Well the results of LL#1's grad school search are in and it looks like she is headed to UCSF. I'm super proud of her - the whole application process was rough with a LOT of unexpected rejections but she's landing at the currently-#2-ranked neuroscience PhD program in the country so I keep telling myself it's where she's meant to be. But we are east-coast small-town people - I've been in SF twice in my life for a few days each so wrapping my head around the logistics of moving her (and her 2 cats) 3000 miles away to a big scary city (where her stipend is almost certainly not going to cover her rent) is daunting. Not to mention the whole earthquake thing....sure the east coast has its hazards (hurricanes, blizzards) but we know those are coming days in advance and have plenty of time to prepare and/or evacuate. To me, earthquakes are terrifying things I've only ever seen on TV and apparently SF is way overdue for "the big one." (I distinctly remember watching coverage of the last big SF earthquake in 1989(?) on TV while I was in college and being horrified....those images are haunting me now!)

Somebody tell me this is all going to be ok, LOL.

One of the Quirtlets has recently taken a job in the San Francisco area. (Not right in the city, but I'm not sure if it's far enough out to call it "the suburbs." Hopefully, Quirt will chime in here. He lived in San Francisco for several years, and probably has some helpful things to contribute here.)

The Quirtlet seems to be settling in well. Housing prices are as breathtaking as you'd expect, but a roommate helps with that. I would think it would be an amazing place to be a young person.

Congratulations to LL#1!!!!!

I know nothing about SF but want to extend my congratulations to LL#1!!!

It's all going to be OK.

San Francisco is due for an earthquake, but no one can tell when.

I lived in San Francisco for roughly ten years, and earthquakes never terrified me. I remember waking up one night with the house shaking, thinking "Oh, that's an earthquake", and going back to sleep immediately.

If you are worried about earthquakes, check the geological maps. There are parts of the city that are built on bedrock and parts that are built on landfill (the Marina district, for example). As you can imagine, the landfill parts will not do as well in an earthquake.

Housing prices, especially in the city, are indeed breathtaking.

I believe that, as a function of her job, my daughter knows people at UCSF. There may even be some overlap between the people she knows and the people that LL#1 will be working with. Without getting into details here, and without checking with my daughter first (which is always a risk), there may be ways in which my daughter might be able to be helpful. Please PM me if you want more information.

I will say this ... I absolutely loved living in San Francisco. That was a long time ago, the city has changed, all the caveats, but I think it's a terrific place to land (assuming it's affordable).

Congrats to LL#1.

I can't offer too much advice on living in SF, but it's a city I've always enjoyed visiting. My first visit was in 1975 for business and I've been back multiple times for both business and pleasure since then. It's one of my favorite cities.

My wife has a cousin who has lived in SF for most of her adult life. If you have some specific questions, I could ask if she could respond. A son of another of my wife's cousins lived in the SF area for several years, but eventually moved back east because of the cost of living there. He probably has a different perspective on the Bay area.

Big Al

Congratulations to LL#1 and the proud mama!

SF is a great tourist town!

Congratulations!

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the currently-#2-ranked neuroscience PhD program in the country

Wow, congratulations!!!

I have never been anywhere in CA so I have nothing helpful to say, but I have always wanted to visit SF.

Thanks for the congrats everyone.

I'm honestly so relieved - these last few months have been awful for her. Grad school admission has gotten insanely competitive since the pandemic and neuroscience is apparently a hot trendy field so that makes it worse. (These programs get like 500+ applications, interview 40-50 and accept like 20. The acceptance rates are scary low.) She applied to 9 schools (which ended up costing over $1100 in application fees!!!) and got flat out rejected without even an interview from 7 of them. She was interviewed at the other two and eventually accepted at one of them but once she interviewed with them she realized it was not the best fit for her research interests. That school was looking like her only option for a long time so she was debating whether to go there anyway or look into backup plans and reapply again next year when the acceptance from UCSF came through this week. That was one of her top choices so she's really happy and we are all very very relieved that she won't have to repeat this process again. Now we just have to figure out how to get her there.

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costing over $1100 in application fees!!!

Ugh, that’s quite an outlay!

So, so happy for her!

Excellent news! San Francisco is a delightful place full of things to see and do, and eat! Even on a budget. (Went to a cool Burmese place there on the last trip).

Golden Gate Park is right close to UCSF, I believe. Great place to wander.

Be sure to wear flowers in your hair

She won’t be able to afford flowers.

Good for her!

I wouldn’t worry about earthquakes. Right now, a nuclear war is more probable than a disastrous earthquake. I used to live in Los Angeles. Many times there were tremors that lasted only a couple of seconds but no major quakes.

S.F. is a compact city of about 7 miles by 7 miles. The city is densely populated with narrow congested streets and on-street parking. It’s expensive to own a car there. It’s easy to get around SF using public transportation. It has an excellent public transportation system consisting of BART (heavy rail), SFMTA consisting of light rail and buses that have an electrical connection on the roof to overhead power lines. Forget about cable cars. Those are for tourists not residents. Walking, bicycling, and public transportation are good ways to get around. An e-bike might come in handy because SF is so hilly and some of those hills are really steep. You need strong legs to live in SF.

She’s going to rent, not buy, right? Rents are high there. My niece lives there and she spends about $2500 rent/month for a one bedroom apartment. This was about three years ago. I don’t know what is now. Is this the one in which you were considering buying a house there rather than LL living in a dorm building?

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because SF is so hilly and some of those hills are really steep. You need strong legs to live in SF.