<p>I was wondering if anyone goes to a "good" college that is in a bad area. My friend goes to UPenn. And he says its smack down in the ghetto. I mean, he lives in fear of getting mugged. Another friend of mine goes to UCBerkeley and he says that place is infested with folks that might jack your laptop and steal your stuff. </p>
<p>Basically I wanna know if you guys can warn me of colleges with a rampant crime rate... coz I definitely dun wanna go there.</p>
<p>USC indeed,
it is what I occasionally got in my email. </p>
<p>CA2004-06 26 OCTOBER 2004</p>
<p>The USC Department of Public Safety wants you to know about crimes occurring in
our community. Informed citizens are better able to ensure their safety as
they go about their daily activities. The following information is provided
with your safety in mind.</p>
<p>ATTEMPTED SEXUAL ASSAULT - UPDATE</p>
<p>On Tuesday, October 26, 2004, at 11:45AM, a suspect entered the first floor
women's restroom at Harris Hall, School of Architecture, and grabbed a female
student from behind. The incident resulted in a struggle between the two. The
incident was interrupted by another female entering the restroom. The uspect
is described as a male Hispanic, early 20's, 5'5" to 5'8", approximately 170
lbs. He has black hair with a fade on the sides and his hair is spiked on top.
He was last seen wearing baggy blue jeans, white tennis shoes, white/blue plaid
shirt, blue sweatshirt or blue athletic jacket, and a black baseball cap with
an unknown logo.</p>
<p>If you have any information about these crimes, call the Department of Public
Safety at 740-4321 or LAPD Sexual Assault Investigations at (213) 473-4807.</p>
<p>The following information is provided to you for your safety.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>MOST IMPORTANT- BE AWARE. When walking, be aware of what is going on around
you. Walk assertively. If you look like you know where you are going and what
is happening around you, you are less likely to become a target for this type
of crime.</p></li>
<li><p>USE THE BUDDY SYSTEM. Do not study alone in classrooms during non-business
hours. If studying after hours is necessary, make sure that you have a study
partner.</p></li>
<li><p>Don't walk or travel alone, especially after dark. Ask a friend to walk or
ride with you to your car or residence. If you walk with someone, make sure you
wait for them to get inside before you leave. If you don't have anyone to walk
with, call for an escort. The USC Campus Cruiser, (213) 740-4911, will send an
escort to give you a ride or walk you to your car between 5 P.M. and dawn.</p></li>
<li><p>Trust your instincts. If something "feels wrong" (with a person, a
building, a situation, etc.), something probably is wrong. Even if you don't
know why you are uncomfortable, change your plans, move away from the person,
get out of the area - whatever is necessary to make the feeling go away.</p></li>
<li><p>If you feel like you are being followed stay in well lighted areas and go
into a building where there are other people such as a store or restaurant. If
these aren't available, join a group of people and ask them to walk with you
until it is safe.</p></li>
<li><p>Know the locations of the Emergency Phones (phones outside will have a blue
light on top).</p></li>
<li><p>Report Suspicious Activity. If you see a person who is acting suspiciously
or some type of activity that doesn't look right, or you feel like you are
being followed, call USC Public Safety immediately and report it. Call
740-4321, to report a crime in progress or suspicious people or activity.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>UNIVERSITY PARK CAMPUS</p>
<p>Luckily USC has extremely low crime rates on campus (I heard somewhere in the bottom 5 or something). And basically a lot of off-campus crimes can be prevented if you 1) don't go out alone at night, 2) be aware of your surroundings, and 3) don't just mosey around at night.</p>
<p>I'm sorry your UPenn friend feels that way. That can't be fun. I, for one, don't live in fear. Yeah, sure, if I was walking alone at night I would be nervous, but I don't do that, so I feel pretty comfortable. Luckily, I love enough about the school and area that I don't let that affect me. </p>
<p>I also think it's good that USC and DPS (Department of Public Safety) keep us so well-informed. They make sure we are aware of what is going on, and are constantly making improvements, which I think is great.</p>
