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I have lived in IN, KY, TN my entire life. My wife is from EAST KY. We just had our first child this summer. I really want to finish school, but the schools in the area are just too expensive (Vany, Belmont, UT). I like a smaller school but not too big and Marshall fits the bill.
It's not where I WANT to go, but it is a good school from what I've heard and I think I could be happy in that area. We could only do it with IN-State tuition. So how would that work for me? And is Marshall a good school? I want to be proud of it, and when I graduate from there, I want it to mean something. Just not real familiar with the area/school.
Also, by attending Marshall we'll be much closer to her family. Now it's about a 6 hour drive, it would cut it to about 2ish or so depending on where we moved too. I attended WKU in KY, so I'm hoping those 9 credits I got will transfer over okay.
Lastly, in June of 2004 I commited my first and ONLY crime in my life. I was charged with a Class C Felony of Robbery (no gun or weapon was used). I simply demanded the money and it was given to me through a drive thru at a restaurant. i was with a friend and I had a ton of mitigating circumstances involved in the matter. Like I said I had never been in trouble and no weapon was used and I plead guilty to it. It was dropped to a lower charge of a Class D felony of Theft. So I plead guilty to the "Class D Felony of Theft" that is what is on my record.
My professional life hasn't been good. Like I said I was going through a extremely tough time, and I made a dumb mistake, and it's been over 7 years ago. I plead guilty in Feb. of 2005. I was sentenced to 2 years probation, which I completed perfectly with no trouble. I still can't get a good job, especially in this job climate. How would I fair in WV area?
I'm a good Christian man with high morals, just made 1 mistake. I want to succeed and help others. I just have not been given a chance at a "real" job yet. I'm almost 26 by the way. My wife is a loving person and been so good to me. She does have a bachelor degree from a liberal art school.
Any insight for me? or input? thank you for your time.
I have lived in IN, KY, TN my entire life. My wife is from EAST KY. We just had our first child this summer. I really want to finish school, but the schools in the area are just too expensive (Vany, Belmont, UT). I like a smaller school but not too big and Marshall fits the bill.
It's not where I WANT to go, but it is a good school from what I've heard and I think I could be happy in that area. We could only do it with IN-State tuition. So how would that work for me? And is Marshall a good school? I want to be proud of it, and when I graduate from there, I want it to mean something. Just not real familiar with the area/school.
Also, by attending Marshall we'll be much closer to her family. Now it's about a 6 hour drive, it would cut it to about 2ish or so depending on where we moved too. I attended WKU in KY, so I'm hoping those 9 credits I got will transfer over okay.
Lastly, in June of 2004 I commited my first and ONLY crime in my life. I was charged with a Class C Felony of Robbery (no gun or weapon was used). I simply demanded the money and it was given to me through a drive thru at a restaurant. i was with a friend and I had a ton of mitigating circumstances involved in the matter. Like I said I had never been in trouble and no weapon was used and I plead guilty to it. It was dropped to a lower charge of a Class D felony of Theft. So I plead guilty to the "Class D Felony of Theft" that is what is on my record.
My professional life hasn't been good. Like I said I was going through a extremely tough time, and I made a dumb mistake, and it's been over 7 years ago. I plead guilty in Feb. of 2005. I was sentenced to 2 years probation, which I completed perfectly with no trouble. I still can't get a good job, especially in this job climate. How would I fair in WV area?
I'm a good Christian man with high morals, just made 1 mistake. I want to succeed and help others. I just have not been given a chance at a "real" job yet. I'm almost 26 by the way. My wife is a loving person and been so good to me. She does have a bachelor degree from a liberal art school.
Any insight for me? or input? thank you for your time.
Marshall is not very prestigious, well known, or respected. However, it is small and cheap so it has that going for it. WV has smaller schools that are much better. Huntington is an awful place to live, but you would be close to Kentucky and Tennessee.
Given your circumstances I could recommend Marshall.
Thank you. I always got the impression that Marshall was a middle of the road school. Why is Huntington a bad place to live? I've been there 2 times with my wife's family. I liked it okay. We just want a safe place to live.
How is jobs in that area? Probably not good? What about entertainment and housing? We're paying close to 600 a month for a apartment with 850 sq feet.
Could I get something bigger or a house for the same or less there? thank you
Thank you. I always got the impression that Marshall was a middle of the road school. Why is Huntington a bad place to live? I've been there 2 times with my wife's family. I liked it okay. We just want a safe place to live.
How is jobs in that area? Probably not good? What about entertainment and housing? We're paying close to 600 a month for a apartment with 850 sq feet.
Could I get something bigger or a house for the same or less there? thank you
Huntington is cheap. It is kinda a dying city. The population is older, and employment opportunities arent good. There is nothing to do, and it is infamous for being the fattest city in the US. It is a rustbelt city. It isnt known for being a good place to live. As my dad always said you can make a good life anywhere. The city itself doesnt need to dominate your life. It has high crime for WV, but WV is generally a safe state so it is for the most part safe. Their are some neighborhoods you want to stay out of and some nice ones. With the right attitude you could enjoy it.
Marshall is average. Very average. Nothing about it stands out and it doesnt have the best programs. Their is far worse, that cost more too. It is a good idea.
Huntington's economy has withered, its poverty rate is worse than the national average, and vagrants haunt a downtown riverfront park. But this city's financial woes are not nearly as bad as its health.
