<p>In follow-up to recent threads on the matriculation patterns of students, how important is a school's location in your college search process, ie, how does the city environment (activities, amenities, size, weather, safety, distance from home) factor into your decision to attend a college?</p>
<p>As evidenced by no response, its not very important. Sadly it should be one of the most important issues. There are 50 schools that will have smart kids attending with good professors. What will make it a life changing experience will be the unique details that Hawkeete mentioned. I would also add, political leanings, conformity vs individualism, on- campus housing vs apartments and high rise dorms, profs vs grad students teaching.</p>
<p>If kids would ask these questions vs "which is more prestigious?" this would help stop the insanity US News has caused.</p>
<p>Great post hawkette. keep trying to awaken the zombies. ill never forget my friend who went to Harvard b/c he got in and his parents forced him who said he wished he would have gone to Swarthmore b/c it would have suited him better and he would have a better education. </p>
<p>Learn from other's mistakes kids. It less painful than learning from your own mistakes.</p>
<p>Distance from home seems to be the most important thing about "location" based on statistics I have read, even at elite private schools. At state schools, remaining in-state also means lower cost in addition to the convenience of being close to home. Most students stay within 100 miles of home I think.</p>
<p>This is how IPEDS classifies location.</p>
<p>Geographic region code.
0 - US Service schools
1 - New England CT ME MA NH RI VT
2 - Mid East DE DC MD NJ NY PA
3 - Great Lakes IL IN MI OH WI
4 - Plains IA KS MN MO NE ND SD
5 - Southeast AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC SC TN VA WV
6 - Southwest AZ NM OK TX
7 - Rocky Mountains CO ID MT UT WY
8 - Far West AK CA HI NV OR WA
9 - Outlying areas AS FM GU MH MP PR PW VI
-3 - Not available </p>
<p>Variable Sources: IPEDS Fall 2006 collection, IC component</p>
<p>number of colleges in each Geographic region
Note:The listed values are based on the whole IPEDS universe</p>
<p>Value, Label, Frequency, Percentage
0 US Service schools 9 0.13
1 New England CT ME MA NH RI VT 432 6.16
2 Mid East DE DC MD NJ NY PA 1172 16.7
3 Great Lakes IL IN MI OH WI 1026 14.62
4 Plains IA KS MN MO NE ND SD 635 9.05
5 Southeast AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC SC TN VA WV 1631 23.24
6 Southwest AZ NM OK TX 707 10.07
7 Rocky Mountains CO ID MT UT WY 242 3.45
8 Far West AK CA HI NV OR WA 989 14.09
9 Outlying areas AS FM GU MH MP PR PW VI 175 2.49</p>
<p>I think the location and environment around the school is an important part of the decision making process. I know it was for us. </p>
<p>I had gone to school in a cold weather environment in a rural area and found that depressing, so we tended to look at warmer weather schools with more going on when s was applying. I think his choice of UM was heavily influenced by the weather and surrounding area. He also wanted good academics and choice of majors. UM seems to fit the bill.</p>
<p>I, on the other hand, love the change of seasons found in New England, New York, and Pennsylvania. I associate going to school with cooler weather, apple season in September, beautiful fall foliage in October, falling leaves in November (especially around Thanksgiving), falling snow in December (and hopefully a white Christmas), skiing, tobagganing, and snowmobiling in January and February, things thawing and turning green in March and April, gorgeous flowers and shrubs (lilacs are awesome) in May and June, and a beautiful temperate summer. I would miss these things terribly if I left the Northeast.</p>
<p>How is the fall foliage in the Northwest and Great Lakes states? I think the Northwest has fewer deciduous trees. ....Just curious.</p>
<p>I like climates where the maximum temperatures in October are in the 50-65 range. And summers in the 65-85 range.</p>
<p>U Maryland is a great school, though. A little too warm for me in the summer but not bad during the school year. U Maryland is a little too urban, also. But a great school..."fear the turtle".</p>
<p>i prefer urban/suburban environmnts. I'll be applying to a lot of boston schools. Definitely nothing rural (which is why i crossed cornell off). I hate being in the middle of nowhere</p>
<p>Location is an important factor, but objective information is easily obtained. That stands in contrast to many of the factors in the college search which are important but more troublesome to gauge, such as 'environment' and 'atmosphere', or the strength of the ugrad economics dept. The college search filters do a great job in finding 4-yr colleges in rural/suburban/urban settings in a particular region.</p>
<p>Do you think it really should be all that important? Let's face it, what 17-year-olds think are their priorities are based on very little real experience. Whether they want an urban experience or a campus "bubble", the college experience they'll have is likely to be the only one they'll have, and before long it'll be hard for them to imagine college in any different setting. We know that the typical student changes majors several times; I've got to think that most student preconceptions about college priorities are equally likely to be changeable.</p>