I read the Temple surrounds some of the worst ghettos around. Some people play it off and say that it’s fine, you just can’t walk around alone at night, and need to “be wary of your surroundings”. Honestly, that worries me. I want to feel safe at night, alone, and just in general on and around campus. Any thoughts? Thanks so much
You can get on-campus crime statistics by Googling " crime statistics". That will help you find standard security reports for each school.
@intparent thanks, but I really am looking for a personal perspective. Not just the campus but surrounding as well
My son attends Temple (transfer student) and lives off-campus. There’s no denying that there are some scary areas nearby, but he lives with female house-mates, and they seem to have a pretty active night-life. He knows which blocks feel safer to walk along, and when. His bank account and card have been hacked, but that happens everywhere. He has had a phone pickpocketed on the train, but that occurred before he had moved up to Temple neighborhood. He and some friends were held up at toy-gunpoint (yes, it turned out to be a toy gun) in a “safe” neighborhood near the Old City/“Gayborhood” downtown. The robbers were apprehended shortly thereafter.
Philly is safer now than it was in the 70s-90s, but the crime rate has not fallen the way NYC’s or LA’s have. It reminds me of NYC in the '70s and '80s. Philly is a vibrant city, with an exciting cultural life, and much, much more affordable for young, creative people than NYC, SF, LA, or even Boston are. There is a price and attendant risk for that.
My husband attended Columbia as an undergraduate, and UVA for graduate school. His apartment in picturesque Charlottesville was burglarized, whereas his NYC apartment never was (in college, or later).
The recent epidemic of heroin abuse in suburban and rural, predominantly white, communities has been accompanied by a rise in crimes (primarily property crimes, but violent ones are also increasing) in hitherto “safe” areas. I honestly believe that students at urban colleges are at least as safe as their peers elsewhere. The principal reason is that they are much, much less dependent on cars for transportation, and are therefore at far lower risk of drunk or distracted driving. I also think that the urban environment can offer more diversions, leading to less binge-drinking and drug abuse. Kids who have the chance to nurse a beer at a club where they can hear live music are less likely to chug a bottle of grain alcohol. Students who have a wealth of concerts, plays, sports events, et al, might be less likely to seek out chemical entertainment. I might be wrong about that, but it seemed true for my friends and me in college. I think they also get “street-wise” pretty quickly.
surrounding area is dangerous, but you can catch a subway on campus and take it to the center city. if it;s too late coming back, you can either take a taxi or uber car back. there is a regional rail station 2 blocks from campus that can get you out of area too. on campus is a several block radius so you could certainly walk on campus at night if you want too. i would not venture off campus at night walking except maybe to the grocery store right behind morgan.
i recently drove west of campus to get to I-76. yes, it was broad daylight but it seemed safe enough, Run down and very poor but not overly dangerous or even dangerous at all, in fact, one person stopped their car to give a person limping down the sidewalk a ride(they seemed to know each other). just north of campus and i mean one step off campus looks pretty darn hairy to me. i have driven up Broad Street north bound several times.
We have driven along Girard all the way west to Fairmount Park for a concert at the Mann Center. There is one stretch where we found ourselves on the “wrong” blocks, but it was fine otherwise. There are also some blocks that my son described as “Williamsburg South,” because they are steadily gentrifying with Brooklyn-style hipsters. A lot of residential buildings in the neighborhood are undergoing renovation. We went into our son’s realtor’s office to co-sign his lease earlier this summer, and their office was in just such a building.
It’s an historically African-American neighborhood. That means that the celebrated New Freedom Theater is around the corner from my son, on North Broad Street. There are BBQ joints and boutiques selling “Afrocentric” apparel and artifacts. That can make it more colorful, but it can intimidate many white and Asian students. Thousands of those students attend Temple, live in the area, and remain in Philly after graduation, nevertheless, because they do what bright young members of species homo sapiens do: adapt.
My D is a sophomore at Temple. She lived on campus her freshman year and this year she is off campus at The View at Montgomery (you can google it, it is a high rise apartment complex just for college students adjacent to campus). She absolute loves it. She does usually travel with someone when she is off campus. She also has her car with her that she doesn’t want to pay (with her money) for a parking permit so she basically just parks it on the streets of North Philly. She has never had a problem. She is very petite at 5’1" and about 110#.
Temple is in the city, you have to be street smart and conscience of what is going on around you. You can feel safe but still be conscience of your surroundings.
Hi, OP, I’m a current Temple student who can hopefully help ease your fears about safety. First, I’m a 120 pound suburban female, so if anyone is an easy target, it’s me, and I have never felt unsafe on or around campus. Temple police patrol a huge zone, which includes the campus and several blocks off campus in all directions. That covers an area where the students live as well as some of the neighborhood. I won’t lie, the neighborhood is not pretty. But you’ll soon realize 99% of the people living there are good people. It’s a minority of the population that causes trouble, and they only fight among themselves, not with the college kids. Basically, most issues with the college students are typical stuff like drinking and parties getting broken up. The more serious stuff is among the locals, and they don’t get Temple students involved, just Temple Police because they patrol the area just to be safe.
I was really wary of the safety factor when I first visited, too, but having actually attended the school, it hasn’t been an issue. The campus is well-lit, blue light phones are everywhere, police are everywhere, and security makes sure everyone entering a building is a student. The police will even escort you home at night if you end up too far off campus and don’t feel safe.
In conclusion, you’ll be fine! The vast majority of students never have a safety issue. The biggest thing you have to worry about is the traffic if you are crossing Broad Street.