U of Oregon vs Oregon State: Undergrad Freshman (Portland, Eugene: violent crime, hotels)

[vauser]

Hi,
My son got admitted to both Oregon State and U of Oregon, and we live in the suburbs of Washington DC so completely unfamiliar with Oregon/Eugene/Corvallis. While the University, its ranking and the program play a key role in the final decision, the safety of the place is no less important. Any advice from locals in helping us make this decision (in the event he picks one of these 2 schools) would be much appreciated.

In particular, how do they compare when it comes to things a freshman might look for? My son is vegetarian, loves biking, is very active, loves outdoors, and is a picky eater (his needs include wanting Indian Vegetarian food at least twice a week)!

Also, for parents who would be living on the other coast, things like travel, time between airport to dorms, price of hotels or temporary housing, etc are all important as well.

Thanks a ton (in advance) for all your advice.

[Bees46]

Both are good places for students, safe and bike-friendly. Eugene is bigger than Corvallis, where there isn't a whole lot besides the university. But Corvallis is nice, and not far from Eugene or Portland.

Eugene has an airport, though it is usually cheaper to fly into and out of pdx. The airport is far from campus, but nothing is really far. Eugene is quite compact.

[jjpop]

With Eugene being larger, that might be a better choice, particularly if your son is picky. There's just more to choose from. But he'll have plenty of vegetarian, biking, and outdoor opportunities in both cities.

Safety-wise, if he is in the dorms, he won't experience any problems in either city. There are more less-desirable neighborhoods in Eugene than Corvallis because of the size, but as a student he doesn't really ever have to venture into them.

Does either one have a program he is more interested in? As an incoming freshman, this might not be that big of an issue.

You'll also have an easier time visiting if he's in Eugene and you fly into EUG. As Bees stated, it's generally more expensive than flying in/out of PDX, but with the traffic in Portland and the length of time to drive to either Corvallis or Eugene, it might be worth a couple hundred more to fly into EUG. Also the Eugene airport is on the north side of the city, so it's actually more convenient to fly into EUG and get to Corvallis than it is to fly into PDX to go to Corvallis.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

I think it is going to depend a lot on what your son's major is.

Corvallis is a safer town without the huge homeless problem that Eugene has. Both towns have plenty of vegetarian restaurants. Eugene is more crunchy granola, if that is important to him. Eugene usually has the better football team. Corvallis has a lovely bike path system. Both are close enough to the coast for a day trip but corvallis gets you to a more interesting section of the coast.

[vauser]

Thanks everyone. He is more interested in the program (Computer Science) at U of Oregon, and that's simply because he had applied for a slightly different one, and I am pretty certain he can make a switch at Oregon State as well. Corvallis sounds like a more quaint little town compared to Eugene, but the convenience of getting to either one of them from IAD is what's concerning us. Point to point, it looks like a 12 hour trip (ride to IAD, 2 flights with a layover, drive to campus) given that I can't seem to find direct flights (at least, at reasonable prices). A lot of the connections are through SFO, or Seattle, or Denver. Flying to Portland and driving to Corvallis/Eugene would be a lot more inconvenient (but perhaps more affordable?).

About safety - he expects to stay on campus during his freshman year, but is likely to move off campus after that (which is what I thought most kids did?). Given that, would Corvallis be a safer place? And, is one more expensive than the other when it comes to off campus housing?

Last but not the least, is it going to be slightly easier to find Software Internships in Eugene compared to Corvallis, or is it equally difficult? I read about the job situation in Oregon in the other threads and it didn't sound too promising. I guess, the other option is to go to Seattle or SF during summer and look for openings?

[Steve McDonald]

Originally Posted by vauser

Hi,
My son got admitted to both Oregon State and U of Oregon, and we live in the suburbs of Washington DC so completely unfamiliar with Oregon/Eugene/Corvallis. While the University, its ranking and the program play a key role in the final decision, the safety of the place is no less important. Any advice from locals in helping us make this decision (in the event he picks one of these 2 schools) would be much appreciated.

