Columbia College Chicago is located in downtown Chicago, immediately south of what is called “The Loop.” The Loop was so-named because of the interconnected elevated train lines that converge in the area. It technically ends at Adams Street, four blocks north of Columbia College Chicago but today most people consider the Loop synonymous with all of downtown. So maybe Columbia is within the Loop. I’ll leave that up to you.

I live on the South Side of Chicago, an area often maligned in international press as being a crime-ridden part of the city. While the South Side does have its share of problems, each area of Chicago – as with any metropolis – has many neighborhoods. Some are affluent, some are middle-class, and some are marginalized. One cannot generalize. Someone looking to live in Chicago after being accepted to graduate school at Columbia may therefore be surprised to find themselves in a questionable area of the North Side of Chicago simply because they thought it would be “safer” than the South Side.

Hey look! We have restaurants too!

Another negative viewpoint attached to the South Side is that it is somehow “far” from the Loop and from the rest of the city. Not true. This fallacy stems, I believe, from two facts. First, the South Side is much larger geographically than any other area of the city. Chicago’s dividing line separating the North and the South Sides is Madison Street. Madison Street is “zero” north/south on Chicago’s street grid system. The city extends to 138^th Street at its southern border (so, 138 blocks south of Madison) but only to Howard Street at the norther border. Howard is 76 blocks north of Madison Street.

Second, the North Side includes two of Chicago’s most popular neighborhoods (Wicker Park/Bucktown and Logan Square) and two of its most affluent (Lincoln Park and The Gold Coast). The Gold Coast is immediately north of downtown Chicago, so let’s not dispute that it wins the proximity bragging rights. But Logan Square is what most guidebooks would call “farther afield” when discussing areas of the city. It is, in fact, about seven miles from Columbia. By contrast my neighborhood, Bridgeport, is only about three and a half.

Quick! To Columbia College Chicago!

If my feet didn’t hurt so much, I could walk home from Columbia in an hour. As it is, I have no shortage of transportation options. The neighborhoods consisting of the near South Side – Pilsen, Bridgeport, Bronzeville, and Chinatown — are all easily accessible to Columbia by two of Chicago’s elevated train lines, the Red Line and the Orange Line. A bus ride along Archer Avenue, one of the South Side’s main thoroughfares, is a mere 20 minute trip for me. Of course, like any self-respecting hipster I prefer to bike whenever weather permits. I can usually bike to school in less time that it takes me via bus. It helps when one doesn’t have to stop for other passengers. With over 200 miles of protected lanes, Chicago is a very bike-friendly city.

So if you’ve been accepted to Columbia College Chicago and you are looking for a place to live, maybe consider the South Side. I guarantee you will be pleasantly surprised. We’re closer than you think, and we’re not as bad as you think. Much like Logan Square we have bars and restaurants. And if you want to know one thing we don’t have down here, it’s outrageous rent.