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So schools in both NC and NY and CT all got me interested. Now I have learned to just sit back and wait for the acceptance or rejection letters to come. So now I am focusing on the locations themselves. And hey, I know it is very early to be already thinking about this. After if I graduate from High School and hopefully college, where I would start my career is already making me think. My life is just starting after college. I really love the NC Research Triangle. Many people who graduated in computer science from an NC School easily get jobs right after because of the growth. I would like to give out a personal shoutout to the people from the NY, CT, and NC boards for helping me through this process. Decided to lump NY and CT into one in the poll. Here is what I love about the Research Triangle:
1. The amount of technology jobs there. I know my area has a lot of tech jobs, but none like NC.
2. More people to communicate with. Here in my hometown, everything is so far apart. Unlike NC, the houses are a pretty fair distance away from each other.
3. Larger towns/cities. All the towns around me are just a few streets with a few overpriced mom and pop stores and diners. We are in 2016, and while many of my neighbors surprisingly don't like it, big box stores are the future of this country.
4. Getting a starter job/starter home is really good in NC.
5. The weather in NC is perfect. Not too cold in the winter and not too hot in the summer.
6. UNC may be the best public university east of the Mississippi River. Of you get accepted to UNC, you just have to accept it.
Now of course there are always cons about moving to NC.
1. One con is travel, as another poster mentioned, especially in my freshman year of college without a car.
2. This is a non factor during college, but a concern if I graduate and get a job in NC...costs. Is living in NC really cheaper? In my home state, while taxes may be high, NY doesn't charge a tax on groceries, clothing purchases under $110, and no vehicle taxes. On the other hand, my aunt/uncle who moved to the Research Triangle tell me NC taxes all hose things. ****THIS IS NOT A PROBLEM FOR ME TO WORRY ABOUT NOT, BUT IT IS IN A FEW YEARS IF I MOVE TO NC AFTER IF I GRADUATE****
UVA is considered the best University on the East Coast, overall. UNC is 2nd. Both are better than UConn but considered less prestigious than UCLA/UCB. Then again, it really depends on what undergrad/grad program you enroll in any of these schools as they may have a better one. If you get in UNC, I'd go for it if business/engineering related if cost isn't a factor. Otherwise, staying local might be better off.
CT is not where you want to be for technology. NC triangle is way better and way more affordable area. If you insist on going high COL on east coast, go to boston. Boston is already huge and continuing to grow and COL is about same as CT. no brainer. NYC is prohibitively expensive for most people if you don't need to be in THAT big of a city for other reasons.
1. NC triangle.
2. =
3. =
4. NC triangle. The only reason I live in a house is because I'm married and we therefore have 2 incomes. But we are pretty over the costs of home and car ownership in CT and are looking more down your way. We get taken to the cleaners here without much in return. Tech jobs are less plentiful, although programmers are in demand just about anywhere.
5. indeed, NC weather is good.
6. It certainly is. UNC is on my short list of schools for PhD programs. NC and Duke also have the post-doc fellowship I'm interested in, CT has zero. They used to have 1 but Yale's program was suspended. oops. Not sure when the boards will allow them to train again. Oh well.
1b. UCONN storrs camus is rural. Like rural. You can go cow tipping at the cream farm if your drunk and stupid enough. You willl need a car here too.
2b. Your first pre college assignment from Professor Sigequinox is to go grab a pen, paper and a simple arithmetic calculator. okay...typical home in CT is going to have a $7,500 property tax bill, in NC triangle, about 2,500$. FOr simplicity, this is the only variable we are going to use.
now, CT sales tax is 6.35%, NC base is 4.75. However, with municiple taxes can go up to 7.00%. SO, at the theoretical maximum negative difference, (7-6.35), how much money would you have to spend in order to break even with difference in CT property tax alone?
I calculated this figure based on the sales tax where we plan to move vs CT and the number came out to 450,000 dollars in taxable items. haha, that means we would have to spend more than 3x our gross, pre-taxed income on taxable goods and services in order to break even with CT. Not too difficult, I assure you...
