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I know the notion of a perfect college town is subjective and my ideal place may not be everyone else's, so I thought that this would be a good discussion to have just for fun. For some, the ideal college setting is a large city with a bustling downtown and plenty to do. For others it might be a small city with quaint shops and quiet streets. Personally I prefer something somewhere in the middle. I really like colleges in suburban areas adjacent to larger cities (ie. Rutgers-New Brunswick, NJ). I also like vibrant mid-sized cities; Lexington, KY comes to mind (University of Kentucky), or Tampa, FL (University of South Florida). I'm really not a fan of big schools in small towns or small schools in big cities. I like to see a college that's located in a city that's proportionate to the size of the college where neither dominates the other. Often, especially with Div. I schools, you'll have a huge school in a tiny town and the only thing worth noting about the town is the college. As for small colleges in big cities, well in most cases if you're not familiar with the city you probably don't even know the college exists. That's no fun. Anyway what are your thoughts? What college setting is ideal for you? Provide examples where possible. Thanx
I think anywhere from ~60,000 - 250,000 and about an hour or so away from a larger city. Bloomington, IN Madison, WI Boulder, CO Eugene, OR Athens, GA Lawrence, KS. Lafayette, IN Amherst, MA Ann Arbor, MI etc. I lover everyone of those cities and I think they are perfect settings.
Tucson. There's a strong community here, and the underlying factor is that Tucsonians love the U of A! At least most of us do.
We are an hour and a half to two hour drive to Phoenix, so that's great when we need to see concerts that never come down to Tucson. But still get a "small town" feel, well, at least it feels more like a small town than Phoenix, which is where I'm from.
I think anywhere from ~60,000 - 250,000 and about an hour or so away from a larger city. Bloomington, IN Madison, WI Boulder, CO Eugene, OR Athens, GA Lawrence, KS. Lafayette, IN Amherst, MA Ann Arbor, MI etc. I lover everyone of those cities and I think they are perfect settings.
I went to college in Atlanta and visited Athens a lot. It's a little too small for my liking, especially for a big school like UGA. It gets extra points for its proximity to Atlanta, but its still a little too far away for me. The only other place you mentioned that i've had the pleasure of visiting is Ann Arbor. IMO, near perfection and one of my favorite small cities
My favorites:
Charlottesville, VA
Hanover, NH
Princeton, NJ
Morgantown, WV
Never spent a lot of time in Princeton, but I did drive through and all I kept saying was "well isn't this lovely". At least until I got to Trenton anyway, sorry...
The town or city needs to be big enough there is life after college if you choose to stay.
I've only lived in college towns since I was 18. All of them have a significant number of people who have stayed in town after college, including me.
I totally agree, which is one of the reasons i'm not crazy about small college towns. When you're there you fall in love with the place but when you graduate you realize that if the college wasn't there the place would be a ghost town.
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