Legacy West vs. The Star vs. Frisco for Aggie Graduates
For a recent Aggie grad taking a job in the West Plano / Dallas North Tollway corridor, my default recommendation is Legacy West. The Star is a strong second choice, while Grandscape, PGA Frisco and broader Frisco can all make sense for the right personality or budget.
My overall ranking is:
That is not a ranking of which place is objectively “best.” It is my ranking for the typical recent Aggie grad, especially someone moving to North Dallas without an established friend group and working near the Legacy corridor.
Why Legacy West is my #1
Legacy West has the best combination of work, social life and everyday convenience. A lot of major employers are concentrated around the Legacy / Tollway / SH-121 corridor, so living at Legacy West can make the commute extremely short. For some renters, work may even be walkable.
The bigger advantage is what I call whole value. A cheaper apartment is not automatically a better value if you have to drive everywhere, work harder to meet people and spend extra time creating your own social life. If you can walk to dinner, coffee, drinks, entertainment and social activity, that convenience is worth real money.
Legacy West also gives a recent grad a wider range of everyday spending options than many high-end lifestyle districts. The official Legacy West directory currently includes choices ranging from CAVA, Mendocino Farms and Shake Shack to full-service restaurants, and Legacy Hall alone advertises 20+ restaurants, bars and live music. That matters when you are 22 or 23 and want a polished area without turning every night out into an expensive night out.
For someone moving alone, Legacy West is especially strong because it puts you near employers, other young professionals and places where meeting up after work feels natural.
The Star: best glitzier alternative
The Star is my #2 overall choice. It is the Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters and practice-facility campus, with restaurants, entertainment and events built around a highly polished destination.
For the right renter, The Star can absolutely move to #1. I would consider that if you want a more glitzy nightlife feel, you are comfortable paying more, or you find one of the nearby mid-rise options that makes the district realistically walkable.
The tradeoff is everyday cost. The Star has plenty of dining, but in my experience the mix skews more expensive than Legacy West. That can sound minor during an apartment tour and become more noticeable once you live there and want an ordinary Tuesday lunch.
Two Aggie roommates can make The Star more attractive because sharing a two-bedroom may let them buy into a better lifestyle location instead of simply chasing the cheapest suburban rent.
Grandscape: best for variety
Grandscape in The Colony is my #3. It is a huge shopping, dining and entertainment destination with residential uses in the district as well. It can be a terrific choice for someone who wants a wide variety of things to do and does not care whether everyone around them is the same age.
That is also the distinction: Grandscape attracts a broad mix of people. I would not currently call it a concentrated recent-grad or Aggie hot spot in the same way I would Legacy West. That is not a negative—it is just a different social environment.
If your goal is to meet a wide range of friends and have a large menu of entertainment nearby, Grandscape can jump higher on your list.
PGA Frisco: the lifestyle override for golfers
PGA Frisco is my #4 overall, but if golf is your number-one passion, ignore the ranking and go look at it.
The PGA District officially describes itself as a walkable community hub with dining, shopping, events and golf. It continues to build out as a North Frisco lifestyle destination, and it has a very polished, high-end feel.
The main tradeoff for someone working near Legacy is distance. It is farther north than the other choices, so the commute matters more—especially when Dallas North Tollway traffic is heavy. For a hybrid worker or a serious golfer, that tradeoff can be completely worth it.
Broader Frisco: best apartment-only value
Broader Frisco is #5 in my recent-grad lifestyle ranking, but it can be #1 for pure apartment value.
If your priority is a newer apartment, more space and a strong deal, Frisco has a lot to offer. New communities continue to be built, and apartment specials can sometimes make the numbers very attractive.
The reason I rank it lower for a typical Aggie grad is not apartment quality. It is that many of the best-value properties are not truly walkable to restaurants, nightlife or a built-in social district. You may be near everything on a map and still get in the car for almost everything in real life.
For someone with a family, someone who wants more space, or someone who simply values the apartment itself more than social infrastructure, broader Frisco can be the right answer.
Commute should not dominate this decision
One thing I would not overthink is commute. All five choices are in the same broad North Dallas / Plano-Frisco orbit, and most are relatively convenient to the Legacy employment corridor. Legacy West has the biggest convenience advantage because it can potentially eliminate the drive. The farther north you go—especially toward PGA Frisco—the more tollway traffic becomes part of the equation.
If you are hybrid or remote, your choices expand even more. Some renters working in the Legacy corridor consider Uptown or Victory Park. That can work if you are willing to pay more for an urban Dallas lifestyle. In practice, many people I tour with compare those areas and still come back north because Legacy West or Frisco gives them a better overall fit.
Do not underestimate your social life after Texas A&M
This is the part I think recent Aggie grads underestimate the most.
At Texas A&M, friendships can happen almost automatically. You have classes, organizations, traditions, football weekends and thousands of people in the same stage of life. When you move to a new city, that structure disappears unless you rebuild it intentionally.
If possible, move before your job starts instead of arriving the weekend before your first day. Use that extra time to set up your apartment, learn the area and start building a routine.
Then create a 30-day social plan. Plug into the Dallas A&M Club, find a nearby church if that is important to you, volunteer, attend your apartment events even when it feels awkward, and build activities around your interests. In football season, Aggie watch parties and alumni events should be part of that plan.
The goal is not to attend one hundred random events. The goal is recurring social contact—seeing some of the same people over and over until acquaintances become friends.
My final recommendation
If you work around Legacy / West Plano and you do not have a very specific reason to choose somewhere else, start with Legacy West. It gives a recent Aggie grad the strongest overall combination of employer access, walkability, social opportunity, everyday dining choices and post-college lifestyle.
Choose The Star if you want more glitz and can handle the premium. Choose Grandscape for variety and a broader social mix. Choose PGA Frisco if golf is central to your life. Choose broader Frisco if apartment value, space and new construction matter more than built-in social life.
And whichever one you choose, remember: the apartment is only part of the move. The real question is how you want to live.
About the author: Grant Bynum is a Texas Aggie and longtime Texas apartment locator who has helped renters compare Dallas–Fort Worth neighborhoods and apartments firsthand since 2011.