I grew up in a suburb of Houston. I didn’t go to the University of Houston but I had a lot of friends that did, I went there for football games, etc. The area around that school is poor and it is a fair mix of races. I don’t think it is a majority of any one segment. Unless it has changed radically in the handful of years since my last visit, the area is absolutely terrifying. It is a war zone. A very good friend of mine witnessed a shooting under a freeway overpass on his way to campus.
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I suspect there aren’t very many discussions here about UMaine whether about safety or otherwise but I have definitely seen discussions of safety at another Maine school - Bates.
I was unaware that UMaine had safety issues - where have you seen those ratings? Orono does not show up in the top 10 most dangerous cities in Maine, fwiw.
Curiously, on Niche, both JHU and Maine rate as B for safety.
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As an aspect that might be worth a mention, JHU ranks 1st in its U.S. News category in student excellence (measurable academic performance of incoming students).
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Just did a quick google, don’t have time right now to dig in to the numbers-
https://fundyourfees.com/dangerous-college-campuses-in-america/
Maine is discussed frequently Samsondale, because of its favorable tuition policies for students living in other parts of New England- I think it’s called the Regional Student Program. Higher than in-state but lower than out of state.
We had a home in Baltimore for a number of years. JHU was on my D’s college list and we wouldn’t have hesitated sending her there. Campus is quite contained and the areas where students would want to venture are safe.
Because of our proximity, D visited three or four times, including sitting in on some engineering classes. She found the students to be happy, engaged, and it felt very collaborative. She sat in on classes a few days before exam time, and no one seemed overly stressed or worried. Nice banter between students and profs too. Everyone she spoke to (all engineers) seemed to be enjoying their experience at JHU and had good balance.
If that’s the right match for your student, and arguably their engineering program is stronger than Tufts, I wouldn’t hesitate to apply ED.
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I suggest you do. Then we can all be sure we are talking about the same thing.
According to Neighborhood Scout, Orono and Medford have about the same crime rate. Both are well below Baltimore.
It would also be worth separating violent crime from property crime. Statistics vary, and of course so does victim impact.
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It’s so hard to make comparisons - if you zoom in the campus and surroundings of Hopkins are quite safe, if you zoom out the city of Baltimore has a deplorable crime rate. If you zoom further out, you see that the Baltimore metro region does not look so bad- Baltimore city’s boundaries are very compact in comparison to most other cities which can skew comparison data. College of Charleston is a popular school here (and one my daughter is considering) but it gets a c+ on niche for safety, and five people were shot on King street just a couple of weeks ago. I think the thing to keep in mind is that violent gun crime is rare on college campuses, but date rape, bike thefts, petty burglary, drunk driving are things that happen on many, many campuses- both urban and not.
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I went to college in Boulder. Not a dangerous city but there is crime. When I was there, I would not walk alone at night to my house that was about 5 blocks from campus in a very (very) residential neighborhood (Jon Benet Ramsey’s house was 2 blocks from mine). There had been a few attacks of women, small robberies, drunks bothering people.
I don’t think Boulder was dangerous but you had to be careful.
I went to grad school in Baltimore at UM@Baltimore. Totally different level of caution. We parked in a garage about 3 blocks from our building. We did NOT walk alone at night to the garage, and in fact did not walk to our cars alone. We’d go to to car on the highest level and drive the next person to his/her car, then to the next, etc. We’d watch them unlock and start the car. We shared that garage with the nursing students and there were attacks. Some people paid more for parking across the street from the school but there were robberies there too. It was in the inner city. It was city street crime. Even in daylight you had to be very careful.
But Hopkins is not downtown Baltimore. It is more like Boulder (although the residential houses in Homewood are even more expensive than the Hill in Boulder).
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And the perpetrators of such crimes are usually other students.
DS is a senior studying engineering at Tufts. Except for sophomore year (when the campus was basically on Covid lockdown), he has enjoyed his time at Tufts. Tufts engineering is not a cutthroat/weed out program and DS has managed to get good grades while still having time for nonacademic pursuits. He likes being close to Boston. Also Davis Square (which is pretty close) has a lot going on. I don’t know much about Hopkins, but would agree with other posters that it is more highly regarded than Tufts for STEM. Still, DS had three paid engineering internship offers for last summer. There are a lot of tech companies in the Boston area and I think Tufts benefits from that as far as employment opportunities go.
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This article seems topical:
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Threatening the responsible VP. That’s a good way to convince him a police force isn’t needed.
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These paragraphs from the JHU protest article are particularly germane for current and potential students:
Hopkins already employs more than 1,000 private security workers. However, these new officers would have all the powers of a Baltimore City police officer. Hopkins wants to maintain about 100 officers for the new force.
The university maintains that the force is needed to address rising crime around its campuses.
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I guess I’m naive because I find that number astonishing. (And yes I’m sure it includes desk-workers/admins…but still). Is there a quick and easy way to put this into context? i.e. do schools publish this in an easily searchable manner?
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The 1000 figure likely includes the Hopkins medical center which is huge.
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I am sure one can get that data, but it might require a phone call. I’d check each college’s annual Clery report too. Remember for JHU they have 3 campuses, so I expect the 1,000 security personnel are spread across those locations.
And this will include cyber security (the folks staffed in IT and the Help Desk to keep all the systems and the network secure). Not every security worker carries a badge! Given the number of government research contracts Hopkins has, I imagine that every grant specifies the type of security clearance required and the type of professional who needs to get staffed.
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And the med center (and parking garages) are open 24/7
For perspective, Yale has a police force of 93 officers. (The Hop is seeking 100.)
Boston College has 87 officers.
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Thanks. These numbers are more in line with what I’d have expected without really digging in.
I do get that including e.g. IT people, and having 24/7 facilities like an enormous medical center would swell the ranks.
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