<p>Muhlenberg is a wonderful, inviting, school with lots to offer. This post isn't about the school: when we visited both my child and I liked it a lot. I have nothing but good things to say about it.</p>
<p>But, we came early for our appointment and drove around looking for a place to eat, or hang out, or a college town or even a college "street" and encountered.... downtown Allentown. </p>
<p>The place tore my heart. It was one of the most run down, depressing places I've ever been in and I've visited a lot of run down towns in this country. Honestly, it tore my heart. But... it also made me seriously think whether I want my child to go to 'Berg. There seemed like nowhere close to the school, off campus where students would or could go for a meal or to shop or explore.</p>
<p>The best alternatives our tour guide was able to offer (other than the Fairground Farmer's Market) where students can go when off campus was a nearby mall with nothing but the usual big box stores and big chain, characterless, healthy eating places. My oldest daughter went to Colgate so believe me, I wasn't not looking for or asking for lots of alternatives. Hamilton has about one block and seemingly very little to offer, but she was never at a loss for alternatives. But...what there was in walking distance from Colgate in Hamilton was charming, safe and inviting. Allentown is...not.</p>
<p>I'd really like to like Muhlenberg and let my daughter consider it, but imho, college should be more than the dorms. the campus, the (impressive) Arts Center and fitness facilities. Where do 'Berg students go or hang out if they leave campus? Is there any college town, any off campus scene?</p>
<p>Within walking distance is a plaza with a few restaurants- including Panera, Outback Steakhouse, a grocery store, pharmacy etc. As a freshman my D did not leave campus too much. She has been very busy with performance related things and when she wanted to leave campus she utilized the campus shuttle to go the mall, or Trivet, one of the favorite diners. As she came to know students with cars they would go into Bethlehem for breakfast. There are a couple of bars within walking distance of campus, and a fairly nice breakfast place called Syb’s deli.
Because she has been so busy, and Allentown is close to other cities it really has not been an issue for her. </p>
<p>She is a senior now, and is right now driving across the country so she will have a car for this, her last semester. But even without a car she has been happy there.</p>
<p>mhc: based on our personal experience, and visit, it looks like you looked in the wrong direction…literally…the other direction on Tighman has a ton of stuff (albeit surburban)…no, it’s not like a “college town”, but most LAC’s are not…if you get a chance to visit again, as I said, go the other way…Wegman’s, park areas, interesting restaurants…</p>
<p>also, I linked another thread to the Saucony Valley? (can’t remember the exact name; menopause stinks) area with an outside walking area with very cute stores/restaurants/etc…accesible by cab or van…</p>
<p>The promenade shops of Saucon Valley is what I think you are thinking of Rodney. And the campus shuttle will drop students off there and pick them up when they are ready. It has a nice movie theater, and some great restaurants.</p>
<p>I have to agree with the OP that we had the same reaction to Allentown, and D ultimately did not accept Muhlenberg’s offer of admissions despite receiving their highest level merit scholarship and knowing that the school offered an excellent program. </p>
<p>My husband travels the country and has seen many urban blighted areas…and Allentown was up there as one of the worse. The last of our 3 visits was during a hot weekend in late spring and we saw a naked man taking a shower in what appeared to be a fountain or open hydrant in broad day light. There were obvious hookers and drug addicts hanging on the corners. Unfortunately, those were the only people we saw out on a Saturday afternoon in downtown “Main Street.” We are from NYC, so it is not like we haven’t seen our share of drug addicts and prostitutes…but they are balanced with other signs of life. In downtown Allentown, those were the only residents in sight. Very sad.</p>
<p>We did drive in the other direction, as other posters described. There was a mall and some strip centers with restaurants that seemed fine, but considering the relatively small size of the school and the limits of the surrounding area, it was not the right fit for my D.</p>
<p>We do know man people who are very happy there, but they are content with staying on campus for the most part.</p>
<p>I live about a block from Muhlenberg in the west end of Allentown. Our downtown is not perfect, however, it’s not an area of urban blight either. My husband works downtown and there are not hookers and drug dealers hanging out on corners. For the record, it’s not Main Street but Hamilton Street. At 9th & Hamilton, there’s PPL, a Fortune 500 company, along with the Butz Company and Allentown Brew Works, a great restaurant. I drive into downtown quite often to bank and go to the library and there’s no reason to be afraid. Also, Allentown has one of the largest park systems in the state. Muhlenberg is very close to one. The campus is beautiful.</p>
