<p>This is your list.</p>
<p>With your criteria.</p>
<p>You vote.</p>
<p>The problem is I have never been to either one of those schools. I have been to Chicago and the Bay Area several times, and from what it seems like when I've been there, the Bay Area seems more connected to Cal than Chicago does to NU. So on that basis, I'm still inclined to keep my list. I set the 15-minute mark so we could have some sort of guideline. Everyone seems hung up on that, but my ultimate goal was to find schools that are connected to a city, where the students freely flow from campus to city. Maybe on that basis, they both should be left out. I honestly don't know for sure, that's why I'm looking for input from others who have been there. I don't want this to turn into a debate about who's school is closer to a city. I want to help prospective students who are looking for schools that will offer a well-balanced life and real-world experience that comes with being located near a major city. I think the major problem with higher education (outside of skyrocketing tuition) is the fact many colleges are sealed in their bubbles away from the rest of the would and students are unprepared for and uneducated about the outside world. I'm trying to find colleges that offer that part of life that is missing from many universities.</p>
<p>Pat2323,</p>
<p>I took couple classes at Berkeley while living in SF. I went to Chicago frequently while studying at NU. It's really a wash. Maybe you were in Chicago downtown and that's why you felt NU was further. But when I was at NU, the places my friends and I went to frequently were Lakeview/Lincoln Park or North Chinatwon. They are part of the more effluent and happening Chicago's North Side which is closer to Evanston.</p>
<p>wow.....what a list...that is SO incomplete.</p>
<p>What about Fordham in New York...a highly respected school.
Tulane in New Orleans.</p>
<p>St. Louls U in St. Louls is widely respected in many areas.</p>
<p>Trinity in San Antonio.</p>
<p>NC State in Raleigh.</p>
<p>Xavier in Cincinnati is hugely respected.</p>
<p>Seattle University in Seattle is widely respected.</p>
<p>U Miami in Miami.</p>
<p>Georgia Tech in Atlanta.</p>
<p>There are about 10 schools in and around Philadelphia that are superb.</p>
<p>American University in Washington DC is also respected big time.</p>
<p>My husband went to UC Berkeley, and he went into the city quite a bit. I think part of the reason I think of UCB as urban is despite the bay, the urban feel of SF seems to extend over the bridge and into Berkeley and Oakland. It doesn't seem to extend down the pennisula toward Palo Alto. So going from Berkeley to SF you don't wander through suburban neighborhoods, like you would going from, say Stanford to SF.</p>
<p>That's also one of the big differences between USC and UCLA. At UCLA you can walk off the campus into Westwood, see movie premieres, shows at the Geffen playhouse, shop, hit trendy restaurants...At USC you don't really walk off the campus into a safe neighborhood, though to be fair, the Shrine Auditorium is right there. My daughter's friends at USC say they drive over to Westwood on the weekends...</p>
<p>austin is one of the 20 biggest cities in the US... definitely a major metropolitan area</p>
<p>Yeah, Austin isn't huge, but it definitely qualifies as a major city.</p>
<p>ajr and Pat:</p>
<p>Well, I looked it up and it depends on how you count the numbers. As an MSA, Austin is either 37th or 48th (based on two sources I found) in the US. As a function of population within the city limits, Austin is bigger than Boston. If you've ever been to those two cities, you would know how ridiculous that assertion would be.</p>
<p>All I can say is that, if someone told me Austin is a big city and I went there to find big city things, I would be TICKED. The central city makes Richmond, Virginia look like NYC, and I don't consider Richmond to be anything like a big city. </p>
<p>But, it's all in your perspective, I suppose. To me, Austin is just this little town with a big sprawl around it. I don't believe there are any major league sports teams, are there? I don't recall anyone touting the Austin Symphony Orchestra, the Austin Repertory Theater, the Austin Opera, the Austin Ballet, or the Austin Metropolitan Museum of Art. There's is a nice music scene, albeit smaller than most people think.</p>
<p>Don't get me wrong. I think it's a nice little town. I"ve spent some happy hours there sipping cocktails on rooftoops and there's a great tapas restaurant I like a LOT. But unless you consider scads of chain restaurants along the interstate service roads to be what big cities are about, I wouldn't consider Austin in the same league as most of the other cities on your list.</p>
<p>Harvard is in both Cambridge and Boston. Harvard square is a short walk across the Charles to the Boston city line (Allston is part of Boston)</p>
<p>I agree with Tarhunt... Austin = Madison on steriods (or the Texas-sized version, if you prefer). It is basically a college town & state captial that kept growing and growing, until suddenly people said, "hey, we have a city here now." Aside from the immediate downtown & UT area, it is very suburban, with no population density of which to speak. </p>
<p>As a total non-sequitur to the above:
</p>
<p>Some people may consider many northsiders to be yuppie scum, but you didn't have to equate them to sewage, Sam. ;-)</p>
<p>Sam Lee: You don't need to lecture me on the Bay Area - I live here. I was going strictly by the criteria given by the original poster.</p>
<p>It seems that this thread has come down to what constitutes a city. People have some kind of vision in their heads of high rises and a downtown financial district along with an arts scene including museums and symphony, and some undefinable "non-boring" criteria rather than the size of the population. If that's the criteria then stick with the original list. However, if the OP is looking for an integration of the school with the local business community so that students can have a real world experience then that opens up a lot of options (like Stanford, even though it's in suburbia). Others seem to be looking for a happening night life within walking distance. Well, that can be had in a lot of college towns.</p>
<p>friedokra: I think the OP was only listing schools in the top 20 or so. I thought of all those schools, too, but they are not as highly ranked as the schools on his list.</p>
<p>If University of Texas, @Austin is in your list, I think you might also want to include Brown University in Rhode Island. As of July 1, 2006 Austin had a population of 709,893, but the city is the cultural and economic center of the Austin-Round Rock Metropolitan Area that has a population of more than 1.5 million. On the other hand, Rhode Island has an estimated population of 175,255 as of 2006, and it anchors the 35th largest metropolitan population in the country, with an estimated MSA population of 1,622,520. Both have population of over 1.5 million in their metropolitan areas.</p>
<p>This is just my humble opinion. :D</p>
<p>Pat2323: If we are using metropolitan figures then Berkeley is larger than Pittsburgh by a landslide. The SF bay area has over 6.7 million people according to the 2000 census.</p>
<p>berkeley itself has a pretty happening downtown and has a population of 100K--probably can qualify as a small city. evanston has a population of about 75K--again, not tiny. the following list of restaurants (most are in downtown area and short walk from northwestern's campus) shows you evanston isn't a typical sleepy suburb with just 10 to 20 restaurants: <a href="http://www.ugadm.northwestern.edu/freshman/campuslife/eating-out.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.ugadm.northwestern.edu/freshman/campuslife/eating-out.htm</a>. i am a city person but i wouldn't feel too bad about living in either place. it's easy to get to the city.</p>
<p>pat,
BOTH berkeley and northwestern should be on the list. that's my vote.</p>
<p>And even though a school might be in the city proper (I'm referring specifically to school's like Penn and Chicago here), the surrounding neighborhood might not have a specifically urban feel to it. Check out some of the trees, low-rise apartments, and bookstores that flavor Hyde Park:</p>
<p>The Univ. of Maryland readily meets the 15 minute rule. Columbia Heights would be the destination Metro stop for many students in search of clubs, etc.
<a href="http://www.wmata.com/metrorail/systemmap.cfm%5B/url%5D">http://www.wmata.com/metrorail/systemmap.cfm</a></p>
<p>
[quote]
I think the major problem with higher education (outside of skyrocketing tuition) is the fact many colleges are sealed in their bubbles away from the rest of the would and students are unprepared for and uneducated about the outside world.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Heh, interesting. I know even Stanford is sometimes criticized for being in a "bubble."</p>
<p>One thing to consider is not only population, but density, which is a good factor in seeing how "urban" a city will feel. Sure, Austin has over 700,000 people, almost as much as SF. But SF has about 47 sq mi; Austin has about 296 sq mi. So SF's density is about 16,000 people/sq mi. Austin's is about 2,400 people/sq mi. That's why it seems not so urban.</p>
<p>Now, Berkeley itself is considered a 'small city' -- not major, but not a city nonetheless. Berkeley's density is about 10,000 people/sq mi. Compare that to LA: about 8,000 people/sq mi. So Berkeley's technically denser than LA. If that weren't enough, Berkeley runs right into Oakland, which itself has over 400,000 people and a 7,000/sq mi density. The metropolitan area has over 7 million people. SF, a BART hop away, is urban enough. And Berkeley has many qualities of, say, LA: going downtown at night is dangerous, muggings do happen, there are homeless, etc. I think Berkeley, with its proximity to Oakland and LA, can be considered a campus in an urban environment. Plenty of students leave the campus, during the week, on the weekends, etc. </p>
<p>As for Northwestern: I think it should be considered urban. Wikipedia even says: "Northwestern University is a private, nonsectarian, coeducational research university with campuses located in Evanston, Illinois and downtown Chicago, Illinois." The students there have plenty of easy access to Chicago, so I think we can put it on the list.</p>
<p>kyledavid80,</p>
<p>interestingly, evanston has almost 10,000 people/sq mi too.</p>
<p>i havent seen anyone say the claremonts in LA</p>