NY is a big state. To lump it like that with CT is silly. NYC has more technology opportunities than NC could ever dream of, second only in volume of opportunity to the Bay Area (Silicon Valley vs Silicon Alley), but that drops off drastically outside the city. There's a decent tech industry in the tri state area. Northern Jersey, Lower Fairfield, Westchester. Outside of that it's limited. Boston and Cambridge have a great tech scene too. The research triangle will not have the same level of diverse and higher ceiling tech opportunities as cities like NYC, Boston, SF, Seattle, etc. The job market is decent there, low COL, but more limited wages and growth opportunity.
When you see these lists showing NC high on cities for tech jobs with meteoric growth, I think it's misleading personally. Of course you get a huge percentage increase when there was nothing to begin with.
You don't necessarily have to correlate your college with where you want to work. It certainly helps with internships and building a local network depending on the field, but you should prioritize the right school.
NC not too hot? That's relative. Have you lived in the south in the summer? Very humid and 90's in summer is common. It's quite a bit hotter than where you are now and the very hot period is longer. Winters are great.
Personally if I was younger and looking to break into tech that wouldn't be the place I'd go. Neither would CT. NYC would be one city on the list.
Then again if you're looking for steady employment, ease of living, settling down in the suburbs, and low cost of living-it can be a great option.
Look, I have learned that I could settle in another city than the school. At this point, I am just going to wait for acceptance or rejection letters and make the decision. There are many other high tech cities. Some are but not limited to: Seattle, NC Research Triangle, NY Tech Valley, and Portland Oregon. So really my top choices are to go to either Syracuse or Binghamton, or the unlikely chance I get accepted to UNC.
Also, can I ask the people who didn't respond why I should stay in NY or leave for NC after and during college?
Look, I have learned that I could settle in another city than the school. At this point, I am just going to wait for acceptance or rejection letters and make the decision. There are many other high tech cities. Some are but not limited to: Seattle, NC Research Triangle, NY Tech Valley, and Portland Oregon. So really my top choices are to go to either Syracuse or Binghamton, or the unlikely chance I get accepted to UNC.
Also, can I ask the people who didn't respond why I should stay in NY or leave for NC after and during college?
NY Tech Valley is a bit of a joke, and the NC Research Triangle is formidable, but you have to understand that cities like NYC, Seattle, and San Francisco are in a completely different league. Also it does depend on what kind of job you want. The NC Research Triangle is a bit homogenous in that your tech jobs will be mostly big corporate. NYC, Seattle, and SF have a lot of start-ups. NYC has lots of digital media, NYC and SF both have lots of app/web dev jobs, Silicon Valley and Seattle area have massive tech headquarters. What kind of work are you looking to do?
May I ask why you're not considering anything in Boston? Closer to home, some of the best schools in the country, and a great burgeoning tech scene. To me it would be kind of a bummer to start your twenty's off in sprawly NC, but I guess that's me. Depends on what you're looking for.
So schools in both NC and NY and CT all got me interested. Now I have learned to just sit back and wait for the acceptance or rejection letters to come. So now I am focusing on the locations themselves. And hey, I know it is very early to be already thinking about this. After if I graduate from High School and hopefully college, where I would start my career is already making me think. My life is just starting after college. I really love the NC Research Triangle. Many people who graduated in computer science from an NC School easily get jobs right after because of the growth. I would like to give out a personal shoutout to the people from the NY, CT, and NC boards for helping me through this process. Decided to lump NY and CT into one in the poll. Here is what I love about the Research Triangle:
1. The amount of technology jobs there. I know my area has a lot of tech jobs, but none like NC.
2. More people to communicate with. Here in my hometown, everything is so far apart. Unlike NC, the houses are a pretty fair distance away from each other.
3. Larger towns/cities. All the towns around me are just a few streets with a few overpriced mom and pop stores and diners. We are in 2016, and while many of my neighbors surprisingly don't like it, big box stores are the future of this country.
4. Getting a starter job/starter home is really good in NC.
5. The weather in NC is perfect. Not too cold in the winter and not too hot in the summer.
6. UNC may be the best public university east of the Mississippi River. Of you get accepted to UNC, you just have to accept it.
Now of course there are always cons about moving to NC.
