<p>I'm a student from Holland and I'm going on exchange next year but I already have to select the university of my choice. Now, the problem is that I really don't know anything about the cities and student life at these universities as I've never been to the U.S., so I'm hoping you can help me with that.
The schools I can go to are:
U of M, Ann Arbor (This spot is not yet certain, so I don't know yet if I can go here for sure)
Ohio State at Columbus
UNC Chapel Hill
USC LA
UT, Austin
UW, Seattle</p>
<p>I hope you guys can make my decision a bit easier</p>
<p>What type of experience are you looking for? Big, small? College town or urban center?</p>
<p>Texas, Michigan, OSU and Washington are very large schools >24,000 students. UNC is a little smaller with USC being the smallest with fewer than 15,000 undergrads. Austin and Ann Arbor are recognized as great college towns, you could have a good time in either without having to leave town, though there is more to do in Austin. If you’re into outdoor activities then Seattle offers the benefits of big city attractions with mountains nearby (of your choices, the weather in Seattle is probably most similar to that of Holland). Los Angeles is a massive city in sunny California, for many Europeans it is the stereotypical US city. USC is right downtown LA, though you’d still want access to a car to experience all of the city and the area.</p>
<p>Personally if I were choosing I’d look for an opportunity that not only benefited me academically but one where I could also explore/experience some of the things that America has to offer. I’d lean toward Austin or LA, but you need to decide what kind of experience you want.</p>
<p>Yeah of course, I mean academics are important as well but it’s not everything and next to that, they’re all pretty good schools (at least according to the rankings). I’m not quite sure what college towns in America are like, as we don’t really have towns with 40/50% student populations in Europe (max is around 25%).</p>
<p>Personally, I’d love to see the Rocky Mountains or the beaches in California, but I’m not sure whether I’ll like LA, certainly as I don’t have a car when visiting. I also really want to experience the whole “college sports” vibe, but sports are a big factor at most schools in my list right? </p>
<p>I also have another question that I want to ask, although it may seem strange to you. I’m wondering about the crime in those cities, as most crime rates (especially violent and gun-related) are higher than here in Europe. So therefore I’d like to know whether the cities and student neighborhoods are kind of safe.</p>
<p>It is important to remember the sheer scale of the US. You can start at one end of California and drive 70 miles an hour (112 KPH) for 12 hours and still be in California. To fully experience any of these locations you’re going to want to have access to a car at some point. That may be a roommate or a rental but ultimately you’ll have a better experience if you can get out and drive.</p>
<p>A good college town in the US is more than the population percentage of the students, it’s about the city/town recognizing that they need to have entertainment and services that students will use and can afford. Austin and Ann Arbor both do that very well; I don’t have extensive experience with the other cities so I can’t comment. That said, without a car, Michigan, OSU and UNC will feel like islands where you’ll have to find most of your fun right in town. Austin is the state capital of Texas and offers a wider range of activities but you’re still going to be limited to public transportation in Austin.</p>
<p>Seattle and Los Angeles are big cities with all the benefits and problems that entails. There is public transport in Seattle that will get you into the city, but getting into the mountains will have to be something organized by clubs on campus. LA is an exciting vibrant place with absolutely horrendous public transportation. That said there are probably clubs at USC that will get you to the beach and the mountains for skiing.</p>
<p>Ann Arbor, Chapel Hill, Columbus and Austin are, comparatively speaking, in the middle of nowhere. Your outside experiences are going to center around campus or you’re going to be having to spend cash on airplane tickets to visit other areas. The same is true in Seattle and LA, at least if you want to go to the Rockies, but in both of those places there are nearby attractions that hopefully clubs on campus will get you some access to.</p>
<p>As far as crime goes, each university/city is different; regardless of where you go you’re going to need to develop some “street smarts” to keep yourself safe. Each city is going to have areas that you’re going to want to avoid or at least only visit if you’re with a group of people. That said, the US isn’t nearly as violent as some Europeans believe. I live in Ann Arbor and feel perfectly safe walking around at night. The area around USC can be problematic if you go too far in the wrong direction or if you are unaware of your surroundings.</p>
<p>As for sports, (American) football is king in the US; for the college football experience you’d want Michigan, OSU, Texas or USC (though games in the LA Colosseum are oddly boring). For basketball, UNC; for ice hockey nothing beats Michigan.</p>
<p>I’m taking it that you are a student at Michigan? If so, do you get out of town a lot?
I’ll probably rent a car and maybe even will fly to some places I’d like to visit. Im wondering though how Austin still has that college town feeling as the city is pretty big.
