<p>Anyone know what Hyde Park is like? Thanks for your help in advance.</p>
<p>The campus itself is safe. I don’t know about the adjacent areas.</p>
<p>Why don’t you ask on the UChgo forum?</p>
<p>[University</a> of Chicago - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago/]University”>University of Chicago - College Confidential Forums)</p>
<p>i live in hyde park, so i can help you out.
i would consider hyde park to be safe (that is, the campus and the surrounding area). it is in fact one of the safest neighborhoods in the entire city. obviously you don’t want to be out looking like a fool at midnight, it’s still an urban environment. but really, hyde park is fairly safe. there are lots of families, children walking alone to/from school, nice restaurants and stuff. i don’t think safety should be an issue for prospective students. </p>
<p>hope that helped! feel free to ask me anything else.</p>
<p>i live in chicago. i think the campus is safe. but you have to realize, in a big city you should try not to walk alone at night. Also…the adjacent areas are kinda seedy.</p>
<p>lol like…Martin Luther King Drive
or Cottage Grove at some points
i mean U of C is kinda surrounded by the hood…lol
naturally…some places in chicago are tough
but the campus itself is secured and if u want to wander around the city do it in the daytime or @ night with a friend (preferably one with a car at night just in case something happens if you stray too far)</p>
<p>Hyde Park itself is pretty safe-there are UCPD patrols all over the area. Rule of thumb, do not go below 60th street or west of Cottage Grove on foot, especially at night, or you will be in danger. The neighborhoods to the south and west are some of the roughest in Chicago and thus America. If you’re street smart (walk with a purpose, head up, watch street activity, etc), you’ll be fine, especially during the day, even in those areas. Fail to maintain situational awareness and you will not be fine.</p>
<p>What about for a skinny white girl that likes to walk around alone? I’d like to try out clubbing. Advice?</p>
<p>T26E4- nice to see a (kind and sensible) yalie on the chicago boards.</p>
<p>@kitkat- I’m a skinny white girl and have never been in a situation where I’ve felt unsafe on campus. Obviously, you will want to be aware that you are in a city and make an effort to not do things that could compromise your safety (walking around by yourself in the middle of the night, counting money in your wallet on the street corner, etc)- but these are things I would not do in the very boring Spokane, WA (my hometown) either. The University, through the UCPD and many other programs on campus, keeps campus and the surrounding area quite safe.
Also, on clubbing… you won’t run in to any problems with safety and clubbing in Hyde Park because, well, there are no clubs to speak of around here. Closest would be downtown in/around the Loop or on the North side, and then you’re quite out of the campus and Hyde Park area/will want to make sure you go with friends and organize reliable and safe transit back home before you go.</p>
<p>Thanks, Grace! My mom is a bit freaked about the south side of chicago being right there, but I like to go out a lot… I know there aren’t any clubs in HP-- I guess I should look up how late the shuttles run from the loop to campus (for my couple tries at partying before I give up and just hit the books Saturday nights). :)</p>
<p>Hi kitkatkatie, your comments about Chicago on the Princeton forum prompted me to see what’s happening on the U of C forum, and lo and behold I found this very pertinent thread and your comment.</p>
<p>As I indicated on the Princeton forum, I grew up in Chicago. The neighborhood just a few blocks to the west of the U of C campus is one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the U.S. You should never go there even at high noon.</p>
<p>The Chicago loop is not where the clubs are. In fact, late at night, the loop would not be a place that I would want to be. The clubs are on the north side of the loop. I doubt that there are many shuttles from the near north side to Hyde Park late at night.</p>
<p>I graduated from DePaul and attended classes mainly at the loop campus. We would sometimes party after school until around 8:00p, but then we would get out of the loop and either go home or move to the near north side. We certainly would never go to the south side.</p>
<p>Have you visited the Chicago campus? If not, you should definitely visit before deciding to go there.</p>
<p>BTW, I’m not stalking you. 