In particular, how do they compare when it comes to things a freshman might look for? My son is vegetarian, loves biking, is very active, loves outdoors, and is a picky eater (his needs include wanting Indian Vegetarian food at least twice a week)!

Also, for parents who would be living on the other coast, things like travel, time between airport to dorms, price of hotels or temporary housing, etc are all important as well.

Thanks a ton (in advance) for all your advice.

I've attended both schools. My entering Oregon State as an 18 year-old, was one of the worst mistakes of my life. The underlying culture of that university, is 19th-century at best. Their policies are authoritarian and sexist. Many hard-core conservatives send their children there, for that reason. Any lightening of their restrictive and obsessive rules, has only been because they've lost legal suits brought against them. I hope your son doesn't have to learn this the hard way, as I did.

I entered military service after a year there and upon re-enrolling at OSU at age 21, I was still not allowed to live off campus, as they didn't consider me, even as a self-supporting veteran, to be an independent adult, until I was 23. No single woman student of any age, was ever allowed to live off campus. This changed only when a 38 year-old Catholic teaching sister enrolled in a doctoral program, as a graduate teaching fellow. She had arranged to live in a Catholic rectory, at the edge of the campus, in a section with several other nuns.

But OSU blocked this and told her she had to live in a freshman women's dormitory, with an 18 year-old roommate. It seems that there was a completely separate section of the rectory, where two male priests lived and the university said they couldn't permit her to live there. She and her backers fought and won a year-long lawsuit against the school and the foolishness of their archaic policy was exposed to all. This is just one example of their attitude and insistence on practicing the concept of "in loco parentis".

On the other hand, the politically-correct madness in universities, has found its center at the University of Oregon. When this trend began years ago, I thought it was a good thing, but it's been taken over by an army of radicals, serving nothing but their own narrow agendas. If your son is a normal, white male, he'd need to learn to keep his mouth shut and maintain a very low profile there.

Even though I'm a lifelong resident of Oregon and Eugene, I wouldn't attend either of these schools, if I was beginning again today. However, The U of O outclasses Oregon State by a wide margin, academically and scientifically. A degree from the U of O would greatly outweigh one from Oregon State, which is really just a slightly advanced cow college at its core.

If tuition expenses are no problem for you, I recommend one of the smaller state universities in California. Those in Chico, Fresno and San Luis Obispo are good examples, but there are others, that focus on academics and science and avoid much of the heavy politics and social-justice warfare, that have inflicted the universities in larger cities in that state. Attending college anywhere in this country, is not so simple as it once was. Life in Eugene and some other progressive parts of Oregon, is very good. But the major university campuses don't share that and are completely different islands of culture.

[eddie gein]

As a non biased outsider who has spent some time on both campuses, I think that either place would be plenty safe and would fit your son fine. Corvallis being the more traditional small college town while Eugene is more of a mid size city but still has a college feel in the campus area. Both have attractive campuses that are relatively easy to navigate. As is usually the case, the flagship campus, UO is the more liberal campus and the land grant school OSU is the somewhat more conservative. But we are talking Oregon here so OSU is probably more liberal than a lot of land grant places.

Both schools are close to beach and mountains. And OSU is a bit closer to Portland but Eugene is interstate all the way up there.

Hopefully he can visit the schools and see which one he likes better. But I really enjoyed visiting both and I hope to get to do so again in the future.

[Bees46]

I think both of them are safe places. The bad things that happen in Eugene happen in a very few places. He can avoid them. There are plenty of safe areas where students live off campus. I can't comment on costs between the two.

There are opportunities for tech internships in both places. My partner is in the software field and there are plenty of students floating around. They love involving UO in their projects.

[Yankeemama]

I didn’t attend either school but after living in Portland Metro for eight years I have met 100’s of people who either went to one of the schools, has kids at one of the schools or is familiar with both schools and I have never heard that either place has a violent crime problem. I did move from NYC but even so I think my perspective is similar to yours, OP, and your child will be happy on campus at either university.

[CAjerseychick]

Well if OP son wants good Indian vegetarian food and some variety I would pick Eugene in the Corvallis/ Eugene equation.....

Checking out SF and the bay area is a whole 'nother ball of wax entirely.