will i enjoy bowling green? (Lexington, Louisville: best city, how much, houses)

[fuge530]

I am a 19 year old male born and raised in Louisville, and I love it here. I love the liberal politics, the diversity, the art/music scene, the history, the quarkiness, the local businesses, the small town feel, and so much more. However, I am transfering to WKU next year for various reasons. I would like to experience something new and get away from my parents for a bit. Many of my friends go there and constantly talk about how wonderful it is.
My question is, how will I like Bowling Green? I've been a couple times but never ventured too far from the campus. I'll be going on a hardcore visit sometime this month.
I would be looking for a decent art and music scene, a fairly tolerant environment, some good coffee houses, local businesses, maybe a nice historic area, places for good conversation. From what I've heard, the area is pretty conservative. I'm pretty much as liberal as they come. Will this be a problem? Also, it would be a plus if the town is fairly walkable.. at least around the campus.

[leonard]

It is a great city, except for the traffic.

[rnc76]

Based on the things you like, I'm not sure if BG is your cup of tea. Campus is pretty, the square downtown is nice and has a few nice businesses. BG is in love with chain and Mexican restuaurants. Some of the Bosnian immigrants have opened up some different restaurants in the last few years. However, "liberal, diverse, quirky" are not things that describe BG. It is very conservative in my opinion. Diversity is pretty much summed up in Mexican immigrant laborers and Bosnians that came there in the 90s. The town is really not walkable. If you live very close to campus, between campus and the square, you could walk to a few places, but all of your daily necessities will be a drive away.

I'm not saying it is a bad place, people are friendly and it is reasonably priced. Based on how you describe yourself, you will probably hate anything away from campus and the center of downtown. You may love going to school there though, going to college in a city and living there long term are very different experiences.

[city_data_poster]

Well, BG is what it is. For a young college student who's liberal and loves diversity...well....BG sure isn't Boulder, Colorado!

Anyway.....rnc76 is right! Outside of the downtown area, BG has very few sidewalks!
It is not a pedestrian friendly city, that's for sure! Or bike friendly either, for that matter.

Hey, the WKU campus has white squirrels running around here and there! Kinda cool, huh?!

[stx12499]

Originally Posted by fuge530

I am a 19 year old male born and raised in Louisville, and I love it here. I love the liberal politics, the diversity, the art/music scene, the history, the quarkiness, the local businesses, the small town feel, and so much more. However, I am transfering to WKU next year for various reasons. I would like to experience something new and get away from my parents for a bit. Many of my friends go there and constantly talk about how wonderful it is.
My question is, how will I like Bowling Green? I've been a couple times but never ventured too far from the campus. I'll be going on a hardcore visit sometime this month.
I would be looking for a decent art and music scene, a fairly tolerant environment, some good coffee houses, local businesses, maybe a nice historic area, places for good conversation. From what I've heard, the area is pretty conservative. I'm pretty much as liberal as they come. Will this be a problem? Also, it would be a plus if the town is fairly walkable.. at least around the campus.

Honestly....you would be better off sticking at UofL and living in the Highlands, especially if your parents live in the burbs. If you want a college town experience nearby, Bloomington, IN is exactly what you are looking for. I mean exactly. BG is very conservative, sprawly, southern, not much of a campus feel, and dominated by large get drunk greek parties. BG, like much of KY outside Louisville and parts of NKY, has few if any walkable urban areas like the Highlands.

[censusdata]

If your 100% wanting to transfer I'd recommend you look at NKU over Western. Personally I like BG pretty well, but if you're a Bardstown Rd dwelling liberal you may get a dose of culture shock.

You could live in an urban area of Covington or Newport and commute to NKU in 10 minutes. They've also added a lot to their campus, including a new arena which draws pretty nice concerts. My niece is is going to attend NKU next fall.

[stx12499]

Originally Posted by censusdata

If your 100% wanting to transfer I'd recommend you look at NKU over Western. Personally I like BG pretty well, but if you're a Bardstown Rd dwelling liberal you may get a dose of culture shock.

