West Virginia University VS Marshall University (Huntington, Morgantown: jobs, crime, universities)

[tbailey1138]

WVUPharm2007, WVU does offer more degree programs and benefits from higher caliber athletics as WVU is a good school. Yeah Morgantown is also closer to Pittsburgh at just over an hour whereas Lexington takes right at 2 hours from Huntington. Ruby Memorial Hospital offers a little more than Cabell or St. Mary's but Mon General doesn't come close to either one. And better shopping? You're kidding right? Shopping in Morgantown is close to what Huntington has now that it has the University Town Centre but Huntington still offers more shopping. Everything Morgantown just got at the UTC, Huntington has had for the last 5-10 years. And the Huntington mall is a much larger(the largest in the state) and better mall than the Morgantown Mall even though it is about 15 years older. Morgantown has seen a lot of growth and that is good for the area and the state but don't try to down play what the Huntington area offers. Also, as far as downtown areas go, Huntington's downtown is much nicer, bigger and offers a lot more to do, so in what way is Morgantown "hipper"? Just wanted to clarify some things again.
Tim

[herdslp]

Marshall by far!

Am I biased? ABSOLUTELY! I love Marshall, and I think most people do if they give it a shot!

Marshall will be growing considerably in the next few years. WVU may try to hold us back, but it can't last too long. They may have us beat on the LAW SCHOOL (Charleston politicians are WVU Law School grads..homecookin'), but we'll have a new engineering school and pharmacy school (if they don't pass on it again...GRR) soon, I hope! However, you need to look at your major or intended major, and then look at the individual programs. My cousin left Marshall to do agricultural/forestry things at WVU--they had the exact program he was interested in and Marshall didn't. I chose Marshall, on top of many reasons, because they had the better Speech-Path program.

Huntington's downtown is picking back up. The last few weekends, the weather has been pretty nice, and the streets were packed with people heading out to eat, concerts, comedy club, and just hitting up bookstores for coffee!

On top of all that, Marshall students don't burn couches!!

[dunkhouse]

Huntington, in my opinion, is a nicer city than Morgantown. While both are college towns, Huntington is larger, well planned out, has better climate (less snow), good shopping and health care. I just think Huntington is visually more appealing, even though it has declined somewhat from its heyday in the 60's. Huntington is within 3 hours of Columbus, Cincinnati and Lexington. Morgantown is just an hour or so from Pittsburgh. The northern and eastern areas of the state are growing more rapidly than the Huntington area and Morgantown does have good health care.As for the schools, WVU has more to offer because for years it has been the main school in the state. Most of the state funding has been funneled in that direction. In a poor state like WV, there just isnt enough money to fully fund two major universities. Marshall was at one time just a small teachers college and it began to take off in the 60's and 70's and has exploded. Unfortunately, state funding did not keep pace. However, recently, MU has added a med school and is now reviving its engineering school. WVU has these plus a law school. If you are into sports, WVU plays at a higher level and is presently the more successful of the two.

[dub-vee]

Lets Go Mountaineers!!!!!!!

[Clarksburg Kid]

I think Huntington and Morgantown have about the same shopping wise. Morgantown has some things that Huntington doesn't have and vice-versa, and just becuase Huntington has the biggest mall in the state doesn't make it the best. It doesn't really matter anyways, in about 10 or 20 years Morgantown will be the biggest city in the state.

[tbailey1138]

Originally Posted by Clarksburg Kid

I think Huntington and Morgantown have about the same shopping wise. Morgantown has some things that Huntington doesn't have and vice-versa, and just becuase Huntington has the biggest mall in the state doesn't make it the best. It doesn't really matter anyways, in about 10 or 20 years Morgantown will be the biggest city in the state.

