If you could predict the future...will Atlanta become a HCOL city? (Dallas: home, construction)

[BR Valentine]

Originally Posted by Smocaine

I'm also a GT grad and I do see Tech eventually getting around to rounding itself out with things like a med school. GT's appeal isn't just as a niche engineering school like in the 80's, it's firmly entrenched as a high-end public school along with Michigan, UVA, etc. Given the location, money flowing through, and general prestige of the school, I really can't see it maintaining its excessively niche focus much longer.

GT really doesn’t have a niche focus any longer. It’s already a major center for life sciences study and research. Establishing itself as a major player in life sciences is what got GT invited into the AAU twenty years ago.

While it’s certainly true the major research universities covet every shiny new thing they can get their hands on, I think the odds of GT starting a Med school are likely pretty low. Med school startup is expensive especially so if you intend to train surgical specialists. The state would have to pay for it and I’ve seen nothing that leads me to think that the state has any interest in funding another medical. Then there are the politics of doing so. If GT gets a Med school it’s not happening without UGA getting a full Med school of its own too. I really don’t foresee the state wanting to pay for two Med schools.

FWIW, I texted my cousin who is a recently departed department chair at GT about a Med school and her response was “not happening”.

[Smocaine]

Originally Posted by BR Valentine

GT really doesn’t have a niche focus any longer. It’s already a major center for life sciences study and research. Establishing itself as a major player in life sciences is what got GT invited into the AAU twenty years ago.

While it’s certainly true the major research universities covet every shiny new thing they can get their hands on, I think the odds of GT starting a Med school are likely pretty low. Med school startup is expensive especially so if you intend to train surgical specialists. The state would have to pay for it and I’ve seen nothing that leads me to think that the state has any interest in funding another medical. Then there are the politics of doing so. If GT gets a Med school it’s not happening without UGA getting a full Med school of its own too. I really don’t foresee the state wanting to pay for two Med schools.

FWIW, I texted my cousin who is a recently departed department chair at GT about a Med school and her response was “not happening”.

While I definitely agree that something very capital-intensive like a med school isn't a near-term thing, the point still stands that I think GT is going to have to start branching out soon, and I mean beyond new STEM things.

Frankly, the state of Georgia split things between UGA, GT, and Georgia State in a very odd way, especially with GT taking a huge step up in prestige over the last couple of decades. How many other states have a flagship school that is clearly not the most prestigious public school in its own state? Why are GT and Georgia State basically two halves of one major state school in the same city and with wildly different admissions standards?

[BR Valentine]

Originally Posted by Smocaine

While I definitely agree that something very capital-intensive like a med school isn't a near-term thing, the point still stands that I think GT is going to have to start branching out soon, and I mean beyond new STEM things.

Frankly, the state of Georgia split things between UGA, GT, and Georgia State in a very odd way, especially with GT taking a huge step up in prestige over the last couple of decades. How many other states have a flagship school that is clearly not the most prestigious public school in its own state? Why are GT and Georgia State basically two halves of one major state school in the same city and with wildly different admissions standards?

UGA does more than 2x the amount of federally funded research than GA State. They really aren’t two halves of the same university.

The issue with UGA is they don’t have their own Med school. The few state flagships that don’t have Med schools all take a reputation hit because they do less life science research. Nebraska was expelled from the AAU because the Med school is at UNO not UNL which makes UNL too heavy on ag for the AAU’s taste. The average person may think that Alabama is more prestigious than UAB but the fact is UAB is far more prestigious in the minds of academics. UAB does nearly ten times the amount of federal funded research that Alabama does. Georgia is just an especially odd place because of the presence of GT and the fact that neither of the state’s two leading public universities have a Med school.

The average person and average college applicant focus far too much on institutional attributes and not on department level attributes as well as cost. I have a daughter starting at UGA in the Honors Program. She was also admitted to Emory. She wants to get a PhD in clinical psychology. UGA has an excellent psych department and it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than Emory. She’ll have no trouble getting into a top 20 PhD program if she does well at UGA.

