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View Poll Results: Preferable State: Pennsylvania or Massachusetts
I'd prefer PENNSYLVANIA 34 39.08%
I'd prefer MASSACHUSETTS 37 42.53%
NEITHER. Mass? Penn? Not Interested 6 6.90%
BOTH, These are some Great States Here 10 11.49%
Voters: 87. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 05-21-2021, 08:43 PM
 
Location: Philadelphia
2,539 posts, read 2,311,783 times
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Also in historical terms...

The Quakers > The Puritans
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Old 05-21-2021, 08:47 PM
 
Location: Boston Metrowest (via the Philly area)
7,269 posts, read 10,588,790 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mwj119 View Post
I still don’t get this push to compare Carnegie with MIT. Something behind the scene that we don’t know about, for sure. Do you work there? Or alumni?
There's no doubt that MIT is more of a heavy-hitting university than CMU. However, CMU has developed formidable prestige over the years itself, ranking in the upper echelons for its engineering prowess (https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate...s/eng-rankings).

It was very much off-base to make any comparison to UMass-Lowell, for example. A different stratosphere, frankly.

Quote:
Originally Posted by mwj119 View Post
You are using Massachusetts tactics, against Massachusetts. Firsts, higher education, healthcare. Quite frankly, I think that’s a losing battle for PA. For a small State, Massachusetts packs the mightiest punch. Right wrong or indifferent, MA is better known in these circles.
Pennsylvania does have a competitive strength with "eds and meds" like MA. That much is certainly true.

Whether we want to go down the path of arguing "prestige," that's a whole different story entirely and would likely give MA the edge. But that's not necessarily based on objective analysis--moreso reputation.

Regardless, given the age and history of both states in the fields of education and medicine, neither MA or PA would be off-base for trying to argue a strength.

Last edited by Duderino; 05-21-2021 at 09:11 PM..
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Old 05-21-2021, 08:51 PM
 
3,291 posts, read 2,769,912 times
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Anybody ranking nightlife in this poll? could be but I didn't see it mentioned much if at all. I would imagine it's part of the cities comparison even though not called out by the OP. Maybe because it's kinda been disappeared from society the past year or so...
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Old 05-21-2021, 08:56 PM
 
Location: Philadelphia
2,539 posts, read 2,311,783 times
Reputation: 2696
Quote:
Originally Posted by mwj119 View Post
You are backing off of your original statement that I’ve been challenging so adamantly. Your original list of schools for MA was so far off the mark, and I’m glad to see that you’ve scaled it back.

I still don’t get this push to compare Carnegie with MIT. Something behind the scene that we don’t know about, for sure. Do you work there? Or alumni?

You are using Massachusetts tactics, against Massachusetts. Firsts, higher education, healthcare. Quite frankly, I think that’s a losing battle for PA. For a small State, Massachusetts packs the mightiest punch. Right wrong or indifferent, MA is better known in these circles.

And once again, you pick a specific example while ignoring the rest of the examples. You target Nantucket (we go every summer, no issue) but ignore the entire rest of the south shore and Cape Cod. As if that disproves the rest of the argument.

You’re cherry picking to the enth degree. I don’t blame you.

Anyways... I live in Illinois again. I can tell you, PA and MA are both nicer States then where I am.

Again, I think both MA and PA are literally neck and neck in terms of higher education institutions. CMU is highly ranked for Computer Science. MIT probably pulls ahead for business. But if you look at any Computer Science program ranking CMU is internationally ranked and is considered a top 4 school in the USA for the program and currently CMU has the #1 robotics program in the USA.

There is a reason Amazon was looking at Pittsburgh for its HQ2 and why Uber launched its self driving program in Pittsburgh....

Also if you know anything about DARPA... CMU was a finalist at either #1 or #2 in nearly all of its robotics challenges along with Stanford.

Pennsylvania has a lot of Quaker roots which really make the state humble. CMU is an international leading and renowned institution.


With that.. PA and MA are more alike than not. Both are great states. I like both overall and I consistently rate MA as one of my top 5 favorite states in the nation.

I prefer Pennsylvania's, location, cities (large and small), culture, lower cost of living and history. I also prefer the Jersey shore over the Cape.... I just do not like rocky beaches and cold water. New Jersey does not have rocky beaches or "cliffs"...

As another posted stated. Half of going to the beach is going in the water, and NE beaches have cold water for most of the summer season.

Both PA and MA are great. And I would surely never put MA in a negative spot light except to say its COL is overpriced for what it offers and is currently its biggest drawback.
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Old 05-21-2021, 09:12 PM
 
Location: West Seattle
6,374 posts, read 4,989,995 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by _Buster View Post
Anybody ranking nightlife in this poll? could be but I didn't see it mentioned much if at all. I would imagine it's part of the cities comparison even though not called out by the OP. Maybe because it's kinda been disappeared from society the past year or so...
We're all population data nerds. What makes you think we socialize?
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Old 05-21-2021, 09:23 PM
 
5,016 posts, read 3,912,172 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheTimidBlueBars View Post
We're all population data nerds. What makes you think we socialize?
Hahaha.. Right on.
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Old 05-21-2021, 09:25 PM
 
5,016 posts, read 3,912,172 times
Reputation: 4528
Quote:
Originally Posted by Duderino View Post
There's no doubt that MIT is more of a heavy-hitting university than CMU. However, CMU has developed formidable prestige over the years itself, ranking in the upper echelons for its engineering prowess (https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate...s/eng-rankings).

It was very much off-base to make any comparison to UMass-Lowell, for example. A different stratosphere, frankly.



Pennsylvania does have a competitive strength with "eds and meds" like MA. That much is certainly true.

