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Lived in KC for six years, and it's lovely, fun, interesting, and affordable. From an artistic/cultural and culinary standpoint, I'd put it ahead of Indianapolis, easily.
Sadly, for the purposes of this thread, it's not really a "college town," despite having several. Among the neighborhoods I lived in there, several were adjacent to public and private universities there, and there is really no "campus feel," no "university district," a minimal amount of obvious school pride...they're not bad schools, they're just not hugely visible or thought about much off campus. People are pretty focused on KU (hour away) and MU (nearly two hours away), and even at that rate, only from an athletic standpoint. Having a "college scene" in the college neighborhoods does not appear to be a priority of any kind in KC, from my observation. Having no world class university presence (along with minimal public transportation and a seriously foundering public ed situation) top the list of things holding KC back as a city.
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
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Well, KC has been declining in population, sadly. I do recall there being a nicer art school there I walked through, but yeah, public transit was lacking.
Hardly...yes, there is a social justice aspect but they are certainly a "typical" American college just the same. Personally, Marquette is probably the best college on that list from an academic standpoint.
That wasn't an insult to Marquette, nor do I think Marquette is unusual for an American college.
I just meant "typical" in the sense that (from my experience) when people from abroad talk about American colleges, they don't usually picture the small liberal arts college feel which I think most Jesuit schools come closer to, they are usually thinking of that Big 10 type college thing or the Ivy thing, because that's what is normally featured in American movies and TV shows. Football games, frats, drinking, snotty rich kids, college sweatshirts, hot coeds. LOL.
Still, Marquette sounds like a good fit for the OP. Probably better than UW-Milwaulkee I think, which proabaly has more of the stuff he says he doesn't like.
Where are you coming from? Are you prepped for the cold? I did my undergrad in Minnesota, and had quite a few classes with a visiting student from Indonesia, and the poor guy was UTTERLY MISERABLE, climate-wise, for most of the year. Likewise, a friend came from India to do his grad school at University of Iowa, and stuck around in the KC area for a job when he was done. He ALWAYS squawks about the cold, and Kansas City is in no way, shape, or form regularly as cold as the icy blast you'll get coming off Lake Michigan through the winter if you go to Milwaukee.
That wasn't an insult to Marquette, nor do I think Marquette is unusual for an American college.
I just meant "typical" in the sense that (from my experience) when people from abroad talk about American colleges, they don't usually picture the small liberal arts college feel which I think most Jesuit schools come closer to, they are usually thinking of that Big 10 type college thing or the Ivy thing, because that's what is normally featured in American movies and TV shows. Football games, frats, drinking, snotty rich kids, college sweatshirts, hot coeds. LOL.
Still, Marquette sounds like a good fit for the OP. Probably better than UW-Milwaulkee I think, which proabaly has more of the stuff he says he doesn't like.
I would concur.
A point, though... I did go to a social-justicey liberal arts college (Lutheran, though, not Jesuit, but same overall deal), and we assuredly did have frats, football games, binge drinking, snotty rich kids, college sweatshirts, and hot coeds as well. Hard to avoid. But the frats were a diversion, not a way of life or pervasive culture like they are at some bigger schools, the football games were D-III and nobody really invested in them other than incidentally, there were a lot of non-snotty kids of various economic backgrounds, etc. You still get the stereotypical college experience to some degree, even at a smaller liberal arts school. Kids be kids, wherever. And, really, Marquette is reasonably large, as private schools go, and a university vs. college, which gives it a somewhat different feel than many much smaller private liberal arts colleges, too.
I very much doubt you're used to the kind of cold you'll experience in Milwaukee or even Bloomington or Lawrence. Temperatures in the middle of the continent are not moderated by ocean currents like where you are.
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