Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

I'm probably looking to apply to 2 or 3 of these. Please post opinions if you get time. Also, please feel free to post which would be the worst options available (I probably should have done a poll for this).

Important things

Weather
Closer to home is better
Beautiful area
Stuff to do, e.g concerts
Low Crime
Cheap Housing
School has good rep, would like to be around smart ppl
Don't mind living in big city or small town, but would like latter to be within 90 min. commute of city.

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

Please define "best".

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

Best location for what? What will you be studying? I'm ssaying Austin bewcause it's an amazing party town with awesome live music, but I admit to being biased.

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

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Please define "best".

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Edited in some stuff.

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

San Diego is far and away the best weather listed here.

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

There are very few people with legitimate living experience in all these places, so this is bound to be more of a "what school did you go to" or "where are you from" poll than what you really want it to be. Maybe you'd be better off asking for people's opinions of any of the places in question.

Also, what are you studying? Do you want a large city or a smaller town?

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

I voted Columbia, SD and Boston U.

SD for weather, Columbia for smart people and things to do.

But I think Boston is the best "college town". One of the larger cities in the U.S. and during the school year 1 out of every 5 Boston residents is a college student.

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

Here is my worry about Austin. I don't know much about it, but Texas doesn't appeal to me. I don't want to live in an area like Big Steve describes where being Gay is seen like some kind of disease and you are persecuted because of it. Being around religious people is fine but I don't want to be around Bible Bashers.

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

i voted for cornell, here's why...

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I'm probably looking to apply to 2 or 3 of these.

Important things

Weather

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ok yeah upstate new york weather isn't good, but the snow can be nice, and it's really not that bad. this is probably cornell's biggest downside.

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Closer to home is better

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isn't your home the uk? ithaca > nyc > england

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Beautiful area

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the finger lakes are amazing...ithaca in particular is beautiful. right on a lake, all the gorges, close to wine country, etc.

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Stuff to do, e.g concerts

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decent music scene in ithaca. also you're not far from syracuse, rochester, and even nyc.

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Low Crime

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definitely.

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Cheap Housing

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compared to the other places you're considering, ithaca is very cheap.

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School has good rep, would like to be around smart ppl

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definitely.

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

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Here is my worry about Austin. I don't know much about it, but Texas doesn't appeal to me. I don't want to live in an area like Big Steve describes where being Gay is seen like some kind of disease and you are persecuted because of it. Being around religious people is fine but I don't want to be around Bible Bashers.

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from what i hear, austin is not like the rest of texas. i think it's like a pocket of liberalism.

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

Cornell has terrible weather, a beautiful campus,
low crime, cheap housing, and a diverse group of smart students. Ithaca has amazing food for being a small town, but it is 3 hours from New York and there isn't that much to do.

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

Come on...there is NOTHING to do in Ithaca/Rochester outside of school. To compare the social scenes there to someplace like NYC, Boston, or even San Diego is utterly ridiculous.

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

I believe Austin was rated as one of the liberalist cities in the US.

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

stay in boston area

best city in US + best universities

can't help you on weather, but i like having seasons

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

Partygirl we need to know how you feel about living in a real city vs living in a college town. Cornell and Brown are both really cool, but Columbia has New York City.

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

Boston U. grads are generally looked down upon here in NYC where I work. Not a great rep. Guess it depends on industry.

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

I think the absolute terrible choices here would be Illinois, Maryland, Rochester, and Ohio State.

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

Austin for beautiful area, stuff to do, cheap housing (i think)
San Diego for weather, beautiful area, stuff to do
Ann Arbor for stuff to do, good rep

Granted I have only lived in Ann Arbor so I don't really know what I'm talking about.

Michigan summers are amazing, FWIW.

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

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Boston U. grads are generally looked down upon here in NYC where I work. Not a great rep. Guess it depends on industry.

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oops i didn't look at the choices in the poll. when i was talking about best universities i was talking about harvard, MIT not BU

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

I would concur.

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

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Partygirl we need to know how you feel about living in a real city vs living in a college town. Cornell and Brown are both really cool, but Columbia has New York City.

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I have only evered like a city with min 4,000,000 popn throughout my life, but I live right on the outskirts of London and very rarely venture into the city.

I don't think I would have a huge problem with a town. I would just like it so that if my favourite band were doing a tour of U.S.A they were likely to play somewhere I can get to by public transport in as short time as possible (and def. less than 90 minutes).

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

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Come on...there is NOTHING to do in Ithaca/Rochester outside of school.

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that is utterly ridiculous. there are a myriad of outdoor activities, concerts, etc.

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To compare the social scenes there to someplace like NYC, Boston, or even San Diego is utterly ridiculous.

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did i say they were comparable?

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

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I think the absolute terrible choices here would be Illinois, Maryland, Rochester, and Ohio State.

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Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

I personally can talk about UM, UW, and UCSD, at least the towns they're in.

UM
I went to grad school here. I personally think the whole of southern Michigan and Ohio is one huge hole. There are small exceptions, however. Ann Arbor is a tpical Big Ten college town and is probably the only decent place in all of southern Michigan and the school is a very well-respected school, if not a bit pricey. They have a top-tier law school and are very good in engineering. It's also solid in just about anything else. Pretty much any Big Ten school is going to be solid in engineering. It's about a 45-minute drive from Detroit, which is the poorest big city in America and an absolute hole. I haven't played poker in the casinos there, but I hear there's plenty of it.

