I also know that my standards for what feels safe are a bit higher than other people's, and I'm willing to pay a bit more in rent in order to be somewhere where I'm comfortable.

I'd lean Hyde Park and Oakley, then, in that order. (Though, honestly, at this point the 2 neighborhoods -- and, again, they are right next to each other and sometimes I'm not even sure where one starts and the other ends -- are really similar in terms of demographics.)

The major issue I'm running into is stairs. Most of the apartments available are in older buildings that don't have elevators, and there were a couple of buildings where even a first-floor apartment was out of the question, because there's an enormous flight of stairs to get to the building from the street. I'm going to be calling around to some of the property management places tomorrow -- even though they list contact emails on their websites, almost none of them have actually responded to the emails I sent.

Most of the apartments available are in older buildings that don't have elevators

The apartment I lived in when I lived in Clifton (named Clifton Colony) has one building out of the whole complex that has an elevator -- I lived in that building. Granted that it's been 7 years since I lived there, but it was a nice place. Not swanky, but nice. So if you end up going with Clifton, you might want to call Clifton Colony and ask about the building with the elevator.

Every other place I lived was either a house or a 4-unit building with no elevator.

When are you aiming to move?

When are you aiming to move?

Sometime in July. My lease here goes until the end of July, but if I can move earlier, than I'd like to, so that I can get settled in and stuff before the school year starts.

Looking at reviews of Clifton Colony online, it seems like it was getting decent reviews until about the summer of 2013. Pretty much every review posted after that is terrible. I'm guessing new management.

Aww, dang. It was really good to me for close to 7 years. It was the longest I'd ever lived anywhere post-college, until now. (I think I just recently passed the 7-year mark in Tim's house...excuse me, OUR house.) That's too bad.

I also found out that Cincinnati Children's Hospital has a center for connective tissue disorders. They don't see adults, other than for genetics consults, but they'll refer people to local doctors who know about EDS. That will be REALLY helpful.

That's excellent! Children's is SO outstanding. (Which obviously isn't relevant to either of us in a direct way, but, as you said, their ability to refer to other doctors is a huge help. And I think they raise the general quality of healthcare in the area.)

If you need a primary-care doctor and if my awesome doctor is taking new patients, I recommend him unreservedly.

Awesome.

Now, I'm just getting a little antsy about not having the official offer letter yet. But I should have it soon. Last Tuesday, the person at the math department said that it would take "a few days," and then I emailed him again over the weekend, and he said he'd look into it, but he hasn't gotten back to me yet.

When I was a student at UC I lived near Clifton and Ludlow. It was a great neighborhood. I rented the ground floor of a huge old Victorian house that I LOVED. That place was amazing. The neighborhood is minutes from the campus and was awesome.