<p>D is a junior in high school; we didn’t turn right (although me thinkin that we better next time…that would surely freak her out…and like uskoolfish, she spends ALOT of time in NYC…)</p>
<p>she would be content with staying on campus for the most part…</p>
<p>FYI, haven’t heard this type of discussion about Bethlehem next door (Lehigh) yet we found that to be very depressed as well…</p>
<p>Rodney, Bethlehem is in better shape than Allentown. Their downtown is very historic and has great shops and restaurants. Lehigh is located on the south side of Bethlehem. That area is undergoing a renovation since the Sands Casino is now in what used to be a Bethlehem Steel plant. Both Lehigh & Muhlenberg are good schools. Muhlenberg is excellent for musical theater. They have a wonderful summer musical theater series every year.</p>
<p>roni: yes, we know alot of kids at Lehigh…daughter’s profile would not “fit” there though, but I always thought it was interesting how people never discussed Bethlehem per se on the Lehigh forum…</p>
<p>On a Saturday at about 11 am there was nothing going on in Allentown except people hanging on corners. And they were clearly dressed like hookers. No one else appeared to be out except the homeless. I put “Main Street” in quotes since I did not remember the street’s name.</p>
<p>I am sure that during the mid-week there is more going on, but there is no doubt about what we saw on the weekend. We drove past on Sunday, as well, and there was more of the same. Sorry, but that was definitely an area affected by a major economic downturn and I did not see any sign of recovery. </p>
<p>Perhaps mid-week things are very different as people commute to the area for jobs. But the people who were left on weekends were not who you would want your child to associate with. (And that was in the broad daylight!) Not sure what the transportation issue is at Muhlenberg, but I can tell you that I would hesitate to let my D go to downtown during the weekend if that is the hub for travel.</p>
<p>As I stated that was our 3rd visit to Muhlenberg and we saw what the other side of town had to offer. The campus is beautiful and struck me as safe. But I can’t see how “ronib” can argue that Allentown has not seen urban blight.</p>
<p>Let’s see uskoolfish, you visited all of three times. I’ve only lived here over 30 years. I have never seen hookers on the streets. Near the downtown area are poor neighborhoods where people do not dress they way what you’re used to. The city has a large hispanic population. And yes, Allentown has been affected by economic hard times starting back in the 80’s as most smaller East coast cities have. Allentown is very similar to Reading, Lancaster, Easton, etc. It sounds like you’re looking for a suburban campus.</p>
<p>OK…no hookers or drug addicts in Allentown. Sorry to offend you.</p>
<p>I grew up in Brooklyn, NY. My husband and I have worked in NYC (or nearby) for the last 30 years. My husband is in commercial real estate and travels through out the US, doing a lot of urban-area leasing and working on urban-renewal projects in places like Newark, the Bronx, New Orleans, etc.</p>
<p>D currently is attending school at NYU, not a suburban campus. She came close to attending Barnard, which is in a very multi-racial/ethnic…yet vibrant community.</p>
<p>I was not shocked by seeing Hispanics as you imply.</p>
<p>What I saw was hookers and a smattering of homeless men, with one showering naked.</p>
<p>Well Allentown is lot safer than NYC. It’s just very annoying to read about my city from someone who’s been here all of three times. Unfortunately, what you saw could be seen in a lot of poorer cities these days. Your original post to me sounded like someone who came from a posh suburb not Brooklyn. My husband has spent the last 25 years trying to improve Allentown which has not been easy with the Reagan years in the 80’s, the influx of New Yorkers who are poor but find it cheaper to live here, and the general downturn in the economy. I live near Muhlenberg and most of their students are hanging out on campus or in the west end which is beautiful.</p>
<p>I understand your perspective and like the original poster, was saddened that Allentown has seen better days. As you said, it is like many other small cities throughout the country (particularly in the northeast), which for the last 30 or so years have been hit by the economic downturn, etc. My hats off to your husband who has tried to help ease the situation.</p>
<p>The original poster, like I, expected that the downtown area might offer options for college students in terms of restaurants and shopping and that is just not the case. It appears that if you are attending Muhlenberg, your activites are centered on campus life and you also have access to retail/restaurants on the west side of campus.</p>
<p>As I stated, we were struck with how deserted Allentown was on the weekend and who was hanging around. To me it seemed unsafe because of how abandoned it was and because the only people around seemed unsavory.</p>
<p>I am happy that you understand that it was not a reaction to it being a Hispanic or a poorer area.</p>
