<p>This happens to be a common question around my area now that it is getting a little closer to the time when we must decide where to send our kids to school. I think their safety is always appropiate conversation. and I hope more add to it.</p>
<p>By the way, I forgot to add,</p>
<p>University of Memphis, very rough
University of Mississippi, pretty nice</p>
<p>Yale. Rutgers. Penn.</p>
<p>I agree with UMD. I applied there and my parents have told me that I’m not allowed to go regardless of the admissions decision. College park is always in the news</p>
<p>Absolutely, the negative perspectives about Columbia and the Morningside Heights neighborhood are quite stale. If given the opportunity, thousands of NY families with children would move to Morningside Heights, part of the Upper West Side [probably one of most family-friendly areas of NYC]. And it’s only going to get better with Columbia’s new mega-campus plan that will extend the campus all the way up into the 130th Street environs. Heck, newcomers are nearly fighting to get into new and renovated [and a bit pricey] buildings not far from Columbia in Harlem.</p>
<p>huntcolleges, I’ve been to a lot of those schools on your list and I am puzzled with your list, especially OSU, Northwestern, Illinois, Wisconsin, Kentucky and Purdue. I agree that U of Chicago can seem a little rough, but it really wasn’t that bad and I walked around the neighborhood(not that close to campus really) at night and was perfectly fine. </p>
<p>How is OSU a “PIT”? I thought the surrounding area was ideal if you liked big urban schools that still have a campus.</p>
<p>Duke University is in Durham, NC which is not one of the better towns in NC (Chapel Hill however is unfairly nice one of the greatest college towns). Fordham university is also in the Bronx i believe. Also in reply to the above poster Northwestern is in Evanston which is in a bad neighborhood only according to people who live in winnetka.</p>
<p>UMASS: Lowell. 6-8 kids died my first semester. Another got stabbed in the neck and survived-- on campus. Living off-campus, a drug addict broke into my apartment in the middle of the night. He might have been the same guy who later smashed my window and stole my laptop. My car got stolen on a Sunday afternoon (locked doors), my bike got stolen (chained up), and someone tried to jump into my car on my way home from work. </p>
<p>It was a fun city, regardless. Lots to do. Lots of history.</p>
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<p>Pretty uninformed. The University of Minnesota Twin Cities is actually two campuses. The Saint Paul campus, where biosciences are located, is in a very nice upscale neighborhood, actually one of the nicest neighborhoods in Saint Paul. The Minneapolis campus (liberal arts, engineering, med school, law school, business school) is a sprawling area, probably at least a square mile in size, straddling the Mississippi River. Immediately to the east of the East Bank part of this campus is Prospect Park, one of the nicest residential neighborhoods in Minneapolis. To the northwest of the East Bank campus (confusing, I know) is Dinkytown, a thriving student-oriented commercial and residential area. The West Bank campus is in the Seward neighborhood, a funky-but-attractive mixed income neighborhood populated by a mix of academics, grad students, and aging hippies, by no means a “bad neighborhood.” A couple of blocks from the far west end of the West Bank campus you’ll find some low-income high-rise buildings, heavily populated by Somalis and other East Africans. Although low-income, it’s not a particularly high crime area, though there have been some reports of organized criminal activity (drugs and prostitution) emerging in the Somali community. Those who are squeamish about urban life might feel uncomfortable straying too far from campus in that direction, but it’s easily avoided given what else surrounds the campus. To characterize the University of Minnesota as being in a “pretty bad neighborhood” is a gross distortion, at best.</p>
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<p>You must have a pretty bland frame of reference. Any time I have visited, the streets of Oakland were filled with students and people in scrubs.</p>
<p>I describe Pitt as “a city with training wheels”.</p>
<p>to rehash dozens of threads from the past, among the USNWR Top 30, the neighborhoods often mentioned as being run down and not safe at night for a student walking alone outside of the campus perimeter:</p>
<p>-Yale
-Chicago
-Penn
-Hopkins
-USC</p>
<p>weird but not unsafe at night: Berkeley</p>
<p>that to say, I doubt there is a campus in the Top 30 that doesn’t have a University Sponsored security escort for students walking at night across the campus to dorms, parking lots, etc. Night is not completely safe anywhere walking unescorted.</p>
<p>I live in Maryland a block from Johns’ Hopkins and yes the neighborhood is very ghetto. North avenue one of the worst areas of one of the worst cities. Someone said Loyola MD though and that is definitely not as bad as hopkins because it is not THAT close from the bad part of york road. but dont avoid a school if you like it because you want to get mugged. chance of it is very low if you keep some precaution.</p>
<p>Couple things: USC is in the hood. No question about it, that neighborhood is shady haha. Someone on the first page is right, the area outside of Columbia is fine now. And I didn’t think U Chicago seemed bad while I was there. Parts of Chicago near it are but the area immediately surrounding the campus seemed fine.</p>
<p>I live in Chicago and have been here all my life, I can tell you Don’t get caught off campus at University of Chicago. Robberies at gun point, Car jackings. murders, and if you go to the beach or museum, you better have eyes behind your head!
