Collegetown Terrace

The Wifi doesn't work, period. This presents huge challenges for classes and interviews. Management is not responsive- it took months of emailing over and over and visiting the office for them to give us a timeline of when the gym would be opened after Covid restrictions. The only good thing about it is the central location from campus, the commons, and Maplewood, where a lot of other MBAs live.

Management company is nice but unresponsive. Internet has been dropping all the time. Gym goes unused because of Covid and they make excuses about it opening. Fire alarms frequently go off too

Overall experience is nice. Price is above average, but the location, management, and shuttle service make it a little more acceptable.

The apartment itself is usually clean and in good shape, and is fully furnished. It is located within 15 minute walk distance from center-south campus (law school and engineering buildings) and downtown Ithaca, so is generally convenient. Management is quite nice; service line available 24/7, and maintenance emergencies (e.g., leaking sink) are usually solved within a day. The weekend shuttle service to Wegmans is particularly convenient for those who do not own a vehicle.

Noise may be a slight issue for more sensitive people: Vehicle noises from the street may be constant in living in units on the E State St. Units right next to the building entrance may also hear people entering and exiting on a regular basis, as even though the walls block noises well, the doors don't. Extra tips for choosing apartments in Collegetown Terrace is that buildings with fewer units have better internet connection and less partying in general.

My apartment is great: really cute building, well-maintained, nice people that work in the management office, and great perks like a shuttle to school on the weekdays and a shuttle to Wegmans on the weekends. It is way more than I thought I would pay when moving to Ithaca but you get what you pay for, especially in terms of repairs and amenities. Whenever something breaks, they send someone that day to take a look, and the gym and the shuttle are really wonderful.

CTT has a lot of the amenities of a large dorm without being in a dorm: study rooms, internet, gym, and your classmates—all without leaving the building. I chose it, because it is secure, it provides a shuttle to campus every morning, it has a gym, and it is one of few apartment complexes with covered parking, which is necessary following Ithaca snow storms and makes it easy for people to visit you (parking at Maplewood could risk getting your car towed, and finding parking in the Commons can be annoying or you may need to pay for it). If you have roommates, you may like the fact that it has a 1:1 bathroom to bedroom, meaning you won’t have to share your bathroom with your roommate(s). The leasing office is responsive, making it easy to get in touch with them about any concerns you may have. The outages with the internet is sometimes inconvenient, but it’s never been problematic whenever I needed to get something completed in a short notice.

There were several times that I had to call the leasing office to fix the problem. I also realized that this is pretty expensive price compared to the other housing options.

I strongly advise that you look for somewhere else to live besides Collegetown Terrace Apartments (CTT).
There are several reasons I strongly feel this way, and throughout my graduate experience in Ithaca all my classmates agree. Below is not even a comprehensive list.
1. Inflexible lease period: Students mostly need to just have housing throughout the school semester (Aug-May) but CTT does not tolerate that at all. Other housing allows this 10 month lease, which should be the norm. CTT makes you lease for a year and you're stuck with paying for extra rent over the summer when you're not even living there, or you're on your own to look for someone to sublease your apartment but of course, you're at a loss because nobody is willing to sublease your apartment at the regular price given the competition. Also, you have to sign several documents and finding someone to sublet is a hassle. You'll have to worry about extra work.
2. Management's attitude is horrible: Their hunger for making money off of students is very visible and they're only nice to you when they are trying to make you sign. After you have signed, their attitude and even expressions change and they are unresponsive to students' requests. I've worked in large corporations and I've seen many different kinds of people but the employees there all have a horrible attitude and frankly speaking, you can tell they are not great human beings in general.
3. Walls are really thin: Self-explanatory. It's extremely uncomfortable when it's that time your neighbor's significant other comes to visit. You can hear everything.
4. Cutting internal costs (like important internet) but trying to cover it up with showy dinners and things that don't really matter: Internet has been a huge issue and we all know they have just downgraded to a cheaper and slower internet option. They never admit it and when my classmates have complained about it, they sent in the Spectrum crew but the issue wasn't resolved after that (probably because they're using the cheapest option?). Externally, they try to make it seem like they are providing perks of living there, like an end of semester buffet or desserts. But usually that runs out really fast (even before the start time) and the replacement is just plain old pizza.
5. Poor quality building: True story - my friend's ceiling got a huge hole when it snowed. Apparently, her room was right below the roof and the weight of the snow caused a hole. I hope that gives you an idea of the quality of the roof/ceiling. It was 3am and my friend had to sleep through that. Afterwards, she complained to the office but they just made it sound like it was her problem and blamed her for "threatening them." They don't care about people's safety and my friend was stuck living there because there were no alternatives given to her from the office.

I could go on but I won't and hope you make the right choice. There are really good housing apartments besides CTT. Strongly recommend those.

CTT is a good overall choice. It is one the pricey side but there are nice amenities. It is located between campus and the Commons so it is accessible to a lot of student and night lift and to Ithaca. The buildings are new. The shuttle is great when you need to bring a change of clothes or the weather is bad. The covered parking is great in the winter with the snow/ice.

Overall is very pleasant. The location is convenient. The free shuttle make it easier to go to school and grocery shopping on weekends. There is plenty of covered parking if you drive, but it costs about a thousand dollars a year to park. Gym is also very well equipped, and we'll maintained.

Only downfall is the Internet often breaks down, which is not helpful when you are trying to submit a paper online. It could also gets a bit noisy because of the centrallized heating and cooling pipe runs the entire apartment complex.

The apartment itself is clean and spacious, with a great kitchen, central AC/Heat and a Washer/Dryer in-unit. The location is walking distance to campus, although it's a bit of a hike on the way up the hill. The shuttle service, which departs right outside of my building every 10 mins in the AM, is