Liberal college town- with a small town feel? Within an hour or so drive from pittsburgh? (time, common)

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by nannyval

I was born and raised in Washington,PA and I don't think it's what you're looking for. It doesn't really have a small town feel and lacks diversity. And from my experiences people there can be pretty small minded.....glad to have escaped the place myself.

I was really just asking if it would fit. It does have a relatively good sized Black community(around 15%), but from what you tell me, it just doesn't fit.

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by Copanut

I can't let that one slide by, unless you are kidding. GCC is very price competitive and usually rated as a great deal for the money. Ultra-conservative, maybe, but especially when it comes to money, THEY HAVE NO DEBT. They don't build anything until it's paid off. Selective, yes it is, very selective. To those that work hard. Average SATs are 1300 plus, most students in the top 10% of high school class, and you better know your minister on a first name basis.

But what makes me a proud graduate of GCC is the fact that they have never accepted a penny from the government. I don't know your age, but you might want to google GCC. They fought the government like crazy over Title IX.

It's not the college it was when I attended, but I'll always support them.

Not to hijack the thread, but what changed?

[alchemistpa]

Thanks sooooo much for all of your responses. Wind-up?- you said that you live in indiana, pa. What do you think of it... can you walk to much...(gym, pizza, post office,newspaper...) ? and does your neighborhood have a lot of non young college kids there? I'm wondering if there are places within walking distance to the campus and downtown that are not littered with college rented slum apartments! (I mean no disrespect to any young college kids-or their apartments... i used to be one... so I know what we are capable of!)
Hoping to find an area that has families, etc... I think that you mentioned a few streets north of the main drag... so there are pockets of less "collegy" areas? (although I guess I am being difficult..because while I don't want to live among the collegy area... I want to live within walking distance of it!)

[miranova]

I'm looking for the same type of area. It's too bad you have to stay in PA...i'm looking around PA, NY, and MA from SC and so far I think I've fell in long distance love with Ithaca NY - it sounds/looks so amazing (but I have yet to find out about special education services, which is what I need!). Keeping my fingers crossed, it has a rep of being very liberal and it's soooo serene and beautiful!

[TelecasterBlues]

Morgantown WV and State College PA are the only real options unless you want to consider something a little more urban along the lines of Oakland/Pittsburgh, and there's nothing wrong with that as Pitt U/Oakland are basically what you'd want. And stay away from California PA...that place is terrible. The university is in construction mode and is understaffed, doesn't offer enough available sections per course, ALWAYS has scheduling conflicts, and basically is a total mess compared to comparable small universities like Slippery Rock. As for the town of California itself, it's abysmal with the main draws being a Dairy Queen, Subway, and a Quick Fill...that's it. The town's council actually voted against McDonalds adding a franchise downtown and more or less is completely against anything that would promote a college atmosphere or more kiddies running around outside of the university grounds...so the town is literally dead. A Papa Johns, Campy's, some place called Bowser's, I think Quiznos, and a few other shops were actually chased out of town in thepast year or two. The majority of the town itself sits completely vacant, people usually head home on the weeked, drive to PIttsburgh or Morgantown, or sit around in eachother's basements acting like idiots. Actual townsfolk are usually bitter towards the university and are completely reclusive.

I wouldn't bother with anything in Washington or Greensburg either, both are NOT college minded...just conservative SWPA towns that happen to have a small college attatched to them. I dunno, I'd say Slippery Rock is a good overall school that's in a town that has nothing else going for it but the university and the university presence. Indiana/IUP are basically similar to California/CUP and comparable to Slippery Rock...but the town is a bit nicer and not utterly terrible like California. It's still not really what you're looking for by any means.