Northwestern is in evanston the campus is nice. but don’t go 2 blocks off of it.
I reiterate Ohio State A PIT. There was garbage everywhere. Totally run down. Couches in trees, I don’t know what you were looking at.
Purdue has a Ghetto right on campus.</p>
<p>^^^^Could you explain your definition of ghetto? Are you referring to areas with a lot of black people?</p>
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<p>This deserves some qualification. The Homewood Campus is sort of on the north side of the city. The area directly north of Johns Hopkins is VERY NICE. A lot of students live directly north of campus. The area to the east of campus has lots of apartments and is somewhat safe. It gets a bit rough as one moves east, but during the day I bet that it’s all pretty safe. </p>
<p>On the other hand, as one moves south things start to get more dangerous. </p>
<p>I’ve heard the medical campus is in a pretty bad area.</p>
<p>Hint of the day: Whenever people start adding tons of qualifying statements to things, odds are the college isn’t in that great of an area. Some examples:</p>
<p>No no, the area around the university is really quite nice! Just don’t go west of 5th Street or east of 2nd Street or north of Main Street or south of Jones Street.</p>
<p>I feel totally safe on campus! We have the largest security force in the country, and there are gunshot detectors all over the place, and we practice lockdown procedures and everything!</p>
<p>It’s totally safe for an urban university in a major metropolitan area.</p>
<p>As long as you go out in groups of 15 people between the hours of 9 AM and 4 PM, you’re fine!</p>
<p>Students don’t ever need to go off campus, because everything is on campus, and there is so much to do!</p>
<p>I would add Duke to DunninLA’s list. It is usually quite safe on campus, but it can get decidedly sketchy if you wander off campus at night.</p>
<p>I am surprised people would list U. Penn, U. Pitt and UVa as crime ridden areas. They must be from wonder-bread suburbs. Eeek, a minority!!!</p>
<p>Temple’s campus and the area frequented by students are relatively safe. Just don’t walk 10 blocks to the west or 10 blocks to the east.</p>
<p>I’ve read that Trinity College in Hartford is in a questionable neighborhood, but I haven’t seen it. There are several colleges in DC that are in questionable neighborhoods in the eastern half of the city.</p>
<p>Lake Washington: “negative perspectives about Columbia and the Morningside Heights neighborhood are quite stale. If given the opportunity, thousands of NY families with children would move to Morningside Heights”</p>
<pre><code> --encouraging!! Do you know anything specifically about 122nd and Broadway, what they call “Seminary Row” for a potential Columbia student? Thanks for all comments pro and con–
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<p>wow I am a parent reading everyone’s ratings and I have to say it is a little overwhelming when you are new to this. I have a son , freshman , at SUNY New Paltz.
Cute town , he finds it too country and loves the Bronx but we just couldn’t afford Fordham. Thinking of transferring to Temple, he did get accepted but never been to philly. New Paltz not real challenging but he is a fine arts major and wanted a college that has BFA but sports too. He turned down Pratt, though couldn’t afford that either, because there is no athletics. Anyone know anything about Temple.</p>
<p>If your son loves NY/city life then he should visit Philly though NYC it’s not. University City is bustling with neighbors Upenn and Drexel. Just use normal city precautions. Rich history, museums, restaurants, and always lots to do.</p>