You could live in an urban area of Covington or Newport and commute to NKU in 10 minutes. They've also added a lot to their campus, including a new arena which draws pretty nice concerts. My niece is is going to attend NKU next fall.

That new arena is splendid.....but that campus is the epitome of suburban dreariness. There is nothing you can walk to or anything, and it doesn't feel like you are in a city. It reminds me of a bigger IU southeast. If you wanted that, why not go to IUS and live in downtown Louisville (and pay in state tuition and get a much more prestigious IU degree. Sorry Kentuckians, but the IU degree carries substanially more national prestige than almost anywhere in KY besides Centre or possibly Transylvania)

If you can afford it, your best option is to go out of state to a livable, urban, walkable college town like Bloomington, IN, or Ann Arbor, MI, or even Athens, Ga.

If you were to stay in state, moving to downtown Louisville or Old Louisville or the Highlands would really be your best option given your liberalness and love of funky shops and restaurants and pedestrian culture.

[censusdata]

NKU is more suburbanish but at least it is a few minutes from some nicer urban areas. Right now I'm thinking I'll be going to grad school at WKU and although I look forward to eating at Donita's Country Diner every day I do dread have very little options as far as living in an urban area with lots of shops and restaurants.

[EclecticEars]

Originally Posted by stx12499

That new arena is splendid.....but that campus is the epitome of suburban dreariness. There is nothing you can walk to or anything, and it doesn't feel like you are in a city. It reminds me of a bigger IU southeast. If you wanted that, why not go to IUS and live in downtown Louisville (and pay in state tuition and get a much more prestigious IU degree. Sorry Kentuckians, but the IU degree carries substanially more national prestige than almost anywhere in KY besides Centre or possibly Transylvania)

If you can afford it, your best option is to go out of state to a livable, urban, walkable college town like Bloomington, IN, or Ann Arbor, MI, or even Athens, Ga.

If you were to stay in state, moving to downtown Louisville or Old Louisville or the Highlands would really be your best option given your liberalness and love of funky shops and restaurants and pedestrian culture.

All of your points are spot on.

The thing to know about IUS, for anybody that doesn't know, is that the degree doesn't say IUS. It just says Indiana University. I would feel confident taking that degree to New York, Chicago, Atlanta, or even London or Frankfurt. That (as well as the Hoosier State's other anchor university, Purdue) university carries that much academic weight and prestige. The prestiges of UK, UofL, WKU, and while we're at it Centre and Transy, pale in comparision IU IMO.

Lexington is the best city in Kentucky for that "college experience." You have a downtown full of bars and nightclubs sanwiched b/t Transylvania (north downtown) and UK and Bluegrass Community College (just south of downtown.) However, there has not been the cohesive community-government-university cooperation in Lex. that there has been in Athens or Bloomington or even Oxford, MS, so the city doesn't live up to its potential in being a true "hot spot" for college students.

Louisville has the Highlands, Crescent Hill, Clifton, and 4th St. Live!, which are all very nice and "hoppin' places" but are at least 2.5 miles detached from UofL (school of 22k students.) Bellarmine and Sullivan, while much smaller, are at least much closer to the Highlands; Spalding, with only 1000 students, is only a few blocks from 4th St. Live.

But, as for NKU, it might be a suburban "concrete jungle," but you can hop on I-471 and be in downtown Cincinnati or Mt. Adams about as quickly as you can driving from UofL to the Eastern/Bardstown intersection or 4SL.

[fuge530]

thank you all for your input and suggestions!Is WKU really as dominated by the party culture as its repuation suggests? I've heard it's the party capital of Kentucky, but does anyone know how true this really is? I'm not a big partier myself, but I can tolerate it.I'll be visiting the campus and Bowling Green in a couple of weeks without a scheduled tour or anything so I won't have the peppy sorority girl tour guide like I've had in the past telling me how much I'll love Western and how much fun I'll have.Thanks!