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That is a fairly inaccurate statement. Boston and NYC are very, very different types of cities in: industry, art, architecture, atmosphere, and influences.
I preferred Boston. I felt I wasn't really "wired" for NYC, which I found overwhelming, overstimulating, and professionally intimidating. I prefer to visit.
Here in Boston, when many people refer to "the city," they mean New York City!
I agree that there is no reasonable comparison. Size, different histories, fueled by different industries... When I'd come back to Boston/Cambridge after a long weekend in New York, I'd get off the train and feel like I'd come to a big village.
I could work in New York, but quickly realized that the things I like about New York are all expensive, and I have no desire to do the housing dance there. Yes, I found it overwhelming, and realized I had no particular employment or talent that required me to be there.
Definitely look at the program first. As for me, NYC is a great city, but quite overwhelming to live there. I think Boston has a much better quality of life and it is only a bus ride away to NYC to visit during weekends.
That is a fairly inaccurate statement. Boston and NYC are very, very different types of cities in: industry, art, architecture, atmosphere, and influences.
I've only been to NYC twice and would never go back. I agree that is probably an inaccurate statement in the areas you've mentioned. There is is lady at my job that always says that and she is a New Yorker so that is what I was basing that on. I like Boston much better than any part of New York. Long Island isn't too bad where my relatives live. All about personal preference I suppose because I know people who love New York.
Here in Boston, when many people refer to "the city," they mean New York City! [quote, Brightdoglover]
I've lived in the Boston area off and on for forty years, and this is news to me. Maybe expatriated New Yorkers still refer to NYC as "the city" when they're in Boston. That's about it, though.
I'm glad to see a few people on here pointing out that NYC might be overwhelming for some people. Floridagirl is absolutely right that it's a matter of personal preference. I know there's this old rivalry and everything, and New Yorkers like to put down Boston by making it out to be some Last Chance Gulch little place, way off the dusty trail, but it's not really fair to the people seeking information here to carry that kind of thing into this forum. By general American standards, Boston is a big city, with plenty going on to keep you busy and entertained. Describing Boston as something like a "big village" could give people a completely inaccurate picture.
The OP doesn't seem to be around anymore, though if he's still checking this thread, I'd reiterate my suggestion to make the graduate programs your first consideration in choosing a school. For anyone trying to decide between the two cities here, I'd say go with NYC if you want the ultimate urban experience--both the good and the bad--but if you think you might find that overwhelming, Boston offers a nice dose of city living with less (not none, but less) of the negative side of urban life.
It's doing a disservice to someone who might like that kind of setting to portray Boston as such a cow town that people unfamiliar with the Northeast might picture it having much less to offer than it really does, and pass up the opportunity to live in a place that would suit them well. At the same time, it's also a disservice to give people such a picture of Boston as just a "big village" that they picture a quaint little town, and go to all that is involved with moving, only to be in for a nasty surprise when they get moved and discover that Boston is a real city, with congestion and traffic and dirt and crime (okay, neither city being discussed here has the crime rate of Detroit, Phoenix, Atlanta, etc., but Boston and NYC are cities, and they have crime).
People come here to seek information they use in making important decisions that really can affect their lives. Seems to me it's best to keep the intra-regional rivalries out of the picture here, and try to give as accurate a picture as possible to those seeking information.
Boston is definitely a city. I agree that it has its fair share of traffic (horrible), crime, and urban qualities.
Not to change the subject (tweak it) but I consider NYC, LA, and Chicago to be true large scale US cities. Having worked throughout the US and Europe, when I think of 'city' I think of global hubs- big cities. I don't think of Boston amongst the likes of London, NYC, Paris LA, Frankfurt etc.
Did you know Forth Worth is larger than Boston? Even Phili and San Antonio...
Obviously chose a graduate program based on the program, then factor in which city (large or small) that suits one best.
Yes- NYC is overwhelming to most New Englanders and Bostonians- easily. But not vice versa- Boston to us fellow NY'ers is like a summer cottage.
I guess my point is that both cities are very, very different- as mentioned before by me- a NY'er that has lived there for quite some time and here for a fair share too. (and a few cities in Europe)
As a grad student, I don't think you can go wrong with either choice...
Boston is definitely a city. I agree that it has its fair share of traffic (horrible), crime, and urban qualities.
Not to change the subject (tweak it) but I consider NYC, LA, and Chicago to be true large scale US cities. Having worked throughout the US and Europe, when I think of 'city' I think of global hubs- big cities. I don't think of Boston amongst the likes of London, NYC, Paris LA, Frankfurt etc.
Did you know Forth Worth is larger than Boston? Even Phili and San Antonio...
Obviously chose a graduate program based on the program, then factor in which city (large or small) that suits one best.
Yes- NYC is overwhelming to most New Englanders and Bostonians- easily. But not vice versa- Boston to us fellow NY'ers is like a summer cottage.
I guess my point is that both cities are very, very different- as mentioned before by me- a NY'er that has lived there for quite some time and here for a fair share too. (and a few cities in Europe)
As a grad student, I don't think you can go wrong with either choice...
Agreed that a student (or any young person enjoying early adulthood) can't go wrong either way. Also, on the traffic in Boston. I personally don't care for the politics in Boston or MA, but that's a matter of personal preference. When it comes to something everyone can agree is a negative, I'd say the traffic is probably the single largest negative in Boston.
