I'll be living in Maryland in about two months and I have no idea what I'm doing (College Park: fit in)

[RetroBrad]

Hello.

My name is Brad and I live in Kentucky. I have lived here all my life but in the next couple months all of that will change. My wife has been accepted into the engineering department of the University of Maryland - College Park. We received the letter this week. Our plan has been to get her into a good engineering school AND move to a place that has more going on than Kentucky. We are both left leaning, not religious, very interested in music and film and want to be active in our communities. Also, my wife is Iranian. The combination of all the things that describe us don't go over very well in the small town in Kentucky we live.

I have a lot of questions about College Park. Here are some of them.

1. For a married student at the University of Maryland - College Park would you recommend them live close to the university or would there be a better place to live in a neighboring town/city.

2. Is there public transportation?

3. How is the job market in that area? I do not have a degree but I have nearly 10 years of sales experience.

I have gotten to the point now where I have realized I know nothing about life outside of my knowledge gained from living in KY. Is there anything important I should know? If you have any questions please ask. I would love to see what information I could gather from this.

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by RetroBrad

I have a lot of questions about College Park. Here are some of them.

1. For a married student at the University of Maryland - College Park would you recommend them live close to the university or would there be a better place to live in a neighboring town/city.

2. Is there public transportation?

3. How is the job market in that area? I do not have a degree but I have nearly 10 years of sales experience.

I'll answer, because many of the locals are without power.

1. I think it is important for a graduate student to live close to the University, because of networking and evening classes. You sound like you would fit in very well in the nearby town of Takoma Park, which is a liberal's dream. It's a very diverse town with people interested in organic food, and green living.

2. Public transit is excellent. The Metro trains have stops in both College Park and Takoma Park, however, they are oriented to trips *into* DC. For crosstown trips like TP to CP, you need the bus system. The U of M also has a circulating bus for students.

3. The job market in the DC area is better than most parts of the country. I'd say recovering, but not excellent.

Other important things? Just that the area is much more racially and ethnically diverse than small-town Kentucky. Your wife will probably find many Iranians among her classmates and neighbors. People have learned to be respectful of differences. However, there are lower income areas, such as Langley Park, or Southeast DC which have more crime. Being street-smart is important- don't leave valuables in plain sight in your car, etc.

Good luck on a new adventure.

[BigCityDreamer]

Originally Posted by RetroBrad

Hello.

My name is Brad and I live in Kentucky. I have lived here all my life but in the next couple months all of that will change. My wife has been accepted into the engineering department of the University of Maryland - College Park. We received the letter this week. Our plan has been to get her into a good engineering school AND move to a place that has more going on than Kentucky. We are both left leaning, not religious, very interested in music and film and want to be active in our communities. Also, my wife is Iranian. The combination of all the things that describe us don't go over very well in the small town in Kentucky we live.

I have a lot of questions about College Park. Here are some of them.

1. For a married student at the University of Maryland - College Park would you recommend them live close to the university or would there be a better place to live in a neighboring town/city.

2. Is there public transportation?

3. How is the job market in that area? I do not have a degree but I have nearly 10 years of sales experience.

I have gotten to the point now where I have realized I know nothing about life outside of my knowledge gained from living in KY. Is there anything important I should know? If you have any questions please ask. I would love to see what information I could gather from this.

I think you'll both do well as you seem to have the right attitude about moving to this area. The engineering department at UMCP is pretty solid. I make a comfortable living for my family solely based off of my bachelors degree. :-)

One thing to note is that the DC area is a lot more densely populated than anywhere in KY. The cost of living is also much higher. So be ready for those shocks. Also, there are many kinds of jobs here. However, the big job market is largely related to the federal government in some way. That's what keeps the economy here strong. So, that's really what you should be gearing towards.

[carroll4628]

Originally Posted by goldenage1

I'll answer, because many of the locals are without power.

1. I think it is important for a graduate student to live close to the University, because of networking and evening classes. You sound like you would fit in very well in the nearby town of Takoma Park, which is a liberal's dream. It's a very diverse town with people interested in organic food, and green living.

2. Public transit is excellent. The Metro trains have stops in both College Park and Takoma Park, however, they are oriented to trips *into* DC. For crosstown trips like TP to CP, you need the bus system. The U of M also has a circulating bus for students.

3. The job market in the DC area is better than most parts of the country. I'd say recovering, but not excellent.

Other important things? Just that the area is much more racially and ethnically diverse than small-town Kentucky. Your wife will probably find many Iranians among her classmates and neighbors. People have learned to be respectful of differences. However, there are lower income areas, such as Langley Park, or Southeast DC which have more crime. Being street-smart is important- don't leave valuables in plain sight in your car, etc.

Good luck on a new adventure.

1. Agree - Takoma park should work great for you. It has more 'reasonable' housing costs for DC and is relatively 'safer' - it's not the suburbs so there is still crime, but it's not as bad as in some othe areas. It is a liberals dream and quite a few UC Berkeley students end up in the area.
2. The Metro will alow you to find a job throughout DC so you don't have to limit your search to the Takoma Park area. Also, you may even be able to do without a car (for the most part) while you're in the city. It's nice to have one if you want to go adventuring to the mountains or coast, but it's definately not needed and is a way to save the cost of gas, insurance, maintainence, etc.
3. The job market is good, but the cost of living (rent, groceries, etc.) is going to be a shocker. I hope you've saved your pennies. Look on craigslist for rentals to get an idea.

[SunnyTXsmile]

Originally Posted by goldenage1

I'll answer, because many of the locals are without power.

1. I think it is important for a graduate student to live close to the University, because of networking and evening classes. You sound like you would fit in very well in the nearby town of Takoma Park, which is a liberal's dream. It's a very diverse town with people interested in organic food, and green living.

2. Public transit is excellent. The Metro trains have stops in both College Park and Takoma Park, however, they are oriented to trips *into* DC. For crosstown trips like TP to CP, you need the bus system. The U of M also has a circulating bus for students.

3. The job market in the DC area is better than most parts of the country. I'd say recovering, but not excellent.

Other important things? Just that the area is much more racially and ethnically diverse than small-town Kentucky. Your wife will probably find many Iranians among her classmates and neighbors. People have learned to be respectful of differences. However, there are lower income areas, such as Langley Park, or Southeast DC which have more crime. Being street-smart is important- don't leave valuables in plain sight in your car, etc.

Good luck on a new adventure.

You pretty much said everything I was about to type. Great advice.

To the OP, good luck with the move, and welcome!!

[davecj]

What kind of sales? We're experiencing an uptick in real estate sales and dc never really took much of a hit.

[Cruzincat]

I'll be living in Maryland in about two months and I have no idea what I'm doing

Originally Posted by RetroBrad

Hello.

We are both left leaning...

Figures! That was my first thought before I clicked on the title!

[wattpad48]

Hi there
COLlege park hmm.. Nice place I used to past there when my friends used to.live their. Its a nice place but its not cery diverse or safe. Consist mostlt of Hispanic and African Americans. Hardly and Asians or Caucasian and the crime rates are horrible but other than that its alright. They have a shopper big whoopers Ikea and its close to major highways. But if you want to sell this home in a few years it will be hard to sell because of the schools undiversity and crime. But if you want to rent for a few years I say go for it! Close to.many car dealers stores shops..etc so yeah its great for a married couple!x