People in/around Phoenix Area

[gmoney112]

Don't know hardly anyone around that area, and this is really the only forum i frequent so tell me what you know!

I've been accepted into Arizona State's Supply Chain Management program, of which they're #1-2 in the country. I'd be attending Spring 2011. I have a couple questions. How safe is the area in Tempe? Phoenix? Where should I avoid? How's the housing/apartment situation around there? Especially in Tempe because I'd want to be close to campus. I'll be going for two years to finish up my Bachelor's, do you guys/gals like it there? How's the nightlife? Public transportation? How difficult is it to establish residency? What's the standard of living like around Tempe? Just tell me whatever you can!

I'm trying to decide between this and a few other schools. The SCM program really interested me, and I'm strongly considering moving to the area. If I decide to move it will around November, and hopefully around the Tempe area. I haven't looked TOO much into the specifics right now but I was going to do a year out of state and establish residency after a year to help with tuition. Help me out guys!

Thanks in advance

 

[Meat-O-Rama]

Not living there now, but I grew up in Phx so i feel pretty well qualified to answer.

Tempe is a pretty safe area of town. It's like any college town though, there are always opportunists looking for easy trouble.

Nightlife - Fantastic. Not sure if you're aware but ASU has a reputation of having very high quality coeds. Never a shortage of bars/clubs/hangouts.

Living - Apartments are plentiful. The housing market was hit particularly hard in the PHX area due to massive sprawl and overbuilding. it's not an expensive town, so you're standard of living varies with you means. You can live in a dump if that's all you can afford, or you can live in a nice apartment for a pretty modest sum. Don't need to have rich parents to live pretty good.

November is a good time to move there. It will be cool. The summers are hot as in triple digits+, and the winters are colder than you would expect, lows in the upper to mid 30s.

Public tranportation - Decent. If you live on/near campus not a worry as you can walk/bike most places. After that there are plenty of buses. Light rail is a new addition to town, and I can't really comment on it's usefulness.

Sports - The support for ASU teams is horrible unless they are winning...

 

[ajk23az]

I live here right now (in Tempe). Once I get to a computer I will respond more in depth. I'm on my phone right now. I also have three friends that graduated from asu for supply chain mangement. Two work for Boeing in Mesa and one works for Dell in Austin.

 

[gmoney112]

Not living there now, but I grew up in Phx so i feel pretty well qualified to answer.

Thanks for the info. Appreciate that. Yeah I'm not really interested in ASU sports, I'll go to some just to go, but I'm from Texas and a UT fan at heart. ASU usually has a pretty good baseball team so I'll go check those out. I'm pretty active and want to experience all it has to offer but i'm not diehard about their sports.

Again, thanks for the information.

 

[gmoney112]

I live here right now (in Tempe). Once I get to a computer I will respond more in depth. I'm on my phone right now. I also have three friends that graduated from asu for supply chain mangement. Two work for Boeing in Mesa and one works for Dell in Austin.

Oh, nice. Yeah i'm looking forward to whatever you can tell me man. Also if you have any info on what they're doing exactly and an estimate of what kind of money they were making coming out of ASU, I'd appreciate it.

 

[ajk23az]

I've been accepted into Arizona State's Supply Chain Management program, of which they're #1-2 in the country. I'd be attending Spring 2011. I have a couple questions. How safe is the area in Tempe? Phoenix? Where should I avoid? How's the housing/apartment situation around there? Especially in Tempe because I'd want to be close to campus. I'll be going for two years to finish up my Bachelor's, do you guys/gals like it there? How's the nightlife? Public transportation? How difficult is it to establish residency? What's the standard of living like around Tempe? Just tell me whatever you can!

I'm trying to decide between this and a few other schools. The SCM program really interested me, and I'm strongly considering moving to the area. If I decide to move it will around November, and hopefully around the Tempe area. I haven't looked TOO much into the specifics right now but I was going to do a year out of state and establish residency after a year to help with tuition. Help me out guys!

