PhD in Urban Planning: Virginia Tech (at Alexandria); U of Florida or Texas A&M

[Lfungericht]

Originally Posted by ChristineVA

What will your wife do? What are her likes/dislikes? She may go crazy in Blacksburg.

Yes, that is one of my worries. Although she is very supportive of my decision been only related to academic factors, I am surely thinking on that.

She won't be able to work for at least 6 month, some kind of Visa requirements, that is how long some sort of requirement takes to be processed. So I think we will probably look for an English course ASAP for her, and then figure it out. She plans on studying History of Art or some related course, and look for a job when it became possible.

So some place with some sort of a downtown, where there are people walking by, she can shop, meet people, walk with the dog... would be great.

[ChristineVA]

While VT is a wonderful school and campus and a nice college town, I'm not sure it's as good as some other college towns. My impression of Blacksburg is that there's not much going on outside the college scene. Other college towns have a bit more charm. That would be my only concern with your wife, but you know her better than anyone. I would seriously look at some of the surrounding areas in the TX and FL schools to see if they might be a good fit for your wife also. Not saying Blacksburg is terrible, but it might not be the best choice for her for 4 years.

I once had to live in a small town with not much going on for my husband's job and, while only there for a year, I thought I'd lose my mind.

[Lfungericht]

Originally Posted by ChristineVA

While VT is a wonderful school and campus and a nice college town, I'm not sure it's as good as some other college towns. My impression of Blacksburg is that there's not much going on outside the college scene. Other college towns have a bit more charm. That would be my only concern with your wife, but you know her better than anyone. I would seriously look at some of the surrounding areas in the TX and FL schools to see if they might be a good fit for your wife also. Not saying Blacksburg is terrible, but it might not be the best choice for her for 4 years.

I once had to live in a small town with not much going on for my husband's job and, while only there for a year, I thought I'd lose my mind.

Thanks you Christine!

Hum, that is a dificult choice indeed... From my research, I think that College Station TX will be like that to. Gainesville maybe could be a little different, but not so sure, still a college town. My options will be narrow on these topic.

Maybe living nearby could be better, let's say Christinburg or Roanoke? Are those cities any better? The commute will be a problem?

[Carlingtonian]

I don't know urban-planning programs, but I can tell you more about those schools in general.

Texas A&M is one of the best schools in Texas--easily the equal of UT Austin and superior to it in the sciences. (In fact, Paul Burka, one of the editors of Texas Monthly, a few years ago wrote a cover story asserting it was THE best school in Texas--and he was a UT alumnus.) College Station is less than 2 hours from Houston and Austin--and the school itself is something like 50,000 students, plus faculty and staff.

U Florida I know is the most selective university in that state--which isn't saying much, but it's something. Gainesville is in the middle of nowhere, though--North Florida is basically the American South, more like Georgia than Miami. Now if UFL has a better urban-planning program than A&M or Tech, then I think that's where you should go--but I have no idea whose program is best.

V Tech has a good engineering program, but that's about all it's known for, other than bumper stickers and flags on people's houses in this area. Blacksburg is nowhere near DC, but if your research shows that Tech has the best program, that would mean more to me than location.

Good luck with your decision.

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by Lfungericht

Thanks you Christine!

Hum, that is a dificult choice indeed... From my research, I think that College Station TX will be like that to. Gainesville maybe could be a little different, but not so sure, still a college town. My options will be narrow on these topic.

Maybe living nearby could be better, let's say Christinburg or Roanoke? Are those cities any better? The commute will be a problem?

I've heard good things about College Station TX but I really don't know. I like Carlingtonian's assessment that it's only 2 hours from Austin and Houston, both nice cities.

I happened to be a big fan of the state of Florida and while Gainesville isn't a desirable location, you can get to a nice place in Florida at anytime within and hour or two of car ride.

Blacksburg is 4 hours from DC. Personally, I would not enjoy Roanoke or Christiansburg. Just too small for me, too rural. My son goes to school at James Madison which is in between DC and Blacksburg and a very pretty town (Harrisonburg) but still, nothing much happening.

I do think VT is a very good school and I know someone who is just completing his freshman year in Urban Planning at the Blacksburg campus. He is switching over to engineering, though. I'm just not sure where VT ranks in Urban Planning. VT is a very well-regarded school, most notably for engineering and a "favorite" in the DC area. But anyone will tell you that there's not much going on there if you aren't involved with the college.

[Carlingtonian]

You might send a PM to a member here named Tysons Engineer, who probably knows these programs. He also has a blog, which you could use to contact him. You might also contact various city planning departments and see if someone will talk to you; I would imagine most urban planners would be happy to give advice to someone with an interest in their profession.

Definitely, your money will go much further in Gainesville or College Station than it will in Alexandria. In Alexandria, $45K would mean a long commute from the suburbs.

[Joke Insurance]

If, and when, I go into a grad school for Urban Planning, I'd probably choose the Virginia Tech satellite campus because of distance. Perhaps if one day Amtrak gets extended past Lynchburg towards Blacksburg (new rails would have to be put in some spots), then I'll choose the main campus

[SDgirl10]

Both my husband (professor) and I work Virginia Tech. We live in Blacksburg and the community has definitely grown since I moved here (7 yrs ago). It is a small town but is near Roanoke which is a small city. There are definitely things to do here as we have festivals throughout the year and we are getting an IMAX with a Cinabowl (bowling) theater. We have a farmers market in downtown and stores for shopping. There is a new Center of the Arts at Virginia Tech which has attracted some major performances in the arts. There is Opera, Ballet and symphony in Roanoke. There are wineries outside of Blacksburg in the Blue Ridge and Floyd areas (less than an hour) and some of them are very good if you like wine. Good-luck with your decision.

[Lfungericht]

Guys, I want to thank all the help and informations you gave me.

I am back to let you know that I choose University of Florida at Gainesville after much, much deliberation. It was a really hard call.

I will be arriving at FL this fall. Hope I can give some good feedback after some time there.