While Morgantown has seen a lot of growth in retail over the last few years, Huntington still has more to offer in terms of shopping. I say this from experience as my wife and I live in Huntington but she is from Morgantown and we visit there frequently. While there are some stores that are different, Huntington offers the equivalent store in nearly all cases. Barnes and Noble vs. Borders, Bed, Bath and Beyond vs. Linens and Things, etc. Huntington though offers Macy's, 2 Kitchen supply stores(Morgantown has none), Charlotte Russe, Wet Seal, Buckle, Express(Men's and Women's), Limited Too, Gymboree, Yankee Candle, Foot Locker (Men's, Kid's and Ladies), Champs, Kohl's, Circuit City(in addition to Best Buy), Home Depot(in addition to Lowe's), Toy's R Us and others. Of the stores that the areas share, Huntington has larger versions of the stores in most cases such as the anchor stores in the mall being 2 stories rather than one, etc. And while the best mall in the state could be debated, it would definately be between the Huntington Mall and the Charleston Town Center as these are not only 2 of the largest malls in the state, but also offer the most variety. My wife's family usually goes to Pittsburgh or come here to do most of their major shopping. And downtown Huntington has become a shopping destination again with the addition of Pullman Square and the new stores that have gone in downtown thanks to the new growth. Not only does downtown continue it's retail growth, but the mall continues to add new stores and other small stores and shopping areas continue to pop up.

Also, if Morgantown is going to be the largest city in the state in 10-20 years, it had better start growing a lot faster. Morgantown would have to gain over 20,000 people to overtake the 4 cities above it. To do that in the time frame listed above, they would have to have annual population growth of between 1,000-2,000 people per year. The closest the city has come to that sort of growth is 523 people in one year(between 2002-2003). And while the population growth seems to go up and down each year, the 2005-2006 population growth was much lower than any other growth from the previous five years. From 2005-2006, the city only gained 48 people. Nowhere near 1,000-2,000 people needed/predicted. By the most realistic predictions, it will take about 10 years for Morgantown to gain just over 4,000 people to pass first Wheeling and then Parkersburg. Even to do that, it would have to maintain an annual growth of 400 people/year, something which Morgantown has not been able to do thus far. Once to that point, Morgantown would need an additional 16,000+ people to pass Huntington and Charleston. This also assumes that the cities larger than Morgantown will see no growth and this is not likely as most of them are seeing new economic growth and revitaliztion which will likely lead to new population growth. I want to see this state grow as much as anyone, but don't downplay other parts of the state and make outrageous claims to make one area sound better. Morgantown has seen some wonderful growth and will hopefully continue to do so for that area and for the state.

[snorpus]

Eeek!!! You're going to base a college choice on shopping????

All college students need to buy are hot dogs, beer, jeans, and T-shirts. (Just kidding )

Seriously, what matters most should be the education you're receiving, with consideration given to how well you "fit" a particular locale. When I was looking at colleges (many years ago), I visited Michigan State. In my field (electrical engineering) it was great, but coming from very small town West Virginia, I knew I wouldn't be happy on a campus with more students than most cities in WV. I ended up at a much smaller school (5K undergrads) and still feel I made the right choice.

I don't know much about Marshall's programs, so I won't comment on them, but WVU is well regarded in engineering, forestry & agriculture, health-related professions, and several other areas.

Regards,
Snorpus

[Clarksburg Kid]

Originally Posted by tbailey1138

While Morgantown has seen a lot of growth in retail over the last few years, Huntington still has more to offer in terms of shopping. I say this from experience as my wife and I live in Huntington but she is from Morgantown and we visit there frequently. While there are some stores that are different, Huntington offers the equivalent store in nearly all cases. Barnes and Noble vs. Borders, Bed, Bath and Beyond vs. Linens and Things, etc. Huntington though offers Macy's, 2 Kitchen supply stores(Morgantown has none), Charlotte Russe, Wet Seal, Buckle, Express(Men's and Women's), Limited Too, Gymboree, Yankee Candle, Foot Locker (Men's, Kid's and Ladies), Champs, Kohl's, Circuit City(in addition to Best Buy), Home Depot(in addition to Lowe's), Toy's R Us and others. Of the stores that the areas share, Huntington has larger versions of the stores in most cases such as the anchor stores in the mall being 2 stories rather than one, etc. And while the best mall in the state could be debated, it would definately be between the Huntington Mall and the Charleston Town Center as these are not only 2 of the largest malls in the state, but also offer the most variety. My wife's family usually goes to Pittsburgh or come here to do most of their major shopping. And downtown Huntington has become a shopping destination again with the addition of Pullman Square and the new stores that have gone in downtown thanks to the new growth. Not only does downtown continue it's retail growth, but the mall continues to add new stores and other small stores and shopping areas continue to pop up.