Thanks in advance

The environment around Tempe/Chandler/Ahwatukee is pretty safe, there is a town called Guadalupe which is pretty dangerous (literally looks like Mexico if you've been there). Then, once you get into the actual Phoenix area, it again gets a little ghettoish. I am right on the corner of Tempe/Chandler/Ahwatukee and I haven't had any problems whatsoever. My friends also lived pretty close to the main campus of ASU and haven't had problems there either.

You can find housing pretty much anywhere you want at any time. There are apartments everywhere. I rent a house right now, not quite sure the square foot of it but its a 4 bedroom/3 bath and we pay around $2K a month after utilities. It might be a little bit more expensive closer to the main campus though, I'm not quite sure.

I moved here in 2006 from North Dakota and I like it here a lot. The summers suck bad but the heat only lasts for 4 months give or take. I love to golf and do other outdoor sports so I love that I can do those all year long.

The nightlife is awesome. Girls down here are pretty damn good looking and a lot of college students go to Mill Avenue (a street with a tonnn of bars on it). You can go there any day of the week and it will be pretty busy. I've had some pretty crazy nights there. Some people also go up to Scottsdale to party, it's more expensive up there and thats where all the girls that are looking for sugar daddies go . ASU was rated as a top 10 party school a few years ago IIRC. You can also go to all the other sporting events around here also (Suns, Diamondbacks, Coyotes, Cardinals, etc.)(Cowboys play the Cards in AZ this next season too!)

I can't answer anything about public transportation though, I have never used it. We did install a light rail around the area that a lot of people use I know, but thats about all I can say. If you get a car, its really easy to drive around, everything is N-W-S-E.

It is ridiculously tough to establish residency down here. I had to go through it and it sucked. First off it takes 2 years to do it. You HAVE to switch over your drivers license to Arizona, then once you do that, you will have to switch your car insurance and registration over (registration is crazy expensive here), and then you MUST file 2 years of income tax reports for AZ. Once you have that done, it is pretty much complete. Out of state tuition is something like 20+ thousand for ASU and it drops down to 10 or so for instate i think. Insane.

The standard of living is pretty good, it just depends on what area your in I guess. There will be some areas that are REALLLY nice and then right next to it, it looks like a hurricane went through it. Its weird. I work at a golf resort and its a 5 star place and around it is really ghetto, you hear gun shots going off sometimes and what not. Odd. But if you get in the right area, its pretty nice all around. I live about 15-20 minutes from the main campus and my area is great.

I know one of my friends is like a middle man for Boeing, he tries to get the cheapest parts from different sellers for the aircrafts and projects and what not. The one guy that works for Dell, I am not quite sure what he is doing. I can get back to you later on that one.
Also, I'm not really comfortable asking them what they make so I'm going to have to pass on that one! :

Let me know if I can answer any other questions!

 

[Hostile]

Majerle's is a great sports bar in the Valley.

You've got to try the Heart Attack Grill just for to see what a great gag it is.

You'll love Mill Avenue. One of the best college areas around. Girls everywhere and most of them are pretty and sweet.

If you like golf there is an absolutely great course right by Campus and Tempe Town Lake. Think Scottish golf courses with the rolling hills. Very fun course.

 

[ajk23az]

Majerle's is a great sports bar in the Valley.

You've got to try the Heart Attack Grill just for to see what a great gag it is.

You'll love Mill Avenue. One of the best college areas around. Girls everywhere and most of them are pretty and sweet.

If you like golf there is an absolutely great course right by Campus and Tempe Town Lake. Think Scottish golf courses with the rolling hills. Very fun course.

What course are you thinking of? Riverview? Karsten?

 

[Hostile]

What course are you thinking of? Riverview? Karsten?

Karsten. The one directly south of Tempe Town Lake.

Where is Riverview? I don't think i know that one.

 

[gmoney112]

Thanks for the insight guys. I really appreciate that. Looks like I'm heading to Tempe.

 

[ajk23az]

Karsten. The one directly south of Tempe Town Lake.

Where is Riverview? I don't think i know that one.

Riverview is a little 9 hole course. Its on Rio Salado and Dobson. Right by Tempe Marketplace if you know where that is. But yea, Karsten is a really nice course.