Have you lived in both cities?</p>
<p>Seattle probably will give you the best Rocky feeling than any of those other schools you are looking at. It is surrounded by mountains, skiing and rock climbing are first class and they are very accessable. Overall, it is a “safer” city compared to LA, but with the benefit of a metropolitan area. It also has an European feeling compare to the wild wild west of UT Austin. The draw back is that it rains a lot during the winter, hence the skiing opportunities.</p>
<p>Why would you choose for UNC? I’m kind of leaning towards Seattle, Austin and maybe U Mich and USC. I have a feeling that I’ll find UNC too small to have a great experience there, but I could be wrong of course.</p>
<p>1) U of M, Ann Arbor - Best school out of the group. Amazing place to study and amazing academics.
2) UNC Chapel Hill - Good school academically. Good location, although yoiu have to be willing to tolerate the south and its “culture.”
3) USC - It is a good school and you will be close to the real world (unlike UNC or Michigan).<br>
4) UT, Austin - Well known for sports, but decent academics. Austin is a great city and doesn’t feel like you are in Texas, thankfully.
5) UW, Seattle - Seattle is one of my favorite cities, but UW is not as great a school as the others. If you are artsy though, UW is a great choice.
6) Ohio State at Columbus - This should easily be last on your list. The school is known more for football than academics. It is a large university in Ohio. There is less to do than the other school on your list outside of school life in Columbus. The school has some decent programs, but it is inferior to the other schools you are looking at. Did I mention it is in Ohio?</p>
<p>informative - I find your comment about needing to tolerate the south and its culture to be ignorant. I have lived in three of the six states that are options for the OP and I would say that they represent five different cultures (I consider Michigan and Ohio to be very similar) and experiencing a different culture is really the point of an exchange program. And FWIW, the Research Triangle area that includes Chapel Hill is culturally very far from the old deep south culture that it sounds like you fear. Just because Chapel Hill is a college town and not a major metropolis, do not make the mistake of assuming it is a backwater. Also, how is USC closer to the real world than UNC or Michigan? If anything, since it is the only private school on the list I think you can infer that it would struggle to have a student body that is as representative of its region as the other schools. Frankly, I think these are all great schools that offer tremendous academic opportunities. In my mind the criteria that should be important to the OP should be mostly about what part of our country the OP wants to experience.</p>
<p>USC is closer to the “real world” because we’re located in a poorer area and the majority of students are very active in volunteer activities in the surrounding neighborhoods, tutoring at elementary schools etc. in other words, we aren’t isolated in that college “bubble”. being a private school doesn’t really change the student demographic THAT much. if anything, it makes us more diverse with students from all over the USA and actually internationally (we have the most int’l students out of any school in the nation). we also have the most pell grant recipients of any private university so we have the spectrum of socioeconomic classes represented.</p>
<p>josebiwasabi - I applaud any volunteer activity, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that USC is unique in having that. All of these schools have student organizations that do similar work in their communities. And I question how applicable that tidbit would be to the OP who would only be attending school in the US for one semester. And being a private school really does skew the demographics quite a bit. I couldn’t find USC’s common data set, but I would bet well over half of the student body is receiving no financial aid which means over half of the student body can afford to spend over $200,000 for their college education. That is not representative of the population of the area and it certainly is not the case for the other schools which are all public. Yes, USC has financial aid for less privileged students (and has the most pell grants of private universities partially because it is one of the largest private universities with 17,000 undergrads), but my point is that the distribution of its student body is not representative of the overall population for its region and thus less of a “real world” experience for someone living in a region for a few months.</p>
<p>cltdad:
of course all universities do volunteer work. but i would bet that a higher percentage of USC students regularly participate regularly compared to the vast majority of schools. i would like to emphasize the poverty in the surrounding area, where the average family income is around 20-30k per year.</p>
<p>Your link on pell grants has a short list which is insufficient evidence to back up your claim of highest %. It is just the highest % for private schools on this short list. Furthermore, this list has 24 private schools and USNWR ranks 21 of them as better than USC in “Economic Diversity” which is really the issue that I was addressing rather than just how many “poor” are on campus. Again, USC is in laudable company being on the list, it just isn’t as superlative as you seem to be claiming.</p>
<p>Your link on FA states “60 percent of students at USC receive some type of financial assistance”. This is not the same thing as need based financial aid because this includes scholarships which are not awarded based upon need. Clicking through to the scholarships available it looks like something like a quarter of the students at USC must be getting some level of scholarship. Again, this is a great thing for USC to offer, but many of those scholarship students would still be classified as upper middle class or wealthy and not eligible for financial aid. Therefore, I stand by my guess that over half of the students can afford a $200,000 education and this does not reflect the demographics of southern California as a whole. Even if all of the scholarship students were need based, 40% of the student body being able to afford $200,000 is still far beyond the demographics for the area as a whole.</p>
<p>In which states did you live if you don’t mind me asking? And what were the better/worse sides of each one? Did you by any chance also spend time in the cities where the universities are located?</p>
<p>Josebiwasabi:</p>
<p>Can you perhaps tell me more about student life at USC. Is the surrounding area really that bad? And do most students live in or around campus? Im also wondering if there are specific areas in LA where all students go, to go out and just hang out.</p>