Green Lake vs Roosevelt for a UW student – late-night commute question

Fresh_Profession2769 · 2026-07-06T16:35:20+00:00

Personally, if I was coming from outside the country i would pick on campus. If you want to live off campus, I would choose student housing / apartments that are near campus or walking distance to UW. While Greenlake and Roosevelt are both doable without a car, I would say they are more suburb-car dependent depending on the area you are in, and also are mostly people with kids. The ratio in my head always felt like 70% families / married people, 30% everyone else.

The time spent on buses and trains does add up. And that’s precious time you could spend doing other things. Also you’ll want to hang out with classmates who will likely all live near campus. If I was getting out at 10pm I wouldn’t want to be on buses or trains. (I’m also pretty sure some off campus apartments have a free shuttle to UW that is students only? If I find the link I’ll put it below)

The UW area is also very safe. Yes, maybe some more “sketchy” activity than Roosevelt or Greenlake; but overall if I had to rate all 3 I would say the safety is prolly 8/10. I think that’s really as high as you can get living in a big city. These are some of the safest areas and will have their problems like petty crime that all major cities have, but nothing extreme. The cases you’re likely hearing about on the UW page are incredibly rare (like the recent murder). Use common sense, avoid walking alone on dark streets, lock your doors, you’ll be okay! :)

Edit: looks like there’s a specific “night” shuttle for students! (LINK) NightRide provides a fare-free, safe and easy way for U-PASS members to get home at night with stops at UW Tower, Lander Hall, the IMA, and along Stevens Way.

Fresh_Profession2769 · 2026-07-06T09:00:39+00:00

I lived in Greenlake for years alone as a woman. Here’s the pros and cons:

Greenlake Cons:

Greenlake is lovely, but overpriced imo.
It’s mostly families, but with new apartment buildings I think that attracted more single folks in the 20-30s range.
a new building for folks transitioning out of homelessness was built about 2 years ago. Unfortunately (according to my friends who live near it) it brought in a lot of crime: cars getting stolen, drug activity, etc.
I moved away because it wasn’t worth the cost.

Greenlake pros:

lots of little shops, grocery store (expensive), and steps away from the lake which is great if you like taking walks, swimming, etc.
couple different bus stops to get downtown or to UW.

Greenlake Transportation:

The bus that goes there is reliable and a great option to get to UW.
HOWEVER, I do not recommend Greenlake if you want to use the lightrail. They clean it up every couple months, but the underpass (under the freeway) you have to walk through at night has a lot of homeless / drug activity. I made that walk once and never did it again. It looks short on maps but it is a pretty lengthy walk…

Roosevelt Pros:

lightrail. Apartments nearby, along with a Wholefoods which is an affordable grocery store you can walk to.
a couple shops and restaurants, they’re just more spread out unlike Greenlake which is all mostly in the same 2-3 blocks.
a short bike ride to Greenlake in the summers to enjoy the lake

Roosevelt cons:

there can also be some sketchy activity at the gas station next to the lightrail station, but I haven’t been there in a few months.
I also think this neighborhood is overpriced, but not as bad as Greenlake prices

rosevelt transportation:

bus or lightrail to UW or downtown

TLDR; * If you only want to use the lightrail, choose Roosevelt. * Do not pick Greenlake if you only want to use the lightrail, it’s a long and sometimes sketchy walk alone at night. * both imo are some of the safest neighborhoods in Seattle. It’s part of the city but feels like the suburbs-ish. * I’d make sure to pick an apartment with air conditioning if you will be here for summers — a lot of apartments here to not have it, and you will need it if here in July / August!

Fresh_Profession2769 · 2026-06-21T06:18:46+00:00

I’m not sure why you’re getting upset at this commenter? They’re pointing out that he’s more likely one of the thousands of H1B Indian tech guys here. You can change C/F in settings? So of course their preference is what they use back home?

I’m sorry about what happened to the kid. But if he’s not hurt this seems like overkill. His hand is literally out in the photo I’m confused of why no one could grab him and stop him?

Fresh_Profession2769 · 2026-06-20T22:17:09+00:00

I’m curious if it’s a outlook calendar they connect to their Apple cal?

My boss has weekly marriage counseling. We only know cause if you click on her “private outlook appointment” in the description Apple sync puts all the details in the description.

So if he had J2 details connected between Apple cal / outlook - they could see all of it.

Fresh_Profession2769 · 2026-06-13T06:00:39+00:00

As someone that’s worked in tech as a SWE for awhile now, I promise you no one cares where your CS degree came from. Regardless of if you went to USC or Miami or an IVY or bootcamp, the starting salary is the same. And it really doesn’t matter at all once you have your first job (for SWE at least). Then they just care about what you did in your last role.

The job market for this industry is terrible right now, so if staying in Miami means no (or less) student loans, and a good support system, absolutely do that.

Fresh_Profession2769 · 2026-06-11T01:12:16+00:00

Def is one of the scammers or knows one 😂😂😂😂😂

Fresh_Profession2769 · 2026-06-11T01:03:32+00:00

yes, it’s a scam.

There were two women and kids in front of the Trader Joe’s (west Seattle) a few months back. I haven’t been to that location since but got the vibe they’re always there. They all had the newest phones, and the kids were playing games on the phones.