UW
I grew up in Wisconsin and know several people who went to UW-Madison. It's a solid Big Ten school, strong in engineering and I'm sure other things. I don't know a whole lot more about the school itself, other than it's respectable in a wide range of studies. Madison is, like Ann Arbor, a typical college town with a good Big Ten feel. When you talk about great college towns, Ann Arbor, Madison, and Austin are the first three that come to mind (and you can probably put Boulder, CO in there, too). The area around Madison has a bit of a nicer feel to it than Detroit, but it's also not a hugely populated area. Milwaukee and Chicago are relatively nearby.

UCSD
San Diego is a great place if you've got the money. I didn't live there as a student, so I'm not sure about what it's like to live on campus. If you like 70 and sunny, you'll be in heaven 363 days out of the year. There's good poker in the area and there's plenty of fun to be had around town, as well.

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

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Here is my worry about Austin. I don't know much about it, but Texas doesn't appeal to me. I don't want to live in an area like Big Steve describes where being Gay is seen like some kind of disease and you are persecuted because of it. Being around religious people is fine but I don't want to be around Bible Bashers.

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from what i hear, austin is not like the rest of texas. i think it's like a pocket of liberalism.

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This is correct. My dad in Houston refers to it as "that hotbed of liberalism to the North." It's a very liberal town.

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

I do not count "snowshoeing" and listening to your favorite local granola grunge band at the local coffeehouse as legit activities. Cornell is a good school and a beautiful campus, but just the weather alone (which was listed as OP's first preference) and isolation disqualifies them from consideration.

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

U of Rochester is alright. The weather in Rochester is even worse than the weather in Ithaca (I saw that everyone was already bitching about Cornell weather). The city is kind of Rochester is kind of meh. It's got a ton of college students but it's not a "college town." It still has its big city attitude but not much big city stuff to do. The parties at U of R are nothing special.

OSU is a fantastic school and Columbus is a great place to live. The only problem might be that OSU is TOO big of a school. It's a sweet college town, especially if you're big into sports. There's tons to do and the crime isn't too bad for a school the size of OSU. Columbus is also a "real" city though, it's not just a college town, so you have real city things to do. There's good shopping out in the suburbs and you can find great, safe places to live about 5 minutes from campus. Like I said though, the school is HUGE (>50,000 enrolled). If that's a problem, stay far far away.

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

What are you going to major in?

Does snow = good weather?

Do you want a big city or a smaller college town in the middle of nowhere?

How old are you? Do you need to hang with people over the age of 25?

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

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"snowshoeing" and listening to your favorite local granola grunge band at the local coffeehouse

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what a solid retort!

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

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I would just like it so that if my favourite band were doing a tour of U.S.A they were likely to play somewhere I can get to by public transport in as short time as possible (and def. less than 90 minutes).

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Ah, this actually puts College Park back in the running. Absolutely terrible campus, but the one thing it does have going for it is the easy Metro ride to D.C. I don't think you're getting this anywhere else on your list other than Boston U and Columbia.

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

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I do not count "snowshoeing" and listening to your favorite local granola grunge band at the local coffeehouse as legit activities.

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i will not miss reading stupid posts like this.

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

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What are you going to major in? PhD Econ

Does snow = good weather? Sun > Snow > Rain

Do you want a big city or a smaller college town in the middle of nowhere? Don't mind small town, want it to be within 50 miles of a big city preferably

How old are you? Do you need to hang with people over the age of 25?

[/ QUOTE ] I am 22. Most of my friends are 25+

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

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I do not count "snowshoeing" and listening to your favorite local granola grunge band at the local coffeehouse as legit activities. Cornell is a good school and a beautiful campus, but just the weather alone (which was listed as OP's first preference) and isolation disqualifies them from consideration.

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Agreed. Based on the considerations of OP, I would stay far away from Cornell and U of R.

People only go to Cornell because they either don't know any better, they're a dirty hippie, or it's far and away the best school they got into.

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

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What are you going to major in? PhD Econ


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I would also consider NYU in New York. And a MUCH, MUCH cooler neighborhood than Columbia. Of course, I'm not 100% positive they offer what you're looking for, but their b-school is highly regarded.

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

Can we get rid of the word "uni" ?

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

I'm at Illinois right now, and I love it. The campus is beautiful, there are a ton of concerts (well, enough, and of all varieties). Ton of people, and the school is really strong in a lot of fields (not sure what you are planning on studying). Weather is pretty nice, can get cold in the winter, but you're gonna get that everywhere but California basically.

Columbia is ok, but I don't really like having a campus in the middle of the city. I've visited, had fun, but can't imagine actually being a student there for 4 years.

BU is waay too expensive, but I live right by it. Boston is pretty cool. Cheap housing absolutely not gonna happen.

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

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Can we get rid of the word "uni" ?

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Yes. This really should be lesson #1 to fitting in, regardless of which of these locales you end up in.

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

A factor you may want to consider is your ability to get real experiance while getting your PHD. I think NYC and Boston are clearly the best for that.

Also have you looked into UCLA?

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

How about Princeton/Harvard/MIT? Any of these doable?

Re: Which of the unis would provide the best location?
 

Lesson #2 on fitting in: Don't call soccer football - especially at a Big 10 school.