<p>Howard- I think if you basically follow the tips given in the notice above, then it's alright going to a school in a less-than-stellar area. It shouldn't have to make you change your mind about where you want to go to school.</p>
<p>uschicka...most Penn kids don't live in fear, and believe me, University City is <em>not</em> the ghetto...not even close.</p>
<p>IF your friend thinks University City is the ghetto, he's way too rich for his own good, and I would like to marry him and then divorce him so I can get alimony. </p>
<p>Penn is NOT that scary. It's not really <em>scary</em> at all, unless you've never seen a city before, and thus have no clue what you're doing. So far I've gone all three years without being mugged, beaten, raped, robbed or killed (knock on wood). </p>
<p>God. (Sorry that's just an attitude that really bugs me.)</p>
<p>RRRR. Tell your friend to go back to Malibu.</p>
<p>usc in bad area? maybe...but please. check out the campuses at nyu, columbia, yale, uchicago, ucb, upenn, bu, princeton, drexel and other urban schools before passing judgement so qucik. my uncle went to uchicago and got mugged. </p>
<p>howardini, dont be paranoid. it bothers me too that people find places like these so "unbearable" and "ghetto". like most normal people, i grew up in places like these when i was a little kid. if you dont like "ghettos", stay away from urban schools.</p>
<p>Amen.</p>
<p>Usually if an area is known to not be in the most beautiful or affluent of areas, it's "horrors" are exaggerated. You should check out the schools you are interested in, even if they aren't in the greatest of areas. You'll find they aren't that bad.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info guys. My friend in UPenn did get mugged. And so maybe he is exaggerating. But still, it happened. I'm just on the watch out for my safety. I live in a gated community in Southern California- of course I'm paranoid about the city. In the Californian suburbs, downtown LA is considered a very dangerous place. I guess we "rich spoiled brats" are not "thuggish" enough to survive the streets.</p>
<p>University of Cincinnati takes the cake as being the worst area of any campus I have ever seen. But alas, most big city schools tend to be in bad areas of town because apartment rent tends to be cheaper, drawing not the mostr desireable crowd.</p>
<p>uchicago is located near the projects however a lot of effort has been made to distance the University from the projects thats why there is that noticeable gap.</p>
<p>"check out the campuses at nyu, columbia, yale, uchicago, ucb, upenn, bu, princeton, drexel and other urban schools "</p>
<p>Princeton...urban?
More like a small wealthy town...don't know how that can be equated to philly.</p>
<p>You can drop Princeton out. Add beautiful to Pimpdaddy's description.</p>
<p>As to "unsafe areas" outside of the college campus: VCU, Drexel, Cincinnati. How's that for a start?</p>
<p>usc is in the heart of the 'hood'</p>
<p>usc is in the heart of downtown, loser. not the 'hood'. the closet hood is korea town. ya those koreans are really scary and intimidating...sike. if you think its so hood, dont ever go near urban america. or youll get mugged and tossed, faster than you can say hood. criminals pick on those with no wits about them. its easy to spot the ones scared and stupid. real easy. in fact, most of the criminals are our fans, sad but mostly true.</p>
<p>i have yet to hear of somebody i know getting hurt, or even scared.</p>
<p>Proton- I think he does know something about USC, considering he goes there.</p>
<p>USC is a mile or two south of downtown. We are not in Watts, or anywhere that people like to claim. We are in a lower-income community. This does not mean that every person is a criminal. It means that there are many minorities, and many people who work very hard to support their families.</p>
<p>yes, i think i do know a little something about my school. just speaking the truth, buddy.</p>
<p>Where exactly is USC? I live in Socal and I have no idea... I'm so uninformed. But from what I hear USC doesn't sound too bad of a neighborhood... =)</p>
<p>Do you know Figueroa St (Staples Ctr, etc, is on it)? That's a main street that it's on. It's basically a few miles south of Downtown and a little west. Right off the 110 at Exposition or Adams. Considering you may not even know any of the streets, that probably wasn't any help, :) but basically just south of Downtown.</p>