As for GSU, they have an important mission and they’re one of the best in the country at what they do. GSU is seventy-five percent students of color and median household income of a GSU student is about $65k. GSU provides social mobility for POC, Black and Latino student’s especially because they graduate those students at a rate well above the national average. UGA and GT enroll students with more than twice the median household income of GSU students. Neither does much to promote social mobility.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

Maybe if you're stuck in 2011. Plenty of desirable "red areas" are in the same predicament because it has nothing to do with political ideology but national macroeconomic forces at work. I can't believe people still peddle this "it's only a blue area problem" crap in 2021.

Some folks simply cannot help but inject politics into everything. Pretty sad.

[bryantm3]

The way I see it, the biggest problem is that everything is based off of the foundation the greatest generation established post world war 2, and now almost all those people are out of the picture. We keep stacking the cards higher and higher and the foundation is bending. There is rot at the base of all our institutions.

It's not a right versus left thing. It's that the problems we face are so big that no one wants to deal with them, everyone wants to be in denial, blame the right or the left. Soon, we will have to face those problems head on, because the whole thing will become completely unmanagable. This is why I don't think making projections at this point in time makes sense. It's not the 1990s, our future as a society is not clear anymore. I'm not trying to be doom-and-gloom here, just trying to be realistic. We can't solve these problems with the rhetoric coming from either side.

[Need4Camaro]

TBH there's things that both parties are doing that I heavily disagree with. Both parties have their fair share of issues.

[jhtrico1850]

Originally Posted by Smocaine

Would anyone really say that Midtown Atlanta is worth a $400 monthly premium (30%) over Uptown Charlotte for a studio?

It really depends on the individual and what they want. 30% sounds big on a line item level, but that’s less than a $5K difference yearly. If you are in the banking industry, sure Charlotte makes sense.

If you’re in law or tech or whatever, it doesn’t make sense to move to Charlotte to save $5k a year (and maybe lose more in income or potential to network via the various big conferences etc here). If you are lower income, sure some of these other cities can be better.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by jhtrico1850

It really depends on the individual and what they want. 30% sounds big on a line item level, but that’s less than a $5K difference yearly. If you are in the banking industry, sure Charlotte makes sense.

If you’re in law or tech or whatever, it doesn’t make sense to move to Charlotte to save $5k a year (and maybe lose more in income or potential to network via the various big conferences etc here). If you are lower income, sure some of these other cities can be better.

Well reasoned comments!

[Smocaine]

Originally Posted by jhtrico1850

It really depends on the individual and what they want. 30% sounds big on a line item level, but that’s less than a $5K difference yearly. If you are in the banking industry, sure Charlotte makes sense.

If you’re in law or tech or whatever, it doesn’t make sense to move to Charlotte to save $5k a year (and maybe lose more in income or potential to network via the various big conferences etc here). If you are lower income, sure some of these other cities can be better.

You're dwelling on the $5k figure (which is for a studio apartment), when I specifically included the percent difference, which is a more meaningful benchmark. A 30% increase on a studio may 'only' be $5,000, but what about for a 2-bedroom? We're talking about taking a massive hit on most people's largest expense, housing, and what is the benefit? Why would someone ever pay Chicago prices to live in Atlanta, if they have any choice at all? That's my point; Atlanta's only selling point is that you get to live in an economically active area at a cheap price. Take away the discount relative to the more A-list cities, and I do not know why anyone would ever move here, or stay if they had the choice. Which is why I think our foray into being a medium-high COL city won't last very long.

[Need4Camaro]

Atlanta isn’t Chicago but you’re underestimating it to assume that the only selling point is the low COL. Remember, rents only rise according to unit demand. If rents are high then the demand to live in the vicinity justifies it. One living in Midtown for example is still conveniently placeable to MARTA rail (Charlotte has no answer for), instant access to the Airport, Buckhead or Perimeter without the need of a car (America’s second largest expense outside of housing), then you’re not terribly far from Beltline (or you could rent directly off the trail), Google & NCR as well as a plethora of employment options (for employees), Georgia Tech (for students and professors), Virginia Highland, Piedmont Park, and Atlantic Station.