I have a daughter who’s waiting on decisions from Duke, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth and Brown. I’m probably more nervous about the wait than she. I find it calming to check out the forums to get the latest news about decisions and to provide any help I can.</p>
<p>@FlaPops - I wonder how current your information is? If you have a daughter graduating high school it would suggest at least 18yrs have passed, unless you were precocious. </p>
<p>I certainly agree that no one should attend any college without visiting, particularly one with an urban campus. But I don’t think the area or city is as dangerous as your veiled suggestions warrant.</p>
<p>From what I’ve heard from current students, the areas that used to be really bad are now tough, but not much happens. idk how it is now, as I’ve only been to Chicago once a couple years back (and I liked it), but I’m not going to let what goes on well out of my way affect where I go to school. The campus seems pretty darn safe, much safer than Columbia’s campus, and there’s hyde park surrounding most of the campus (well, relatively speaking-- surrounding most of where I’ll be on campus). </p>
<p>I’m more concerned that the campus police force is response to umbrella ride calls and that there is a lot of security around campus at night. I went part time to the local uni here, and there was a two month streak where there were 2 rapes a week. There was a whole section of road by the “student ghetto” that no one would go near around dark because so many people got in trouble there. I just want to make sure that Chicago isn’t having problems like this. It sounds like they aren’t, especially with the campus police. But, it never hurts to ask and hear so opinions.</p>
<p>Unless they build a froyo place or a cool bookstore south of campus, I don’t foresee me going there. I’m mainly interested in going downtown for the art, the dancing, and the better restaurants. I would hope that most of my time will be spent on campus, considering the amount of homework i’ll have.</p>
<p>I’ve heard from several students that there is a new shuttle system that goes to the loop and downtown areas and back to campus on Friday and Saturday nights that’s free for students.</p>
<p>And, if you don’t have money to visit, what can you do? I’m going to try to visit before I show up for move-in day, but if I can’t, all I can do is know that if I hate it, I can transfer, and if I love it, it’s a fun story.</p>
<p>[Sigh] There is a half-mile-wide park between the University of Chicago campus and the nearest neighborhood to the west. That neighborhood looks very run-down, and I believe is fairly depopulated. It probably isn’t one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the U.S., but it doesn’t seem pleasant. It doesn’t offer a whole lot, either, which is one reason why UChicago students don’t mind not going there. What UChicago students DO do, all the time, is take the bus through that neighborhood to go to the Red Line El station or Midway Airport. Without negative consequences.</p>
<p>And one reason why they are taking the bus to the Red Line is because that’s one of the easiest ways to get to the Northside neighborhoods where college students like to play. It’s not difficult. I don’t think they have shuttles from the Northside to the U of C, but I think they do have shuttles to the South Loop far into the night and early morning on weekend nights, and it’s easy to get to and from there to the Northside.</p>
<p>People who really aren’t comfortable in urban neighborhoods may not feel comfortable in Hyde Park. That’s a statement about feelings, not danger. There may be no rational basis for feeling uncomfortable, but that won’t help you much if you really feel uncomfortable. On the other hand, people who are familiar with urban neighborhoods will recognize that Hyde Park is pretty sweet (except for being a little bit sleepy and lacking in exciting entertainment options besides the university). </p>
<p>And even if you are a total country kid you should remember that generation after generation of country kids have come to the city and been really excited by it. It may seem scary at first, but you will probably adjust, and later laugh at yourself for ever worrying. You just have to know what kind of person you are, how well you can adapt to new surroundings.</p>
<p>I have one S who is a current UChicago student and another who was accepted EA this fall. S1 lives in one of the dorms on the outer reaches of campus and has NEVER had a problem. People travel in groups at night (which is a smart thing to do in ANY major city) and use common sense. Don’t stumble home drunk from a party by yourself.</p>
<p>When I went out for his O-Week move-in (he and Dad drove out; I flew in after getting S2 off to school), I took the 55 bus from Midway just to see “what all the fuss” was about. Yes, there are poor and working-class neighborhoods. Yes, there are places I wouldn’t want to be at night. We live in the suburbs of a major metro area, but in a highly diverse (ethnically and SES) community. I was comfortable on the bus, as well as in Hyde Park.</p>
<p>My S complains more about the relative lack of grocery and clothing stores than he does about personal safety.</p>
<p>Ditto on the 55 bus. After taking it on our first visit to the school, I had no problem letting my then-high school D, take it on her own when she went back to confirm that Chicago was the place for her. </p>
<p>Three years later, I’ve taken the 55 or driven between Midway and U Chicago many times. (Midway is due west from U Chicago, and the 55 pretty much goes up 55th Street–a straight shot.) What I always notice about the poorer neighborhoods is that a great many residences are nicely kept up. </p>
<p>Granted, we have lived in cities. We’ve also lived in small towns and rural areas, so we know that going to cities can be a big step. But I have no worries about my petite daughter navigating Hyde Park and all the other places she frequents in Chicago.</p>