Possible move to Chicago

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Daniel_T

I do appreciate all of your feedback. What areas of Chicago should best be avoided? I would hate to move to Chicago and move into a bad area. There is a broadcasting college I am considering in Lombard, IL. How far away from Chicago is that? Is it easily accessible?

What is the weather really like there? It seems that the summers are HOT!!! and the winters are FRIGID!!!

Is public trans. safe? My old coworker used to live in Chicago and she told me the EL (hope that's how you spell it) is safe.

Thanks a lot and I do appreciate your responses.

You generally want to stick to the North and Northwest sides. The South side has some nice neighborhoods, but you need to know the lay of the land to know where they are because most of the South side is not pleasant. The West side has very few redeeming areas at all beyond the fancy, trendy, expensive and -- dare I say -- snobby West Loop district.

Weather: As I type this it's 25 degrees out with about an inch of snow on the ground. Out in the suburbs away from the lake it's 15 to 20 degrees. That's pretty typical for this time of year. There will be days in January that get below zero and others that get up to the mid-50s. High 20s to low 30s is the norm. Highs in the low 80s is the norm for summer, with a handful of days that get into the 90s, and we hit 100 maybe once every two or 3 years. If you've spent most of your life in Tucscon, you'll discover on the days when it creeps into the 90s that heat and humidity are a sucky combination. Then there are some summer days where it will struggle to get into the 70s. If you can count on anything from the weather around here, it's inconistency.

Convenience to Lombard: not very. Illinois Center for Broadcasting is at least a couple miles from the nearest Metra station so you'd have to drive. If you're going there an back at off-peak hours, say noon and 8pm, it might not be so bad since it is right next to two tollways. but those tollways, or the expressways used to get to them, get mighty clogged up from about 7 to 10am and again from about 4 to 7pm.

Are you set on IL Center for Broadcasting or are you still open to other suggestions? If the latter, you may wish to look at Columbia College in downtown Chicago, a school that specializes in media communications, including television and radio broadcasting. Plus I think you'll find it's a more widely recognized school, has regional (as opposed to national) accreditation that makes its credits more transferrable, and has a larger and better placed alumni network. Additionally, its downtown Chicago location makes it considerably more accessible especially if you wish to live in the city.

[Daniel_T]

Thanks a lot for that. I didn't know about the other communications school. I will have to check it out. Thanks again.

Daniel True

[Drover]

Their website is www.colum.edu