1. One con is travel, as another poster mentioned, especially in my freshman year of college without a car.
2. This is a non factor during college, but a concern if I graduate and get a job in NC...costs. Is living in NC really cheaper? In my home state, while taxes may be high, NY doesn't charge a tax on groceries, clothing purchases under $110, and no vehicle taxes. On the other hand, my aunt/uncle who moved to the Research Triangle tell me NC taxes all hose things. ****THIS IS NOT A PROBLEM FOR ME TO WORRY ABOUT NOT, BUT IT IS IN A FEW YEARS IF I MOVE TO NC AFTER IF I GRADUATE****
Thanks for your help. Jamesa123
.
Lol the weather in nc is perfect if you like to sweat your ass off all summer. Winter might be perfect but there is a big trade off.
NY Tech Valley is a bit of a joke, and the NC Research Triangle is formidable, but you have to understand that cities like NYC, Seattle, and San Francisco are in a completely different league. Also it does depend on what kind of job you want. The NC Research Triangle is a bit homogenous in that your tech jobs will be mostly big corporate. NYC, Seattle, and SF have a lot of start-ups. NYC has lots of digital media, NYC and SF both have lots of app/web dev jobs, Silicon Valley and Seattle area have massive tech headquarters. What kind of work are you looking to do?
May I ask why you're not considering anything in Boston? Closer to home, some of the best schools in the country, and a great burgeoning tech scene. To me it would be kind of a bummer to start your twenty's off in sprawly NC, but I guess that's me. Depends on what you're looking for.
TBH, I consider some of the Boston Schools to be the most overrated schools. No doubt they are good schools, but expensive. And there is no correlation in income after graduating from either a public or private school.. For example, MIT, which is a very good school. Virginia Tech is still a pretty good school with a lower tuition. Even a school that I wasted money to apply to, U of R may be in that same category as overrated. Now some private schools are good: an example of a cheaper private school is Syracuse.
In the future, I would like a job in software development. And I am really fed up with NY. I like NC because NC, specifically the research triangle has everything within a few mile radius. Never been to NC, but my aunt/uncle who moved there loves it. Not only NC, but also the Texas cities seem to have a big tech growth.
TBH, I believe NY is overrated. There are many people who love this region and work hard to afford it. But we are in 2016, and lots of people in NY want to preserve buildings from 300 years ago and don't support any massive upgrades to bring this state into the future. Look like a progressive state like Florida which is build build build. Florida recently passed this state because they want to build. Many people are fleeing this state for Florida, including a few of my former teachers. Three of them left: one went to Texas, one to FL, and one to GA. Ted Cruz is right, NY has no values. SC and NC have real values. NY needs to look into the future and start to build like FL, GA, NC, etc and stop with all these stupid laws that make it impossible to build something new.
TBH, I believe NY is overrated. There are many people who love this region and work hard to afford it. But we are in 2016, and lots of people in NY want to preserve buildings from 300 years ago and don't support any massive upgrades to bring this state into the future. Look like a progressive state like Florida which is build build build. Florida recently passed this state because they want to build. Many people are fleeing this state for Florida, including a few of my former teachers. Three of them left: one went to Texas, one to FL, and one to GA. Ted Cruz is right, NY has no values. SC and NC have real values. NY needs to look into the future and start to build like FL, GA, NC, etc and stop with all these stupid laws that make it impossible to build something new.
This last statement summed up (but in a different way) what I was going to say. Some of it depends on your "politics" and (for lack of a better word) "culture". While NC has had a LOT of "Yankee transplants" in the last few decades, it's still "the South" and while (mainly because of those transplants) I wouldn't consider it "culturally and politically conservative" and "stereotypically Southern" to the degree of say Mississippi, it's still a different vibe than the Northeast and it's possible you won't be "comfortable" there. I've had plenty of friends from NJ/NY/CT/MA move there and some loved it and some moved back (or to other regions of the US), and in general it was the more conservative friends that stay. NYers moving there because they agree with the above quoted statement and want to "get out of NY" will probably adjust there better than those who have gone there simply because "it's too damn crowded and expensive here". My brother in law who is very liberal and grew up in Westchester and spent the first 10 years of his adulthood in metro Boston made the move to NC about a decade ago due to "expenses" and now wishes he could move back but says he can't afford to.
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