<p>Actually, I'm not sure why the knock against Middletown? For a graduate student the place would seem almost ideal; unlike Princeton, NJ or Palo Alto, CA (practically gated communities as far as I'm concerned) the housing in Middletown is affordable and well within walking distance of campus; there are a variety of places to eat that fit within a student's budget. And unlike Williamstown, MA or Hanover, NH--it's a real town. People live there. Soccer moms with strollers buy cosmetics on Main Street. There are drug stores, an Old Navy (called Bob's--but it's the same thing.) The crime rate is low; students have made it a habit of walking the streets at all hours of the morning (caution: you do have to be aware of your surroundings, as in any semi-urban environment.) I would think that a native of New Jersey from an "an ordinary middle-class family", like the OP, would be completely at home in a place like Middletown where a student is just as likely to live next door to the lady who punches their meal card in the dining hall as they may to a Pulitizer prize-winning professor.</p>