Review of University Manor East in Hershey, PA

When my husband was accepted to Penn State Hershey Medical School starting in 2010 I scrambled to find a place to live. We're from the west coast so knew nothing about the area. I searched for information about the on-campus housing but all I found were some outdated pictures on the school's website. What I REALLY wanted was a review from someone who had lived there.
So I'm going to write one, hoping to aid those who are heading to Penn State Hershey in the future.
We ended up renting a 3 bedroom apartment from University Manor East. As we pulled up my first impression was that it looked outdated.

Then we went inside. Now we'd been students living in smallish apartments the past 5 years (my husband only had one semester of college under his belt when we'd met, I don't totally recommend it) so I was amazed at how big it was! And it had been recently renovated.
You enter through a hallway of closets (LOTS of storage) that leads to a smallish yet decent sized kitchen and a huge living room. There's a decent sized fenced-in patio off of the living room with a strip of dirt just outside of it (if you're on the bottom floor) where you can plant flowers (no vegetables allowed, which was disappointing but I made some amazing flower beds) and a decent sized dining room off the kitchen. Awesome. Just off the kitchen is a dining room. Not big enough to open our pub sized table up to a 54"x54" square, but big enough with it closed.
Then you go down another hall to 3 good-sized bedrooms. The master is long and narrow--kind of awkward--but so big it could've been 2 rooms. When we had baby #3 we used the other half as a nursery.
Outside your door is a good sized storage shed and a big playground where the neighborhood kids are often found frolicking around. When I was there Moms (and sometimes Dads) also congregated so everyone had a friend, usually one in the same position as you. For me, having that support as the wife of a medical student was AWESOME.
The office staff where you go to pay rent were nice, though I felt they went out of their way to charge me for things. It's not that way for everyone, I'm sure.
Maintenance was great at getting to repairs and there are a lot of rules (no pets except fish, no portable dishwashers, etc) but you have to weigh the good in with the bad. When you're renting there's no perfect place unless price isn't an issue. Did I mention that utilities are included in rent? It sure was nice not to stress about the thermostat.
The biggest con is the life flight helicopters that fly overhead. They're very loud at all times of day and night but you soon get used to them and learn to tune them out.
Also, many of the walls are made of brick, which darkens the rooms that already don't have their own lighting. You need to get a hold of lots and lots of lamps!
So if communal living seems like it's for you (with the close quarters of some interesting people, good and bad, and hearing your neighbors when they yell or the kids run around above your head), I highly recommend University Manor East.
As far as the 2 bedrooms go, everyone I've talked to seemed happy with them, though they don't have the extra outside storage that the 3 bedrooms do.
Feel free to ask any questions!
Thanks for reading and good luck at Penn State!