So, I’m in Columbus, and I’ll be graduating with a Bachelor’s in October.
How do I go live somewhere else? If, say, I wanted to go live in Boston, should I move there, and THEN search for a job, or do apply for jobs in Boston and then move there whence I’m accepted? I lived in Ohio all my life so I have no idea what the protocol is here. I don’t think this would be so confusing if I didn’t have a shoestring budget at the moment.
Do you have any advice on picking a new city to live in? Thanks!
This depends on which you want more: a certain type of job, or living in a particular place. Do whichever one is more important to you first, then do the other.
See, you did it all wrong. You’re graduating from your hometown – very bad decision. You should have made your first cross-country move upon entering college. ( 
)
To actually answer your question (sort of): I’d have to say it all depends. What’s your degree in – do you expect to be making a fair amount of money? If Boston was mentioned seriously, and not merely as a random example, are there lots of opportunities there in your field?
Depending on how bad you want to move to Boston (or wherever) you might do both – look for jobs there first, but be prepared to move there jobless. Again, it depends – how much money do you have? What living standards are you prepared to accept in your destination city? If you want to get out of town that badly, you could probably survive nicely for a while in a room at the Boston YMCA, and go ahead and move with just a small savings. If you really require a waterfront view, depending on your bank account, you’ll need a good job first.
To pick a new city, you ought to visit first. I visited Seattle four times, in different seasons, before I become set on moving there. Still, if a particular city attracts you because of its opportunities or some other special reason, you needn’t visit – you’d survive anywhere for a while, and then you could move again if you hated it that much. I’ve lived all over the country, and it’s kind of fun in its way.
http://www.findmyspot.com might give you an idea of what you’re looking for.
I’m in a similar situation. I graduated in May and I’m in the process of trying to move clear across country right now (Long Island to San Diego, about as far as it gets).
I’ve been pretty lucky. Mid senior year I realized that almost all the med schools I applied to would be either too expensive, too cold (Upstate NY), or both. One day in lab, when my professor asked me what I was going to do after graduation, I half jokingly said, “Move to southern California.” Her eye’s lit up and she said, “Ooh, lots of biotech out there.” And apparently its true. (I was thinking more along the lines of cantaloupe farming, but I’ll takes what I can gets)
Things I’ve learned:
All excellent points. Plus, setting up a house is expensive (furniture, trash cans, yadda yadda) so it’s not a bad deal to stay in a hotel for awhile and have all that provided. When you first move into a new city, it’s hard to tell where you’ll want to live. Where are the other people your age living? What kind of things will you want to be near? Is there public transportation, or do you need to make sure you have easy parking? All this stuff takes awhile to figure out.
On the plus side, this is probably the easiest move you’ll ever make, logistically speaking (I’m assuming you didn’t rent a house while in college and fill it with a bunch of expensive furniture?) You should be able to throw all your crap in a small truck and hit the road.