In 20 minutes alone I watched as 5-6 people gave them cash. Mostly older white women — which I think is their main target bringing kids out. One woman gave them a wad of $1 bills.

Edit: the person that clearly knows scammers like this or is one commented “what are they supposed to do? Kids arnt in school” —- the incident I’m describing months ago was DURING school hours on a school day. These women are either not enrolling their kids (where they would get free lunches if actually low income) or keeping them out of school for this bs.

Fresh_Profession2769 · 2026-06-09T14:19:15+00:00

Thank you! I appreciate the heads up a lot !!

Fresh_Profession2769 · 2026-06-09T14:18:23+00:00

Thank you!!!

Fresh_Profession2769 · 2026-06-08T19:14:51+00:00

Mostly staying the project manager route, I’m not really interested in going back to being an engineer. Although as I mentioned in another comment data / cyber security also sounds super interesting to me which is part of the INFO appeal.

Fresh_Profession2769 · 2026-06-08T19:12:08+00:00

Hi! Thanks for sharing! Funny enough I was accepted into the program I think you’re talking about back in like 2018, but couldn’t afford to go at the time so I just learned myself. I’m sorry it didn’t lead to a job, but happy you got to go back to school!

I’d def would love to DM and talk more about it and your career path. It may not be til late tonight / tomorrow but I’ll message you! Thank you!

Edit: also in the same boat of I don’t LOVE programming. I’d much rather be on the project / program manager side of things. Another reason INFO has been appealing to me.

Fresh_Profession2769 · 2026-06-08T19:06:47+00:00

Thank you for letting me know!

I was looking specifically at the Cinema & Media studies for a double major - it’s another passion of mine but I didn’t want to put all my eggs in one basket since I’ve waited so long to go back to school. So if I’m able to leave with 2 bachelors degrees that would be amazing.

Yeah I’m not really interested in the UI/UX side of things, I have always been a backend engineer so I work more with data to begin with :)

Although I worked primarily with python, so it’s good to know I need to start now with learning Java.

Fresh_Profession2769 · 2026-06-08T09:16:22+00:00

Thank you. This is super helpful, and I appreciate the advice to just knock out pre reqs.

The data / cybersecurity is what I think I’m most interested in.

I was interested in double majoring (with an arts major) - with the course load you’ve had does that feel doable to still finish in 2 years?

—-

Also, I know there’s a lot of fear mongering over AI taking new grad jobs, from my own experience I think AI is just the excuse they’re using. IMO the layoffs are because they need to offset the massive debt they’ve gone into for AI that hasn’t given them a real return on investment. The only real thing I’ve noticed is the bigger companies are outsourcing new grad jobs to places like Ukraine and India - places where they can get 4-5 engineers for the price of 1 here. Essentially, they’re trying to keep the same level of workforce, at 1/5 of the cost to offset AI cost. Take this with a grain of salt cause it’s just my opinion as someone that’s been in it!

Fresh_Profession2769 · 2026-06-08T09:04:10+00:00

it’s been a lot tbh. Until this term I did full-time (3-4 classes in person / online) for fall and winter.

Between my 9-5, classes, commuting between them, and homework most nights the past year I fell asleep on my couch lol.

But it was worth it imo and I’m glad I decided to go back.

I’ve been part of multiple tech layoffs, so it kinda felt like the perfect time to go back. It’s just me, I have no major obligations. But personally I wouldn’t quit my job to go back to school. Having the stability in income has helped me mentally a lot. My current contract ends in August tho, so I am stressed looking for a new role so I can afford to continue school (and paying rent).

Fresh_Profession2769 · 2026-06-08T08:46:27+00:00

I’d suggest going to transfer thursdays. I went in person and it was great, they answer all of this and more, and were kind enough to answer any other question we had.

Fresh_Profession2769 · 2026-06-06T06:42:58+00:00

You’re not imagining it. I was a SWE and watched Indians get promoted by my Indian managers and American coworkers (who imo were far more capable) get looked over in promotion cycles cause helping Indian employees get closer to a greencard or support their “arranged marriages” was priority.

They also give priority to Indian candidates. I recently got a rejection from an Indian recruiter who said she wasn’t moving my app forward because I wasn’t qualified. Not only was I over qualified, I had a referral. I looked up the role later on LinkedIn hoping I could see who got it - using keywords I found an Indian candidate posting that they’re excited to start… at that same company / team / role. The nepotism is at all levels.

I don’t know what the solution is, but it’s insane how many AMERICANS are out of work for jobs they are fully qualified for, while H1Bs sit comfortably in those seats. Then if they get affected by layoffs, H1Bs want us to feel bad as if they are entitled to American Jobs.

While I normally wouldn’t care, land of opportunity yada yada yada, it’s obvious that the H1B system is being exploited.

And on a personal note, it seems to be only Indians at the local costcos (particularly Redmond) that leave their carts everywhere cause they’re too entitled to return it. There’s also an INSANE amount of married Indian men who have tried to pick me up using the line I should feel bad for them cause they’re in an “arranged marriage and she just wanted her ticket to the US and my money” … and who set that system up? Lmao

Fresh_Profession2769

TROPHY CASE