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The main thing about Troy to keep in mind is its rep for high crime, which according to the City-Data Crime Index is justified (it's a crime hotspot in a very safe part of the country, go 20 miles in any direction and there are few problems). //www.city-data.com/city/Troy-New-York.html
However I looked just now and found out that Orlando has an almost identical high crime rate.
Keep in mind that the population figures used prior to the 2010 Census are off(look at the information from a previous post of mine) and it still has good and rough parts of town. Even looking at the city-data information for crime in Troy, it isn't that high in comparison to city centers in metros of similar size. When looking at the average, it is for all communities ranging from Podunk towns to NYC. Much of the crime in any Upstate NY city is hardly random and lifestyle has a lot to do with it.
UF - maybe really don't want to be in Florida unless its Miami but UM and FIU don't have the program I'm looking for.
Notre Dame - definite
RPI - Looking like a definite but still haven't got in touch with them yet, have a phone meeting scheduled for next week to discuss the program they have more
UMinn - Debating because they're the only program I'd have to take GRE for and being an out-of-state Public School I'm not sure how much funding I'd be able to get if any. However it probably is the best program for what I want to do and of all the locations the Twin Cities seems to be the one I'd want to live in the most.
UF - maybe really don't want to be in Florida unless its Miami but UM and FIU don't have the program I'm looking for.
Notre Dame - definite
RPI - Looking like a definite but still haven't got in touch with them yet, have a phone meeting scheduled for next week to discuss the program they have more
UMinn - Debating because they're the only program I'd have to take GRE for and being an out-of-state Public School I'm not sure how much funding I'd be able to get if any. However it probably is the best program for what I want to do and of all the locations the Twin Cities seems to be the one I'd want to live in the most.
Out of the other areas, the Twin Cities seems to fit the most, given your criteria. Are there other considerations or areas with a college with the program that you are looking to get into?
Out of the other areas, the Twin Cities seems to fit the most, given your criteria. Are there other considerations or areas with a college with the program that you are looking to get into?
Considered applying to Yale but I've met now 3 Yale graduates in my life and not one of them is a person I'd want to associate with. LSU sounds like a sure thing to get their max scholarship if I go there but it wouldn't cover much to warrant going to LSU and living in Baton Rogue. Still need to find out more about USC's program, they have the degree but their site doesn't say much more and so far I haven't gotten in touch with anyone.
I'm really trying to avoid public schools out of state, Minneapolis is special because of how good the program is and because I've looked at moving to Minneapolis before and almost did get a job there last year .... sadly I was a few days late in hearing about the position because I know the person that was in charge of hiring but she had already filled it. Even still I'm not sure I want to spend the application fee when there's such a good chance it'll be hard to get funding.
Just a note - both myself and CKH live in the Syracuse area, not the Capital Region. I don't know CKH's background with Troy but as I've said before, my sister has lived there for about 10 years.
When I go to visit, here's the types of things we like to do - go to the various bars (mostly The Ruck for the craft beer selection and we're friends with the owner), support the local music scene such as our friends Super 400 (they also do another group called Blue Machine), go bowling, grab food at places like Dinosaur BBQ, Brown's, Jose Malone's, Red Front, etc, go hang out at the various lakes, check out the farmer's market and the various street festivals, etc
While I like doing outdoor type activities that you've listed, I'm normally only out there for a few days so don't have too much time to do all of those things.
As for power lifting, they do have a Crossfit in the area - not sure where but I know some of my friends go there
I read this thread with a lot of amusement. I went to RPI, albeit 20-25 years ago, lived on Burdett Avenue during those years and usually walked to classes from there, sometimes at night, and sometimes in some real sh*t weather. While I admit I was last up there in 2009, at that was the last time in 10 years, my thoughts.
TROY VS. RPI: While there are "Troy natives" and people from the Capital District in general going to the school, for the most part, the two rarely mingle together and are pretty different socio-economically. For your purposes you want to be concerned with what RPI students do/are like, not so much what the people of Troy are like. As for crime, for the most part, if you don't bother people they won't bother you.
POLITICS: Like someone else said, a very quirky mix of liberal and conservative. "Global warming skepticism" will be frowned on, but so will "Occupy Wall St." (RPI is a school where most are there to succeed in the corporate world, more so than most other schools). I found thing like ROTC and wanting to work for a defense contractor more popular than at say an Ivy League school, but I'd hardly call it something on the level of Brigham Young or Oral Roberts University either. There's a healthy appreciation and respect for diversity (the current president is a noted African-American female in the science world who had a significant role in the invention of "caller ID"). My guess is (and I'm only half-joking) that the politics of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are probably the average political views of the RPI student body.
SOCIAL LIFE: While a very "nerdy" school, there's a lot of activity going on. Skiing, hiking and other outdoor pursuits are very popular. One thing joked about and frowned on is what in my day was called "the ratio", it is very hard to find a girlfriend at RPI because there are significantly more males than females. And a lot of competition for one, though being older helps (I was on the verge of living with my freshman year girlfriend sophomore year when she dumped me for a 25 year old grad student, and I first met my wife several years after graduating RPI).
Bars in Troy tend to be either geared toward locals or geared towards college students, so you would be focusing on the latter. Hardly the "nightlife" of Boston or NYC, but pretty decent.
Anyway, best of luck to you!
Last edited by 7 Wishes; 02-24-2012 at 08:08 PM..
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