@ApexLion -- that's wonderful news for your daughter. The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) is top notch. It's as elite a hospital as you'll find in the Philadelphia region. What's her speciality, out of curiosity?
In terms of where to live, she would have a lot of options.
University City is the neighborhood immediately surrounding Penn. Quite a few residents, and students at Penn's medical school, live there. You can walk to HUP from anywhere in University City.
Fitler Square is on the other side of the Schuylkill River from Penn (Penn's campus is right up against the west wide of the river. Fitler Square is on the east side of the river. There is a bridge over the river that's the same block that HUP is on. Fitler Square is rather small, whereas University City is rather large. As such, there are places in Fitler Square, even on the other side of the river, that are closer to HUP than some of the outer area of University City. You can walk to HUP from anywhere in University City. It's also become rather expensive (housing costs), due to the proximity to HUP, as well as gentrification that has taken place in this neighborhood.
Graduate Hospital neighborhood is also on the other side of the Schuylkill River from HUP. It's adjacent to Fitler Square. It's also much larger, and stretches east toward Center City. You can walk to HUP from all regions of this neighborhood. However, the ones closest to Fitler Square/the Schuylkill River are the easiest to walk to HUP.
Rittenhouse neighborhood is also on the other side of the Schuylkill River from HUP. While the Graduate Hospital neighborhood is south of Fitler Square, the Rittenhouse neighborhood is to the north of Fitler Square. Like the Graduate Hospital neighborhood, it's much larger than Fitler Square, and also stretches east toward Center City. You can also walk to HUP from all area of the Rittenhouse neighborhood, but again, it's easiest to do so from the area of the neighborhood that are adjacent to Fitler Square or along the Schuylkill River.
Spruce Hill, West Powelton, and Powelton are the neighborhoods that surround University City on the same side of the Schuylkill River as is HUP. They are all quite nice, and one can walk to HUP (or bicycle). All 3 have undergone gentrification, and rehabbing, over the past 40 years. Due to their proximity to Penn and Drexel, all 3 offer everything from rooms to rent with shared kitchen and bathrooms to very upscale apartments, condos, and houses.
That's the closest neighborhoods, for the most part.
Some residents and students also take advantage of the transportation system in the region. the Market-Frankford line is one of the 2 subways in Philadelphia. They intersect at City Hall (Broad & Market, in Center City), so she could live in quite a few other regions of the city and easily get to the Market-Frankford 34th Street stop or 30th Street stop. (HUP is located at 34th & Spruce Street.) This would open up a lot of neighborhoods in and around Center City along Broad Street (to take the Broad Street subway to City Hall and then switch) or in some of the neighborhoods that are popular with the younger folks, including Old City, Northern Liberties, and Fishtown (where she would take the Market-Frankford line directly).
There's also a regional rail station located a couple of blocks from HUP. It was University City for years, but has been renamed the Penn Medicine station. Basically, this opens up suburban areas, as well as some other city regions. Rail lines that stop at Penn Medicine station include
- Media/Wawa (which open up Media, Swarthmore, and other towns in Delaware County)
- Paoli/Thorndale (which opens up the Mail Line regions of Montgomery County, including Ardmore, Lower Merion, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Rosemont, Villanova, Radnor, St. Davids, Devon, etc.) - super nice locations, with lots of safe housing options
- Chestnut Hill West (which opens up the Chestnut Hill, Mount Airy, and Germantown section of Philadelphia)
This option is super convenient, in terms of living a distance from HUP and taking a reliable, fast, and safe train to and from the aforementioned area. The only down side is that trains don't run between midnight and @ 6 am (could be 5 -- I'm too tired to look it up), so she'd have to have a firm idea of how crazy her hours could be
As a dad, I'm sure you're also concerned about the safety of the area around HUP, and the neighborhoods that I outlined above. It's quite safe around HUP, and in the neighborhoods that I listed. I didn't list neighborhoods that are a little farther away from HUP that while not too far away, aren't as safe as the ones I listed.
Feel free to PM me if you need additional information.
And again, congratulations to your daughter.
www.nbcphiladelphia.com