I think c_h is painting too negative a picture of Huntington and Marshall. Take what he says with a large grain of salt.
Usually, a student has to have established residency for a year to be considered an in-state resident and get the in-state tuition rate. I know my college requires proof, in the form of a driver's license, dated utility bills in your name, etc.
As long as WKU is accredited (and most state schools are), transfer credits are accepted for any course that you completed with a grade of C or better.
You might consider going to a community college until you've accumulated 60 credits, and then transferring to a 4-year school. It's much cheaper, and you still get your Bachelor's degree from the 4-year school.
While it's not Carnegie Mellon or Harvard, Marshall is a good, solid, university, and whatever degree you obtain there would not be looked down upon.
I appreciate your responses. I always thought Marshall was a solid school like you said. The area, I know doesn't have much going on and the jobs are all that great.
I just want a degree from Marshall to mean something... like people get degrees from really small stupid schools and get good jobs, so Marshall will be at least that.
Robcynd, as Snorpus said, take what cry_havoc says about Huntington and Marshall with grain of salt. He is extremely biased against both of them due to his associations and doesn't live here, nor has he ever. This is what he himself had to say about his knowledge of Huntington
Quote:
Originally Posted by cry_havoc
Im not real familiar with Huntington...
yet he pretends to be an expert.
Coming from someone who does live in the area, I think Huntington would be perfect for what you are looking for. Huntington is a nice area with lots to do for a city in WV. We have wonderful parks, a great live music scene, several venues for touring musics acts, 2 different comedy clubs, great museums and all that Marshall offers as well. Doesn't quite sound like a dying city huh? Especially once you consider all that happens here with festivals, new offerings at Pullman Square and Downtown etc. Some stats you might want to know, we are the second largest city in the state with around 50,000 people. The Huntington Mall is also the largest mall in the state with some good shopping and restaurants. We have some wonderful local restaurants downtown as well and are the only planned city in the state, making it easy to get around in town. Here are some links that you may find useful:
Jewel City Films - Home (http://www.jewelcityfilms.com/home - broken link)
Marshall is a good school and provides a good, quality education. They have some highly ranked programs like forensics (#1 in the county), performing arts and video game design (each ranked in the top 50 programs). They also offer various performances and concert and offer a wide array of athletic programs with football and basketball improving in quality over the last couple of years. For the little money that they get from the state for support, they have seen a lot of growth over the last few years through self-funded programs, private partnerships and fund raising. Here are the links for Marshall and a local CTC if you would like to do as snorpus suggested:
With regards to everything posted about Huntington and health/depression, #1) that is with regards to the MSA (which includes some of eastern KY) and not solely the city #2) West Virginia is considered to be one of the fattest states and was named the most depressed state (I think havoc's city is in WV too) and #3) Huntington and Charleston are the ONLY cities in WV with MSAs big enough to be looked at so all of these negative stats get piled onto these two cities. Here is how a visitor to the area viewed Huntington with these things in mind: John Ramspott: Huntington a place with strong bonds among people not found in many other cities - The Herald Dispatch
Here are some articles about the health of West Virginia in general. Since you have family in Eastern Ky (I do as well in Pike County), you know that they suffer from many of the same health issues that West Virginia deals with.
Here is a good quote from one of the articles posted above. It notes how happiness is relative and thus hard to quantify. It also makes note that a mere 15 points out of 100 separated the scores of first place and last place:
Happiness Is Relative
All the data were massaged to produce scores between 0-100 (100 being best) in each of the six categories. And then those categories were mashed up to produce an overall score of 0-100. You can download data for the 188 metro areas at the Gallup Well-Being Index site.
Boulder took the #1 slot with a composite score of 73.7, carried by top 10 scores in 4 of the 6 broad categories. All props to Boulder, but it’s a bit disheartening to realize the happiest city in America basically clocks in with a grade of C-. For the record, the saddest city in the country, the Huntington W.Va.-Ashland, KY metro area, had a score of 58.1.
If you have any other questions, I would be more than happy to answer them and I will help you in any way that I can.
Tim
Last edited by tbailey1138; 09-06-2011 at 07:14 PM..
I appreciate your responses. I always thought Marshall was a solid school like you said. The area, I know doesn't have much going on and the jobs are all that great.
I just want a degree from Marshall to mean something... like people get degrees from really small stupid schools and get good jobs, so Marshall will be at least that.
I appreciate it
I know my opinion is not popular with people from the area, but the truth is Huntington is not a good place to live. Like I said that doesnt mean you cant have a good life there. If I absolutely had to live there I could. I would just need an internet connection and cable tv because there sure isnt anything to do in Huntington itself.
Huntington does have a reputation as being a bad place. I provided two links from actual news sources and popular journals to back up that Huntington's awfulness is officially recognized. It isnt from some blog, but the people of Huntington have told me how terrible it is to live there. People from Charleston usually dont think too highly of it either.
You said you had a wife. You can be happy anywhere if she is a good wife.I could with mine.
Marshall is not a very good school. It isnt a bad school, but it isnt good. It carries some weight in southern WV, but outside of that area an employer is going to say, "Marshall?"
It is very average.
However, I recommended it to you at the beginning of the post. Tbailey must have overlooked that. You said you were trying to start over. For your situation Marshall wouldnt be a bad school. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
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