<p>Yes, NYC can be unsafe and there are no guarantees wherever you go. Since I knew my daughter was looking for more of an urban environment to begin with, when we went into the downtown area, it was clear that it would not fit the bill of a place she could expect to hang out in. We were hoping for the kind of vibe that Middletown, CT (Wesleyan) or even Waltham, MA (Brandeis) offered.</p>
<p>Not every college is a fit for every student. Muhlenberg came close, but my D ultimately wanted a bigger school that was part of a bigger community with more places to explore nearby campus.</p>
<p>It was never my intention to just randomly trash Allentown. I was being honest by recalling what I had seen and felt the right to agree with someone who reacted as I did.</p>
<p>Actually, there are good restaurants downtown but I honestly don’t know if Muhlenberg students frequent them. It’s funny you mentioned Middletown which I consider to be the classic funky college town. It’s a lot smaller than Allentown but has a great range of restaurants. My daughter has applied there even though her original criteria for colleges was a location in a big city. She really liked the people at Wesleyan. I kept telling her she shouldn’t limit herself to schools located in big cities. For once, mom was right, a rarity with my daughter.</p>
<p>It was not my intention, ronib, to start or now to perpetuate a discussion disparaging Allentown, the people who live there or those who have its interests at heart. I will say only that I’ve been to a lot of Rustbelt, depressed cities in the US and a number of those close by which you mentioned (we had in fact, come from two of them on the trip which triggered this thread). None of them evoked the dismaying feelings I or my daughter experienced in Allentown. </p>
<p>We very much liked Muhlenberg. In part that was why we explored, both before and after visiting, what life would be like attending school there. As I mentioned, my other daughter was in Hamilton NY and my son is now in Ann Arbor for school. Both are idyllic in their own ways but both have nearby areas not so idyllic. My daughter did volunteer work with children in depressed Utica and my son works with kids in Yipsilanti. I think that as well as where a school is, is part of the whole experience. It was part of the experience for me in the Sixties when I lived in the then very much un-gentrified, multi-racial East Village of New York. It’s important for kids to see both sides, to realize how close poverty, loss of jobs, and health problems, is to all of us. So I’m not looking only for a school for my daughter that isolates her from the reality of life.</p>
<p>That said, I was dismayed by the rundown almost hopeless, look of homes, businesses and people we saw in Allentown which we hadn’t seen in other places. But we’ll try to go back in the Spring and take another look, both in the other direction and for a second look at some of the places mentioned by you and others in this thread. That’s why I posted asking about it: not to disparage, but to get the other side of the picture we might have missed.</p>
<p>Mhc49 I think it is a valid concern. If your D would get bored without having lots of places to walk from campus it might not be a good fit.</p>
<p>I do want to point out that one really nice things about Muhlenberg is that there are opportunities for students to make a difference in the lives of nearby residents. At Halloween local kids come trick or treat in the dorms, and before winter break there is an opportunity for the kids to “adopt” a local child and give them a Christmas gift. Although my D is not involved in greek life I know that several of the sororities and frats get involved in charities that help the local community. In Freshman year in October my D slept outside in a cardboard box as part of a project to teach students about the plight of the homeless. Although many of the students at Muhlenberg come from upper middle class backgrounds, having less fortunate people living nearby is a reminder that all is not safe and wonderful and fair out there. It can be seen as an opportunity as well as a detraction.</p>
<p>That said, hope you come back in the spring, and walk to Syb’s for a bagel. If you are there on Thurs- Sat go to the Farmer’s Market. It has a very friendly feel to it. In December my D and her friends sang carols there after singing in a nearby nursing home. They were very pleased to get free lunch!</p>
<p>Oh, and I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this to you or not, but a couple of times a semester the students have a chance to take a chartered bus into Manhattan and see a show. There is also regular bus service, not from the downtown area, I might add…but from near Dorney Park into Port Authority.</p>
<p>I’ve walked around downtown Allentown by myself a few times and have never felt unsafe- and I’d be easy prey (small white girl). We did just have a lockdown because of an armed robbery… but that happened three times to me in high school (in a mostly-white middle-class suburban area). I think Allentown is fine. Most people don’t really go off-campus all that much anyway.</p>