Also, if Morgantown is going to be the largest city in the state in 10-20 years, it had better start growing a lot faster. Morgantown would have to gain over 20,000 people to overtake the 4 cities above it. To do that in the time frame listed above, they would have to have annual population growth of between 1,000-2,000 people per year. The closest the city has come to that sort of growth is 523 people in one year(between 2002-2003). And while the population growth seems to go up and down each year, the 2005-2006 population growth was much lower than any other growth from the previous five years. From 2005-2006, the city only gained 48 people. Nowhere near 1,000-2,000 people needed/predicted. By the most realistic predictions, it will take about 10 years for Morgantown to gain just over 4,000 people to pass first Wheeling and then Parkersburg. Even to do that, it would have to maintain an annual growth of 400 people/year, something which Morgantown has not been able to do thus far. Once to that point, Morgantown would need an additional 16,000+ people to pass Huntington and Charleston. This also assumes that the cities larger than Morgantown will see no growth and this is not likely as most of them are seeing new economic growth and revitaliztion which will likely lead to new population growth. I want to see this state grow as much as anyone, but don't downplay other parts of the state and make outrageous claims to make one area sound better. Morgantown has seen some wonderful growth and will hopefully continue to do so for that area and for the state.

HAHAHA, First of all I was referring to the Charleston Town center as Huntington mall's rival, when I was saying that huntington mall maybe the biggest but not the best. Im pretty sure that Huntington lost 1,000 people or more in the last census, and it seems like to me that everybody in both Charleston and Huntington are moving to Putnam County correct, and that county is being built up very fast. But everybody downplays Morgantown it seems like to me and everybody Idolizes Huntington, which is an awesome city, but don't make Huntington seem like its that much better than everywhere else in the state because it has little better shopping than Morgantown. Ah and whoever tried to uplay Lexington as being on par to Pittsburgh is crazy and out of their minds. Pittsburgh is leaps and bounds ahead of Lexington, but Cincinatti is valid.

[tbailey1138]

snorpus, I wasn't basing the college choice on shopping, I was only responding to what Clarksburg kid had written. I compared the schools in my post on the first page. As I said there, WVU offers more degrees but Marshall is growing and offering more degrees and extracurricular options for students than it has in the past.

Clarksburg kid, yes Huntington has been losing population as have most of WV's larger cities. But Huntington's population loss is slowing and hopefully will start to see a positive trend. Morgantown is the first of the larger cities to reverse this trend and hopefully the rest of the large cities will follow suit. Most of the cities are growing economically and hopefully will see population growth as well. I've never heard anyone downplay Morgantown and making frequent visits to Morgantown, it seems just the opposite. I've read things like what you posted above in the Dominion Post and I just see no foundation in fact in those statements. They are usually in the editorial/opinion section so it can write them off as opinion but yet people actually believe what they read. Morgantown is a wonderful city and I meant no disrespect toward the city or toward you in my statement. But if you are going to make a statement like that, it needs to have some foundation in fact. I want to see all of WV grow for the good of this state and it's people.

[jswva79]

One thing to keep in mind about "population loss" is that it is actually a "population shift". Growth has occurred in Milton/Barboursville alon US 60, which if you travel US 60 - it looks to be one large community. Development along I-64 heading to Huntington has a lot of upscale housing and retail centers. The area is still viable and is receiving grant money to spruce up main corridor areas. However, keep in mind that Huntington was an industrial city; whereas, Morgantown was a University/agricultural town. Both are transforming into booming economies based on healthcare and technology.

The tri-state metro has actually grown a little bit from 1990 to 2000 (308,000 to 315,000).

The federal designation will still remain for Huntington - it doesn't result in an immediate loss of funds.

Back to the main issue - instead of Mountaineer football versus Herd football - both communities have a lot to offer and WVU has the greater number of fields of study, and Marshall is growing toward that direction.

The choice is a matter of field of study and personal perception of convenience - both are solid in academics. Marshall is a more compact campus, but is sprawling out - as the medical campus is developing south of the main campus along the Fairfield-Hal Greer area. WVU is more of a residential campus, and Marshall until the development finishes, is more of a commuter campus - with students living within 100 miles. More housing options in Huntington than Morgantown, but the redevelopment of Sunnyside should assist in that. Both communities have blighted areas - Hal Greer projects near the viaduct and powerplant in Morgantown with refridgerators in the river don't form a great welcome to both communities.

However, the small state of WV is fortunate to have two large and nationally known institutions.