Trying to get a feel for San Antonio.

[SweethomeSanAntonio]

So Austin doesn't party at clubs and hole in the wall bars aka cantina's? Good rhyme but no truth behind it.

[Lee W.]

If you can tolerate heat with the help of some A/C, a new person could do all right in S.A. Wherever your interests lie, there are probably others with the same interests. Get out and find others with the same interests. The newspaper has lists of churches, events, clubs for many special interests, entertainment, all kinds of things. So a person can meet others if they put some effort into it. Now, I prefer country living, so no city life for me. But I lived in S.A. for many years before I moved out here.

[SimpleWill]

SA can be a wonderful city, as well, a underveloped wasteland at times. All encapsulating with a very small town feel. Advatage, great place to raise a family. Disadvantage, little advancement due to lack of challenge to the norms. ie. good old boy system still very much alive. The city is really all about fitting in..either you do or you don't. So, it's really up to you what your experience will be. Just keep an open mind.

[Merovee]

Originally Posted by SweethomeSanAntonio

Yea.... Austin is the college town that has less universities and less college students than S.A.

Austin is a college town. University life there is at the core. It is an integral part of their downtown.

Here it is an afterthought and it is nothing more than a fringe element at best in our downtown though most would admit that is giving us too much credit.

Austin events like SXSW which are hugely popular among college students. We have....Oyster Bake. Well let's move on.

The Huffington Post listed Austin as the 8th best college town in the US.

10 Excellent College Towns: Unigo List

Using data from college review site Unigo, the publication ranked cities according to offerings considered desirable to college students. Austin was lauded for having plenty of entertainment options, from 6th Street to South Congress and Barton Springs.

Austin 8th best college town in U.S. | Austin Business Journal

The American Institute for Economic Research ranked Austin as the 2nd best college town for medium sized cities.

The American Institute for Economic Research ranked the Texas state capital the second best place for students in mid-sized cities, out of more than 222 considered in the index. Rather than focusing on a specific school's performance, the study analyzes indicators related to the city including:

Austin second best college town, study says | Austin Business Journal

Bloomberg Businessweek ranked Austin the 5th best town for college graduates.

Best Cities for New College Grads: Advice for Jobseekers: Head South - BusinessWeek

The following is a list of college towns in Texas. As in all the above lists, San Antonio is missing, not because anyone is denying the truth but simply because San Antonio is not a college town. The difference is that Austin, like other college towns, has a population that is dominated by its university population, which defines it as a city.

College town - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[rbrivard]

Hello, I am 30 and can tell you that if you have a choice pick Austin. I have lived in San Antonio since i was in elementary and can tell you anything you want. Some people are correct to say that church or a nightlife will get you friends fast but having a job should help you find many quality friends fast. The people are friendly as far as if you greet them they will say hello and hold the door for you. When your car stops forget about friendly (someone will eventually help but not usually right away). There is not much open late except on weekends and that is still in the bar/club areas only. It gets very hot here (summer can start in late march) and the heat is usually no lower than 80+ from mid march thru November....or later. You get 100+ degrees lasting up to 30 to 60 days and it is very humid. I find it hard to get from my door to the car b4 I sweat in the summer. If you are active stay away.....we were the fatest city a few years ago and still high ranking (too hot to go out and excersice). Dirty looking downtown, old rundown areas around downtown, horrible about fixing roads quickly, everything is spread out (expect to drive 20000-30000 miles a year at the least just going around the city for day to day activities). That being said there are many good qualities such as inexpensive to live, good food, culture (for someone new at least), great towns within 1hr drive (especially the hill country twisting road views). Austin has better jobs, cleaner looking, amazing downtown, people exercise (bikes everywhere) and better city events. Need more info let me know (I have a family now so I have 2 view points of this city I will be leaving soon)

[SweethomeSanAntonio]

Originally Posted by Merovee

Austin is a college town. University life there is at the core. It is an integral part of their downtown.

Here it is an afterthought and it is nothing more than a fringe element at best in our downtown though most would admit that is giving us too much credit.

Austin events like SXSW which are hugely popular among college students. We have....Oyster Bake. Well let's move on.

The Huffington Post listed Austin as the 8th best college town in the US.

10 Excellent College Towns: Unigo List

Austin 8th best college town in U.S. | Austin Business Journal

The American Institute for Economic Research ranked Austin as the 2nd best college town for medium sized cities.

Austin second best college town, study says | Austin Business Journal

Bloomberg Businessweek ranked Austin the 5th best town for college graduates.

Best Cities for New College Grads: Advice for Jobseekers: Head South - BusinessWeek

The following is a list of college towns in Texas. As in all the above lists, San Antonio is missing, not because anyone is denying the truth but simply because San Antonio is not a college town. The difference is that Austin, like other college towns, has a population that is dominated by its university population, which defines it as a city.

College town - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

They also tout San Antonio a lot for it's strenghts. I saw one the other day stating San Antonio is one of the top cities luring college grads. I'll look for the link. College towns are usually smaller towns and Austin is slowly losing that identity because it is getting bigger.

If UTSA Loop 1604 campus was downtown, then San Antonio would be considred somewhat of a college town. UTSA North including it's downtown campus is fast approaching 40,000 students.

[Merovee]

Totally in agreement with that. I hear Austin is quickly making suburbs out of the once rural communities that surround it but I doubt it is going to lose its status as a college town because of it anytime soon. On another note I also hear that Austin has worse roads than we do as far as their state of disrepair.

In San Antonio, I have desired for some time that our city should focus on turning downtown into a magnet of higher education, build more things devoted to that, instead of building more hotels, conference centers, and tourist destinations.

Anyways, one day I envision a San Austin, when our two cities combine to become one continuous population center, a conurbation, with one being able to travel from one end to the other without using an expressway or highway and never having to leave an urban environment. I believe the current forecast is that Texas will double in population within 50 years so we shall see how that affects the SA-Austin corridor.

[scuba steve]

Originally Posted by SweethomeSanAntonio

They also tout San Antonio a lot for it's strenghts. I saw one the other day stating San Antonio is one of the top cities luring college grads. I'll look for the link. College towns are usually smaller towns and Austin is slowly losing that identity because it is getting bigger.

If UTSA Loop 1604 campus was downtown, then San Antonio would be considred somewhat of a college town. UTSA North including it's downtown campus is fast approaching 40,000 students.

I think UTSA has a pretty large non traditional population. If the campus were downtown it'd be like U of H imo.