An exchange student needs help :) (crime rate, school, universities)

[chucky3169]

Hey everyone I'm from Europe and I am planning to take a year of my university studies in the US and I am considering couple of states and cities.

Can you guys tell me about the places that I was thinking of? My first choice was Burlington, Vermont.
Second was Madison, Wisconsin,
the third was Knoxville, Tennessee.

What I really expect from the place is a huge tolerance for other cultures, races, sexual orientations, etc, basically I need a very liberal place.
I need it also to be pretty safe but not boring (I'd love to live in a place where I could have some fun during the weekends).

So just please tell me all the things I should know

[kyle19125]

You can't go wrong with Burlington. It has a pretty high standard of living in my opinion in that it's very tolerant/accepting and has an active downtown area. If you want big city entertainment on the weekend there is regularly scheduled bus service to Montreal for around $60 roundtrip and takes about 2 1/2 hours one way.

If you want a bigger city Madison would be a good option. It has a vibe similar to Burlington and is 3 1/2 hours from Chicago if you want to experience big city amenities some weekends or over breaks.

Knoxville in my opinion would not be a good option as it's fairly conservative and surrounded by the Bible Belt.

[chucky3169]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

Knoxville in my opinion would not be a good option as it's fairly conservative and surrounded by the Bible Belt.

I see... So if I'm gay, european and Christian but TOTALLY not going to the churchy I'd have it not easy there?

Would you recommend me North Park, Chicago, Illinois instead?

What is it like?

Of all these three places, in what row would you set them?

[steel03]

Madison
Burlington
Knoxville
In that order. Burlington is wonderful and beautiful, but Madison is exactly what you're describing.

[chucky3169]

Originally Posted by steel03

Madison
Burlington
Knoxville
In that order. Burlington is wonderful and beautiful, but Madison is exactly what you're describing.

But what about Chicago instead of Knoxville??

[chucky3169]

Originally Posted by steel03

Madison
Burlington
Knoxville
In that order. Burlington is wonderful and beautiful, but Madison is exactly what you're describing.

Would you change the row if it was Chicago instead of Knoxville?

[BigCityDreamer]

Chicago is a major U.S. city which is many times larger than any of the other cities you mentioned.

[steel03]

Chicago is sort of in a different category. At that point I think it depends on what you're looking for in a study away program. Chicago is a fantastic large city, Madison is a fantastic smaller city with a huge university, and Burlington is in a more naturally scenic area. So do you want a smaller school (ca. 2-3000) in a gigantic city, a gigantic school (ca. 40,000) in a smaller city, or a big school (ca. 10,000) in a beautiful city? All three cities are very very liberal, so you will probably be fine just choosing based on which one sounds like your best fit.
I will say that Madison is definitely a party school, so take that into consideration.

[chucky3169]

Well I'm in the English Department, and all these three universities (University of Vermont, Edgewood College in Madison & North Park University in Chicago) have very fascinating courses.

I guess it also depends on WHAT university I'd go too (considering what u said about their sizes) therefore I wrote their exact names.

It's a very hard decision, I know the pluses of a big city, e.g. there's literally everything and you can find everything you need but ofc i am also aware of the cons such as higher crime rate etc.

living in a small city instead can be a little bit boring but can be also lovely and one feels homely there.

i'm SO confused..

[chucky3169]

oh and also, how is the weather in these places?