Recent Grad, is Andover a good place to start? (Boston: public schools, college)

[corunab]

Hi all!

I'm going to graduate from college in a year and I've been doing some research on what kind of companies are out there that hire ChemE's. Wyeth kept coming up and it seems like a great company. My question is: what's Andover like, in terms of community, weather and what kind of businesses are there? As a recent grad, I'd be interested in social businesses like clubs, museums, restaurants... is there a variety or is it all the same thing? Also is it a good place to raise kids? What about education standards?

I currently live in Reno, NV...I'd say it's a medium-sized (population-wise) city. I love it here (great weather, lots of places to go to if you're over 21, lots of skiing) but there are no jobs for chemical engineers here so I'll have to leave unfortunately.

Any help would be great. Thanks in advance!!

[LovelyBoston]

Andover is a great family town, but if you are looking for a city environment, with a lot to do for a single person, Andover is not it. It is safe, with great schools, but it is small -- about 30,000. For museums, clubs, etc., you would have to go into Boston. Andover is most definitely a town, not a city; it is geared towards family life.

For education standards, if you mean public schools, again, it has very good schools. Massachusetts overall has a highly educated population, and our public school system, for all its flaws, is one of the best (and I am not just saying this because I am biased, although I am -- check out the US Chamber of Commerce's recent report, on its web site, on state education standards).

If you will be working in Andover, the good recent-grad city spots (Quincy, Cambridge, South Boston, Somerville) will be too long a commute. But then again, Andover is nice, and you would not be far from Boston -- or from the North Shore, which is a nice area (beaches, fishing towns; generally an interesting area). And if you like skiing, Andover is very close to New Hampshire and not a long drive from good ski areas in both NH or Maine. Skiiing is big here.

For a Chemical Engineer, you ought to be able to find a lot of options for jobs. Check out the boston dot com web site (the online site of our main newspaper, the Boston Globe) and go to its jobs section. That's be a good place to find other ChemE jobs, besides Wyeth.