I can see how Boston might look to someone who's frequented the great world cities, but it's important to try and keep in mind how someone who has not had that experience might perceive things.
Here's a hypothetical example. I'm describing an extreme situation deliberately, for the sake of making the point. Suppose the person asking the original question in this thread had grown up in a really small town in a way rural part of, say, North Dakota. The biggest city this person has ever frequented is Fargo, but he's also travelled a bit around the northern Plains and the upper Midwest, and he's been a few times to Des Moines, for example. To someone in this situation, Des Moines might be what he's picturing when you describe a place as being a city, but still kind of like a small town, or a "big village," as one post on here describes Boston. If you describe Boston that way, this person is going to be picturing something way different from the reality of the place.
Of course, people have the responsibility to do their own research, and anyone contemplating such a move ought to learn the basic facts about the place he's considering moving to, but those offering advice on this forum also need to make sure they present as close to an accurate picture of a place as possible. Admittedly this can be difficult since there is so much subjectivity in how "large" or "small" a city seems to be, but the more people are able to keep in mind what the general perception of a place is likely to be, the better they'll provide information that helps a person get an accurate picture of a place.
I'll mention Fort Worth, just because I happen to be interested in the subject of cities. Sometimes population doesn't tell the whole story. There's the population of a city, and then there's the population of its surrounding metro area. Have you ever been to Portland, ME? In that you now live west of Boston (addressing this to LostNYer), maybe you've been to Waltham. Well, the population of Portland is similar to Waltham's, but Portland seems like a substantially bigger place, because it's the principal city, and main service center, for a metro area of anywhere from a quarter million to half a million, depending on how you define metro areas.
In the case of Fort Worth, it gets even more complicated, since Fort Worth and its suburbs are part of the larger DFW urban agglomeration, which has a population similar to that of the larger Boston area (out to Worcester, up into NH and southern Maine). In a case like that it gets pretty dicey trying to say where the environs of Fort Worth end.
Population of the city itself can be deceptive as well. I have a friend who used to live in Fort Worth, who tells me that Fort Worth has gone crazy with annexation. I'm told there are large areas within the city limits that are not only suburban but EXurban in character. A lot of open country with isolated subdivisions scattered throughout. It's as if Sudbury and Acton and Stow were part of the city of Boston, except that between the areas of develpment you have prairies instead of apple orchards.
I've never been to San Anton., so I have no picture of the place and how large a city it seems to be. Being that its metro-area population is smaller than Boston's I might speculate that Boston would SEEM bigger, being that it's at the center of a larger overall urban area, much the way Portland, ME, seems like a true small city, rather than the big town its population would make it seem to be.
Philly? When I've been there I've had the sense that the overall urban area is a little larger than Boston's, though in the same broad category of size. Again, there are different definitions of metro areas, but Philly's metro population ranges from about nine percent to twelve percent larger than Boston's, depending on what you consider part of each metro area, though the city of Philadelphia proper has about twice Boston's population. Hey, I warned you I'm interested in this stuff. In fact I have a particular interest in the whole question of how large or small a city or town SEEMS, and how population isn't the only factor that determines this. I once noticed that Philly has a larger land area than Boston (the cities, not the metro areas). I actually looked up the populations and land areas of a bunch of those towns and small cities along the north side of the Charles River, places like Cambridge, Somerville, Medford, Malden, Watertown, that still have an urban character (I know, I need a life), places which might very well seem like parts of Boston to someone unfamiliar with the area. What I found is that a land area along the north bank of the Charles which combines with Boston to give you the same area as Philly, also gives you about the same population. So, the populations of these two cities that are at the centers of similar-sized (not exactly the same but similar) urban areas turns out to be a matter largely of history--the history of how the political subdivisions developed. In Philly, it all developed into one city, while a similar central urban area in Boston is fragmented more into separate cities and towns. Once again, I did tell you I'm interested in this urban geography stuff.
Anyway, this shows that this is all very subjective. The more people who offer advice here can do to try and get a feel for how the person asking the questions might interpret the answers, the better. Latuh.
The Philadelphia metro area is more like 18-22 percent larger in population than Boston's depending on which of the Census Bureau's categories of metro area you use. It was getting late when I said nine-12 percent, and the math I did in my head was off. Not vital, unless you're studying this stuff in school or using it professionally, but the info was incorrect, so here's the correction. Getting off topic anyway with all this. But then, we haven't heard from the OP for some time.
I went to grad school in NYC (NYU) and loved my experience there. I miss it regularly. For all the reasons others have mentioned NYC is an experience not to be missed, but I'd also add that I found it a much much friendlier city than Boston, contrary to all stereotypes about NYC. I particularly loved living in Brooklyn (Carroll Gdns and Park Slope) and have been in search of such a vibrant, community oriented place ever since. Also I've heard Boston winters are a nightmare whereas in NYC it's a great time to explore all the million museums etc and I fondly remember crisp clear days of blue skies and sunshine and snow. Summers, well....don't live without an AC as I did and make sure you have a way to get out of the city for some time.
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but I consider NYC, LA, and Chicago to be true large scale US cities. Having worked throughout the US and Europe, when I think of 'city' I think of global hubs- big cities. I don't think of Boston amongst the likes of London, NYC, Paris LA, Frankfurt etc. 
correction on that last post
