For all my readers who are going to SNU, has anyone found out where the off-campus apartments are? For their price they better freaking be in the best neighborhood and incredibly convenient. I emailed them and asked where the off-campus apartments are and they quickly answered ’5 – 10 minutes from campus by bus’. Okay, but that didn’t answer my question. I didn’t ask how far they are. Well, I emailed them again and haven’t seen a response in 24 hours. I hope someone else had better luck than me …
Where in the world are SNU’s off-campus appartments?
Leave a comment ?
I think you have to be really specific when asking them, lol. Here’s what I managed to get out of them:
Dear Sarah,
It is in between Sillim subway station and SNU subway station but it is a little closer to SNU subway station than Sillim station.
From SNU subway station, you also have to take a bus to SNU for about 5~10 minutes, and the off-campus housing are located after passing SNU, towards Sillim station.
Thank you
I still got the 5-10 minutes thing but I guess the part about Silim and SNU seems to tell us a bit more. I…think I know where it should be.
@Sarah
I guess it’s good that it’s right by the subway. It’s just so expensive, I don’t know if I can convince myself that it’ll be worth it … arg.
Thanks for the detective work
Hey guys, I just searched for “서울대 근처 고시원” and I got the websites below.
Most of them are within 5 minutes walking distance from SNU subway station. I don’t know how far that station is from the campus, but I am guessing it is not very far. Some of the cheaper ones cost less than 40 만원, which is just a little more than 300 USD. I also suggest you look into “지식In” section of Naver. A lot of people already asked questions about cheap places to live and got responses. Apparently, the town where SNU is located is not very expensive part of Seoul. I saw a guy’s comment that he got his place for 25 만원 per month(about 200 USD.)
I wish you guys good luck.
http://su.myhomelivingtel.com
http://www.neogositel.com
http://su.myhomelivingtel.com
If you know the name of the apartments in Korean, you can probably find them on google maps . . . my guess, from looking at local maps, is that it’s probably in the neighborhood of Seoul Girl’s Commercial High School, which actually seems to be quite close to the campus. My guess is that even if it’s on the other side of the tracks, it’s probably not more than 2-3k from the campus.
Personally, if I were still a college student and used to dorm life, I’d go for a 고시원 -it’s cheap, requires no key money, and is essentially a private dorm. If you can get a good, clean one, it’ll be cramped but pretty much in line with what you’d experience in a Korean dorm anyway, if not a little nicer.
There is a drawback to this though. You have to share the bathroom and the rooms are not going to be as clean as in the pictures.
actually, if he gets one of the “원룸형” it probably will have its own bathroom, and he should just make sure to check the room out before he agrees to rent it.
Yeah that means they are definitely the ones in 녹두 that I was thinking of. Anyway, unfortunately they’re not really near either 서울대입구역 nor 신림역…you always have to take a bus to the station, as well as taking a bus to school. And it’s not really “between” the two stations either. There is actually another station, 봉천역, directly between the two stations (지하철 2호선). And also, if you look at the link (http://school119.or.kr/zeroboard/data/board_secret/%C7%E0%C1%F8%C1%F6%B5%B5.jpg), you’ll see that from 신림역 it’s about 3.5km just to the edge of 녹두 (and 서울대입구역 is even farther, or at least takes longer by bus). And so just to get to the subway station, here’s the timetable you would be facing:
1. Walk to the edge of 녹두 from your room to catch a bus (would take a few minutes, depending on the exact location of your place)
2. Wait at the bus stop for a couple of minutes
3. Ride the bus for about 10-15 min. to 신림역.
According to 네이버 지도, a bus ride from 신성초등학교 (located at the edge of 녹두) to 신림역 – the 5528 bus – is “about 20 minutes” (Naver includes average wait times as well, so this isn’t all transit; in fairness, it takes a taxi about 7 minutes and would cost 2400원).
Another problem with the 녹두 location is that you have to take a bus to and from school as well (and these buses require a longer – sometimes much longer – wait than the buses going to and from 서울대입구역).
Anyway at http://fs.textcube.com/blog/2/27599/attach/XMdF0p1HZG.jpg you can see another map of the edge of the 녹두 area. And http://img.blog.yahoo.co.kr/ybi/1/fb/62/skyny85/folder/3/img_3_69_2?1135656827.jpg does the best at showing the main area where 원룸 and 고시원 are located.
Anyway, from my experience it’s not as close to the subway station as the school admin made it out to be (best guess is an average of 4km from your 원룸, which is considered “far” by Seoul standards).
@Sean Brown
That’s what I’ve been worried about. If they ask me to sign a contract before I get to look around, I’ll probably just tell them no.
Just go to a 부동산 when you get here. Don’t sign a contract before you look at the place. Cost and quality are not always closely related, and never trust the prices and pics on websites. ^^