I stayed at Rahul’s place for 3.5 months, from September to December 2019 as a Columbia law student. Rahul’s place is very close to two different subway lines, which is great. I felt pretty safe even coming back to his apartment late at night (I’ve felt safe at 3 in the morning) since you cross Columbia’s well-lit campus with security and a lot of students walking around to get home from the 116th subway station. Overall, I really recommend it if you’re affiliated with Columbia at all. It was only a 30 second walk to the law school, which was great. I also loved jogging in Riverside Park, which is very close by. Rahul was very nice, and a cleaning man comes every 2 weeks to clean the apartment. Some things to note: the apartment sits on top of a daycare, so starting at 9 am every weekday until around 1 pm, there will be the sounds of young children screaming and laughing and playing on the playground. If you’re only in NYC for a short amount of time and want the ability to sleep in on weekdays, I don’t recommend this place since it will be impossible to sleep once they are in the playground. Also, note that you will be sharing the bathroom with Rahul, his wife Susham, and another guest. So sometimes, the restroom may be crowded. Also, realize that Susham and Rahul actually live here too so you will see them a lot in the kitchen, and they often watch tv in the living room until midnight. They are really nice people who are respectful of my privacy, but it’s important you are okay with the set-up of the home. Also, depending on when the cleaning man has come, the cleanliness of the room might be different. It’s totally spotless after he comes. I got unlucky in that when I checked-in, he hadn’t come by recently so my room wasn’t as clean as I wanted. But, he came in a few days and then the room became spotless. So your experience may depend accordingly.