Whether we want to go down the path of arguing "prestige," that's a whole different story entirely and would likely give MA the edge. But that's not necessarily based on objective analysis--moreso reputation.

Regardless, given the age and history of both states in the fields of education and medicine, neither MA or PA would be off-base for trying to argue a strength.
Right.

Sounds like we generally agree.

As far as a comparison for “eds and meds”. I’m open to objective analysis that would conclude PA a front runner over MA. But my gut tells me that’s a pretty hard position to justify when those two worlds are combined and compared. Not a dig towards PA, but MA is a wagon in that realm.

Last edited by mwj119; 05-21-2021 at 09:45 PM..
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Old 05-22-2021, 07:54 AM
 
Location: Philadelphia, PA
2,212 posts, read 1,448,802 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rowhomecity View Post
Again, I think both MA and PA are literally neck and neck in terms of higher education institutions. CMU is highly ranked for Computer Science. MIT probably pulls ahead for business. But if you look at any Computer Science program ranking CMU is internationally ranked and is considered a top 4 school in the USA for the program and currently CMU has the #1 robotics program in the USA.

There is a reason Amazon was looking at Pittsburgh for its HQ2 and why Uber launched its self driving program in Pittsburgh....

Also if you know anything about DARPA... CMU was a finalist at either #1 or #2 in nearly all of its robotics challenges along with Stanford.

Pennsylvania has a lot of Quaker roots which really make the state humble. CMU is an international leading and renowned institution.


With that.. PA and MA are more alike than not. Both are great states. I like both overall and I consistently rate MA as one of my top 5 favorite states in the nation.

I prefer Pennsylvania's, location, cities (large and small), culture, lower cost of living and history. I also prefer the Jersey shore over the Cape.... I just do not like rocky beaches and cold water. New Jersey does not have rocky beaches or "cliffs"...

As another posted stated. Half of going to the beach is going in the water, and NE beaches have cold water for most of the summer season.

Both PA and MA are great. And I would surely never put MA in a negative spot light except to say its COL is overpriced for what it offers and is currently its biggest drawback.
I agree with most of this.

In regards to higher institutions, it is very competitive between the two states, but MA still takes the cake. I'd say only three states outdo Pennsylvania in regards to higher education: MA, NY, and CA.

I agree that relatively speaking, the two states have a lot in common. Eastern Pennsylvania in particular has a lot in common with Massachusetts. Yet the Appalachian influence throughout a majority of our geographic area, especially in the Western and Northernmost reaches of the state, makes us quite distinct from Massachusetts.

I agree about our more ideal location, and overall I prefer the climate of Southeastern Pennsylvania to Massachusetts. I, however, actually like the rocky beaches of New England. I am not one who loves to lay out on a beach, and instead prefer the more rugged and interesting terrain of coastal New England.

Both states would rank among my top 10, or even top 5, to live.

Last edited by Muinteoir; 05-22-2021 at 08:10 AM..
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Old 05-22-2021, 08:47 AM
 
Location: New York City
9,378 posts, read 9,326,130 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Boston Shudra View Post
I toured Lehigh way back when, actually. It didn’t really give me “prestigious” vibes. I didn’t apply because I didn’t want to be climbing that hill in the winter. That and they weirdly touted their wrestling program, which didn’t interest me in the slightest. I admittedly know next to nothing about Villanova.

Yes, yes. I could start and New England vs Penn thread if I wanted, but I probably won’t. I’m just saying it’s not exactly apples to oranges. Pennsylvania is actually closer to CA in land area (bout 1/3.5 the size) than Mass is to PA (1/5.7 the size).

Pound for pound MA has way more than PA in terms of higher Ed. By raw numbers, it’s closer.

MA also has mountains and mill towns. It’s tallest is taller than PA’s tallest, but then PA’s 2nd, 3rd, and 4th are all taller than MA’d 2nd.
Like I said, both are fantastic in Higher Ed offerings, and I do give the win to MA, but it is still competitive.

And maybe prestigious isn't the right word since that opens a can of worms. Lehigh is overall a better university than Temple. It is a highly ranked innovation and engineering school and top 50 US News
(though I take that site with a grain of salt).

Villanova is another very selective business & engineering school. (a lot stuffier, its on the Main Line, very white, wealthy, and religious, lol).

BU and Northeastern OVERALL fall in line with Lehigh and Villanova. And back to my original point, PA has a lot of schools higher on the totem pole than Temple (no shade at Temple). That is all I meant.

(side note, years ago I actually almost went to Northeastern, but chose Drexel, both have good Construction Management programs, and are leaders in the co-op program, #1 and #2 nationally, (school + internships). I always boost both of them for that major and co-op program.

Quote:
Originally Posted by _Buster View Post
Anybody ranking nightlife in this poll? could be but I didn't see it mentioned much if at all. I would imagine it's part of the cities comparison even though not called out by the OP. Maybe because it's kinda been disappeared from society the past year or so...
From my experience Philadelphia offers significantly more in terms of nightlife than Boston, both good bar cities though. I am not familiar with Pittsburgh nightlife, but I would say PA has the advantage due to Philadelphia.

Related to nightlife, there is a big push in PA legislature to change last call from 2am to 4am in Philadelphia, huge boost for the recovery of nightlife.

Last edited by cpomp; 05-22-2021 at 09:00 AM..
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Old 05-22-2021, 08:52 AM
 
Location: Bergen County, New Jersey
12,159 posts, read 7,989,874 times
Reputation: 10123
Quote:
Originally Posted by _Buster View Post
Anybody ranking nightlife in this poll? could be but I didn't see it mentioned much if at all. I would imagine it's part of the cities comparison even though not called out by the OP. Maybe because it's kinda been disappeared from society the past year or so...
Nightlife would handily go to PA.
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