rentals is free. The Chicago Reader is a weekly newspaper with an unbelievable classified section. Thursday is delivery day to many shops, restaurants, bookstores etc.

Right now I would find a city map of Chicago and go online to the site below. You should become familiar with the many neighborhoods while searching the ads.

http://www.chicagoreader.com/

Then take a trip around the lake to check out the areas you think will fit your needs. You will already have a map with areas highlighted.

There are several major colleges either in Chicago or right outside it - in the city you have Loyola University, DePaul University, the University of Illinois, Chicago to name a few. There is also Northwestern University in Evanston, which is just north of the city limits.
Since Chicago has such a fabulous train system, I would suggest living near the El or Metra in order to make it easier to go to school and get to work (the traffic is HORRIBLE by car). Several safe & inexpensive places to live in the city are mostly in Northern Chicago - Edgewater, Andersonville, Logan Square, Bucktown, Lincoln Square. Evanston also has affordable places, train access, and has a lot of people your age that live there. I would suggest visiting some of these areas one weekend and seeing if it's your thing - you may decide it's "too city" for you and you'll end up in a nice suburb like Oak Park - you still have train access but it's quiet. Good luck!

how much can you afford in rent how many rooms ?? yes college isnt too far if ur coming to chgo,ill anything you want to no ask me ,brief! and ill contact you when i find out for you i live in chgo,but in the city!THE GUY ABOVE IS CORRECT!

You know your not that far, you should drive out and come see first hand, you ll feel so much better about the move, can even talk to local business owners about your move and getting a job,

GOOD LUCK TO YOU, It will take a little while to adjust, but you will soon love Chicago

Pending on the location of the colleges you choose and how much you both like the city.

Unless you both insist on staying in or around downtown Chicago, I'd consider colleges and housing in the suburbs. The prices are generally better and there are plenty of good colleges and/or satellite campus around. And, there are plenty of things to do in most major suburbs.

Should you want to get into town, other than the car, there is always Metra rail. It is accessible in most suburbs.

la882@yahoo.com if you need more help

Check out the Chicago Reader (www.chicagoreader.com) for a good selection of apartment listings. This tends to be fairly north-side centric. The southside tends to be more locally found. (For example, if you are going to University of Chicago or interested in living in Hyde Park, you may want to check the Hyde Park Herald (www.hpherald.com)
There are many '3 flats' and small apartment complexes with individual owners. Many allow small dogs, while some allow larger dogs.
Chicago has a good L system, as well as a good bus system. The metra commuter rail system is also good for commute hours, but fairly poor outside of commute hours. You can check the site at www.yourcta.com for transit maps, as well as use a trip planner to plan ways to get to possible jobs or school.
You should probably try to choose a neighborhood before hand. They end to differ significantly, and there can even be major differences between a few blocks.

the first you must do is find out which colleges will accept which transfer credits. The next thing you need to is find out how long you need to be a bona fide resident of Illinois before instate tuition rates apply to you. You may discover that spending an extra year in MI is going to cost you a great deal of money.The thing to do after that is to set price points for rent and things and then spend a couple of weekdays exploring chicago. How far could the furthest point in Michigan be from Chicago -6 hours ?
I lived in La Grange Park for 6 years and absolutely loved it- I needed regular access to the city , the far west suburbs and points north -Palatine so I found a central location
Enjoy Chicago - i miss it