Grad Student Needs Help! (Atlanta, Marietta: best city, rentals, crime)

[Rapture2938]

I'm a Dallas, Texas native that has moved to GA for graduate school. I'm currently in my internship with 1 year remaining. It looks as if I will be offered a position to stay on where I am currently interning... hence, the problem.

I am interning way down south in Griffin, GA. I know of the surrounding cities: Fayetteville, Peachtree City, Sharpsburg, Newnan, and McDonough. I know that Peachtree City is considered the best city... but, it may be far too expensive for someone in graduate school or about to come out of graduate school.

Can someone tell me which cities down south (within commuting distance of Griffin) would be the best for a young professional? I'm looking for a place that would have other people my age (mid-to-late 20's), have things to do (restaurants, events, museums, art, concerts, etc.), is low on crime, and has outdoor activities (parks, lakes, etc.).

Also, just in case if I decide not to take this position, what northern cities OUTSIDE of Atlanta would you recommend with the same qualities listed above? I definitely would sacrifice my other wants in order to end up in a safe, low-crime area.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Rapture2938

I'm a Dallas, Texas native that has moved to GA for graduate school. I'm currently in my internship with 1 year remaining. It looks as if I will be offered a position to stay on where I am currently interning... hence, the problem.

I am interning way down south in Griffin, GA. I know of the surrounding cities: Fayetteville, Peachtree City, Sharpsburg, Newnan, and McDonough. I know that Peachtree City is considered the best city... but, it may be far too expensive for someone in graduate school or about to come out of graduate school.

Can someone tell me which cities down south (within commuting distance of Griffin) would be the best for a young professional? I'm looking for a place that would have other people my age (mid-to-late 20's), have things to do (restaurants, events, museums, art, concerts, etc.), is low on crime, and has outdoor activities (parks, lakes, etc.).

Also, just in case if I decide not to take this position, what northern cities OUTSIDE of Atlanta would you recommend with the same qualities listed above? I definitely would sacrifice my other wants in order to end up in a safe, low-crime area.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Everything that you are looking for as a young professional is either in the City of Atlanta or is on the Northside of the metro area above the I-20.

With a few exceptions, most of the best restaurants that you may be looking for are above the I-20, either in the City of Atlanta or in the Northern suburbs.

Outside of the occasional small-town community festival, special events are far and few between in the Atlanta region south of the I-20 with most major special events occurring on the Northside of the Atlanta region either in the urban neighborhoods and areas above the I-20 inside of the I-285 Perimeter or in the historic village-like downtowns of suburban cities in the Northern suburbs outside of the I-285 Perimeter.

With very few, if any exceptions, most of the museums and art galleries are inside of the I-285 Perimeter and north of the I-20, though some makeshift art galleries do open up temporarily from time-to-time within the historic village-like downtowns of selected Northern suburbs (the small Northern Gwinnett County city of Buford is a notable exception where there is a small, but thriving and growing artists' colony at the Tannery Row Artist Colony in historic downtown Buford Welcome to the Tannery Row Artist Colony).

Also, with very few exceptions, most major concerts occur in the city at either Lakewood Amphitheatre, Chastain Park, Philips Arena, the Atlanta Civic Center, the famous, beautiful and historic Fox Theater in Midtown Atlanta.

Major concerts also occur at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in the Cumberland/Galleria area just inside the I-285 Perimeter near the I-75/I-285 Northwest Cobb Cloverleaf interchange, at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Alpharetta just off the GA 400 North outside the I-285 Perimeter, and at Gwinnett Performing Arts Center off the I-85 North in Duluth.

As for parks, lakes and outdoor recreation, most of that is on the Northside of the Atlanta region above the I-20, as well, in the areas of:

...The very-popular Stone Mountain Park in DeKalb County;

...Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield Park in Marietta;

...Red Top Mountain State Park in Cartersville;

...Lakes Allatoona and Acworth in Cobb, Bartow and Cherokee counties;

...The very-popular Lake Lanier in Gwinnett, Forsyth and Hall counties in Northeast Metro Atlanta;

...In the recreational areas that line the Chattahoochee River Valley between the Cumberland/Galleria area and just south of Lake Lanier;

...The southernmost portions of the Appalachian Trail which begins only about 85 miles north of Downtown Atlanta at Springer Mountain;

...The hiking trails and camping grounds of the Southern Appalachian Mountains which are located in North Georgia just immediately beyond the northernmost limits of the Metro Atlanta region.

Most South Metro suburbs, including the communities you named (Fayetteville, Peachtree City, Sharpsburg, Newnan, and McDonough), are mostly nice, peaceful and quiet bedroom communities where very little, if anything, is geared towards young professionals.

If you want to live in an area where there is a lifestyle that is geared more towards young professionals you will have to move north of the I-20 to a trendy and hip urban neighborhood inside the I-285 Perimeter (where crime is often an ever-present threat) or to an up-and-coming village-like downtown of a suburban city in the highly-desired Northern suburbs outside of the I-285 Perimeter (where there generally is a lesser threat of crime than inside of the I-285 Perimeter).

[go falcons]

Many of my family members are in your age range and having a very difficult time finding jobs , internships in their fields so ..I am going to ask is the social scene that important ? Can you get another internship offer easily in your field ?
With that being said ..

Peachtree City has a lot to offer people of all ages and price ranges for rentals ( sometimes you do have to be creative and think outside the box to find them .. But they are there ).
It has beautiful parks . It is a very active and physically fit community ( home of a huge running club ).Among many other clubs ( cycling, flying just to name a few ).