Graduate Gardens

The only positive thing about Graduate Gardens is its location — it’s close to the university, which is convenient for students. Other than that, the apartments are old, outdated, and have no real amenities. Considering the amount of money you pay, it’s definitely not worth it.

This is absolutely one of the worst places you could live in. I have lived there for 2 years, the place was full of roaches from the beginning and none of their pest control actions were helping. The maintenance and the management is the worst possible you could imagine. People live there like in a group of 6 in the same 2b1b house and the management does nothing about it. There are only two advantages I can think of: affordability and its closeness to Trader Joe’s. Apart from that I would never recommend either this place or Southern management in general to anyone in my life!

The management and maintenance people are nice and responsive. I rent a one-bedroom apartment. The price is affordable ($1200, grad student discount) with utilities and internet included. It is 15 minutes walking distance to school and about 8 mins by bike. The down sides are that they don't have dish-washers and the laundry units are not in the apartment. But they are usually just within 5-min walk. Also they only can turn on the heater or air-conditioner at a time and usually it is late into the season. Quite inconvenient sometimes.

Price is good for what it is. Easy to get approved for a lease. The main reason I didn’t enjoy living here was the lack of security. Several cars, including mine, had their airbags and tires stolen. Management says it’s UMD’s problem, while UMD says it’s technically off campus so it’s management’s problem. I wish they had an additional key or swipe for the building, because right now anyone can walk up to your unit. Oh, and more regular trash pickups would be nice.

The vicinity is beautiful. Pretty chill neighborhood. The apartments are a bit small though