DC for Grad School - Where to Live?

[Prairie Style]

I will be moving to the DC area in August to start grad school at the University of Maryland in College Park and need a roof over my head for the next 2+ years. Seeing as my knowledge of DC consists of having visited for all of about 4 days and a couple of weeks browsing Craigslist, I need a little help in my search. The place I'm looking for would be a studio/1BR, close to Metro (preferably the Green Line), in a cool/decent neighborhood, ideally staying below about $1100/mo, in that order. I will likely have a car, but would like to avoid driving as much as possible.

So Hornfans, where do I find such a place? Any neighborhoods to check out/avoid? Websites, listings or locators to use?

I'll be in DC for about a week at the end of July to look, hopefully moving in August 1. Any and all help would be much appreciated.

 

[mockingbird]

You can find an english basement in Columbia Heights for around that price. It's an up and coming neighborhood on the green line.

 

[mayberryrfd]

Contact your school and see if they don't have some sort of online or mailable ad listing. Sometimes, students, treachers, others might advertise special rates to college students.

Yeah, it's a long shot but you never know...

Make sure you are close to where you want to be. Traffic is a ***** in DC no matter where you go.

 

[Eating Club]

NE is a hit or miss area. There's a ton of gentrification going on and people moving in, but you still need to watch your back.