Help: College Decisions! (Boston, Cambridge, Harvard: crime, coops, dorms)

[addictedtosmallville]

I'm a high school student looking at colleges, and I have a ton of questions.

First of all: this is a horribly generic question, but what is the area like around Northeastern University? It's one of my top schools, but I'm wondering what the area around it is like. Is there a lot to do? Is it easy to get downtown? Is it safe?

Second: I want to stay East Coast, and I want to be very urban. I'm kind of thinking NY-Philly-Boston. Each has their own flavor, and I love each. But the question I have for Boston-where is Boston's "SoHo" of sorts? Where is the "shopping" centers, where is the "Fashion" centers, where is the culture in terms of music and art? That sounds so generic. Sorry. I know Boston is no Manhattan, but there's a lot Boston has to offer that Manhattan doesn't (especially in terms of housing/culture).

Thanks for your help!

[lrfox]

^All good/ reasonable questions.

My sister is a Freshman at Northeastern. Her dorm is on Huntington Avenue (across from the YMCA) and it's pretty safe. The campus is mostly in the Fenway neighborhood but borders on the Roxbury neighborhood which has a bad reputation (perhaps worse than it deserves). I would assume that as long as you have even the slightest bit of street smarts, you would be fine. I am personally envious of my sister as I made the unfortunate mistake of getting my degree in Maine. I feel safer walking around the well-lit areas of Huntington avenue and on the E-Branch of the Green Line than I ever did walking around my rural campus in Maine. People often assume that because a campus is Urban, it is dangerous. In reality, many rural campuses have more instances of crime directed towards students than some of the urban ones.

There is a lot to do. You can jump on the orange and green lines and get into the downtown area pretty quickly, and you're not too far of a walk from all that the Back Bay, Fenway, and South End areas have to offer. There are over 100,000 college kids in Boston so finding something to do won't be a problem.

Northeastern is truly an Urban campus. many of the dorms are located in renovated buildings along the city's streets or in highrise buildings on campus. In my opinion, the campus blends almost perfectly into the urban fabric of Boston (better than nearby BU) without losing the feeling of a college campus.

I don't know what you mean by Boston's SoHo. If you mean high-end retailers (and some mid-level ones like Zara), then you should head down to Newbury St. Which isn't too far (walkable, or take the Green line to Prudential or Copley and Walk from there). Copley Place and Prudential Center Mall (connected by a sky-bridge over Huntington Ave.) also offer many higher end stores. the South End is VERY trendy, has a bunch of chic restaurants and a great over all feel to it, I would compare it to SoHo in that regard.

You'll also want to spend time down near Fanuel Hall and the North End (Boston's Little Italy). Harvard Square in Cambridge across the Charles River is a lot of fun too.

There's no way you'll get bored in Boston. It's not as big as New York or Philly, but it offers a lot. It's very compact and very walkable so you'll quickly realize how close certain neighborhoods are to others. I think Boston would be a great choice as it seems to have what you're looking for.

[ogre]

Informative post by lrf, so I don't have too much to add. LRF did mention that the Roxbury section of Boston, one edge of which borders the Northeastern campus, has had a bad reputation over the years. While there is some truth to this, the trouble spots tend to be localized. The area near Northeastern is generally safe, though it's always a good idea to use reasonable caution in any urban setting. Nothing more than the usual safety precautions should be necessary around the Northeastern campus.

The South End might be the closest thing to Soho in the sense of having trendy small restaurants and the like. Most of that section would be a bit of a hike from Northeastern, though walking there would be possible if you didn't mind some hoofing. It's a short subway ride to the vicinity of the South End. It's a bit of a walk to some parts of the South End from the nearest subway stations, but basically the neighborhood is readily accessible from Northeastern with a quick ride on the T, followed by a little hoofing. You might find some similar kinds of small eateries around Beacon Hill, also a fairly short ride on the T from Northeastern, though it's a much smaller neighborhood than the South End. Cambridge is a little longer subway ride away, but still basically local. In Cambridge you're more likely to find small dance clubs, little ethnic eateries, and pockets of bohemian holdovers from the '60's. The main upscale shopping area is Newbury Street, and the surrounding neighborhood of Back Bay to some degree as well. Again, it's a short subway ride from Northeastern.

[xS☺B☺s]

The neighborhood around Northeastern is great, I lived on the Fenway side for 7 years and the Roxbury side for seven years. Very safe for a big city. Tons of fun. Click the link below to see lots of pix. Many of the last pictures in the series IS the Northeastern Campus, as I walked through the campus on my journey. Everything in these pictures is within walking distances.

Photo Thread: Back Bay, Beacon, Downtown, Chinatown

[FinkieMcGee]

Northeastern is a cool school (I should know I graduated from there a year and a half ago )

The campus is in the city and you'll have easy access to the everything. You can always grab the T and go down to Cambridge since they have a lot of cool stuff over there. They closed Avalon and Axis down so you're going to have to look elsewhere for your music scene. Maybe around Allston and Central sq.

The one piece of advice I can give you is for your sophomore year to get a car. It will make getting coops easier since you'll have a lot of opportunities outside of public transportation.