Which of these cities would you rather live in as a college student? (living, cost)
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Well, I went to school in Staten Island, so I experienced living in NYC as a college student (even though to me, a New Jerseyan, SI is technically NYC but "the city" is Manhattan). It was pretty great. Staten Island has a ferry that runs 24/7 to and from lower Manhattan for free and my school offered a free shuttle to bring us down to the ferry, so I got into Manhattan for free whenever I wanted to. That was a huge plus. Of course, getting on the subway is a metro card swipe but considering, coming from NJ, that I usually take the train into NYC which costs a small fortune, getting there for free via the SI Ferry was nice. Especially being a college student low on funds.
I went to a college with A LOT (I really mean a lot) of kids from everywhere. In one class, I remember I had a girl from South Korea, a guy from western Canada, and a guy from the Czech Republic in it with me. In another, I had a couple of girls from France and in another a guy from England and a guy from Russia. People from all over the country, particularly CA actually, went to my school. I knew people from Oregon, Texas, California, Florida, Alabama, West Virginia, Hawaii, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Alaska, and more local states like of course NY, NJ, CT, PA, MA, ME, VT, etc. What drew people in was the fact that it was New York. They wanted to move to NYC for school to experience living in the city or at least going to Manhattan very often, as part of daily life. They wanted internships, particularly in theatre and finance, in NYC because of the obvious opportunities and higher chances of success. NYC is nothing special to me since I grew up 20 miles away, it's simply what I'm used to, but to these people from all around the country and world it was literally a whole new life and so many of them stayed in the city and got jobs in the area. I think NYC is a city college students choose because of the chance to be young and experience life within it. There is so much to do, and it's such a 'growing up' city, you know, so cliche for people to move to New York but in my experiences it is true - quite a few people choose New York City for college for what it offers, as far as jobs, opportunities, connections, hobbies, arts, etc, from all over. And I went to a school on SI - not even a school like NYU right in Manhattan.
When choosing schools, I was stuck between my school on Staten Island and a school on the Jersey Shore. I am so glad I chose NYC because of the opportunities it gave me, and I really branched out, visiting the city often, getting to know it really well, and meeting people from all over. For me, NYC worked great as a college city. Sorry if it's a bit long, but since I experienced it I figured I'd share everything I could.
Jerseygirl415, interesting points. As I'm trying to decide where to transfer to I'll keep those things in mind. I do want to experience the big city life!
Significant enough, but Boston is not cheap either.but definitely more cheap than NYC and SF.
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