Morgantown/WVU is really your only option for the "liberal town" thing. It's out of state obviously, but it's an hour or so from Pittsburgh and the defacto "liberal/social" center in the state of West Virginia. It's a nice little city that's growing a lot and doing well, there's a fair amount of stuff to do culturally, and the nature activities are top notch. Tons of hiking, kayaking, rafting, etc with bike trails throughout the city and in the nearby mountains/state parks. However, Morgantown notoriously serves as a giant bar crawl for university students. It has more of a goofy/bohemian type of thing going on with lights strewn throughout the trees downtown and little cafes and whatnot popping up here and there. It is definately liberal and 100% focused on students and the university through a "live and let live" type of attitude. It's both a small city and a university that overlap into eachother, but opperate on the same page and get along nicely. State College/PSU is similar and a bit nicer overall, more "preppy". However, it's definately not liberal at all...it's more like a really nice, upscale, conservative PA town that has lots of liberal college kiddies running around. It's not quite as overboard with partying/drinking as Morgantown, maybe a bit more "well to do" although I think it recently won something like "best party school in America"(I don't quite agree with that), but it's 100% isolated out in the middle of nowhere and the town/city itself isn't quite what Morgantown is in terms of an actual city that's growing and expanding outside of the university.

My vote is to check out Morgantown as your best option for a traditional "Athens/Berkley" within this area, although it's obviously not on that scale by any means.That or check out Oakland/the East End and Pitt, Pittsburgh is NOT a very urban city and is pretty friendly and laid back. It's more or less the country's largest town, made up of a million separate neighborhoods, that just so happens to have a misleading skyline and a few stadiums to fool people into thinking that it's a big city. Pittsburgh is one of the most affordable areas in the entire nation, Morgantown is pretty good with that too but a little more expensive overall. Indiana/Slippery Rock should be viewed as fallback plans only, although I doubt you'd be miserable if you chose one of those areas.

[PghVixen]

Originally Posted by alchemistpa

Thanks sooooo much for all of your responses. Wind-up?- you said that you live in indiana, pa. What do you think of it... can you walk to much...(gym, pizza, post office,newspaper...) ? and does your neighborhood have a lot of non young college kids there? I'm wondering if there are places within walking distance to the campus and downtown that are not littered with college rented slum apartments! (I mean no disrespect to any young college kids-or their apartments... i used to be one... so I know what we are capable of!)
Hoping to find an area that has families, etc... I think that you mentioned a few streets north of the main drag... so there are pockets of less "collegy" areas? (although I guess I am being difficult..because while I don't want to live among the collegy area... I want to live within walking distance of it!)

There are some very nice family neighborhoods in Indiana, and the whole town is walkable. There are restaurants and shops downtown as well as on the outskirts, mostly to the west out PA Rt 286 (Oakland Avenue) and US Business Rt 422 (Philadelphia Street). The areas north of Philadelphia Street are where the more family-oriented neighborhoods tend to be, because IUP is basically the whole southwest quadrant of the town.

The art and music programs at IUP are very good, and have been for many years, so there is a good deal of culture there - and you're not too far from Pittsburgh if you need a real cultural fix.

State College is a beautiful area and a nice place to live, but quite expensive compared to Pittsburgh, and it's 3 hours away in good weather.

Not going to get much into the political bashing one way or the other here, except to comment that some folks who claim to be "tolerant" seem to have a damn superior attitude towards people who vote differently.

[hornet67]

Originally Posted by Brookline_sylvia

It's $20,000 a year, which is $6,000 more than a state university, and about the same as Pitt or Penn State for room and board and tuition (I think they're all over priced). It's half the cost of Carnegie Mellon, but at CMU you wouldn't be surrounded by right wing lunatics and would instead be associated with a school that actually produces useful research and development other than political cranks, i.e., knowing your born again flat-earth minister on a first name basis as a pretext for attending university - WTF is that worth?

These constant references to Grove City add nothing to the conversation - she wanted a liberal environment with exposure to a mixture of cultures and religions, and GCC is on the other end of the spectrum. All you're doing is cheerleading for your alma mater. Was fighting Title IX "like crazy" anything to be especially proud of? Maybe if you're of a certain persuasion, but I don't think it's especially relevant here.

I'm SOOO pleased to see your tolerance and respect for those who don't believe in the same philosophies as yourself ( the poor, benighted peasants). Please continue to show us miscreants the TRUE path.

[UKyank]

[WhoIsStanwix?]

Is there any reason that we resurrected a thread that hasn't been replied to in over two years?

[Evergrey]

Bethany, WV... home of Bethany College... should fit the bill.