<p>I have been accepted to Allegheny College and am now in the process of narrowing down my college list. I did visit the college last summer but my memory is a bit faint.</p>
<p>I was just wondering if anyone was really familiar with the area surrounding the college (Meadville) in terms of safety and potential for internships. In one of my college books, Allegheny was described to be in an urban location, though I don’t remember Meadville being very big. Is the area outside of Meadville more rural? Thank you for any help :). I would like to try and visit once more in April.</p>
<p>The city of Meadville is about 13,000 people. The area around it is pretty rural. It is the county seat. The availability of internships will vary depending on your area. If you have access to a car you options will increase. The closest larger city is Erie which is about 40 miles north.</p>
<p>Whoever wrote that Allegheny is in an "urban" location must be seriously deluded, because Meadville is the antithesis of "urban" (indeed, I laughed when I read that part of your post). It's quite a small town, and, as jmom09 stated, Erie is the closest city. The towns immediately surrounding Meadville are all smaller than it, so it's definitely located in a rural area.</p>
<p>As for safety, Meadville is very safe -- I wouldn't spend another moment worrying about it. My parents have actually been upset with me for locking the door! "Hey, why'd you lock the door? We're expecting company!" I've lived here my entire life and I have never felt threatened in the least.</p>
<p>I will warn you, though, the winters are harsh and Meadville is a pretty boring place. If you love grocery stores and pharmacies, Meadville is the town for you -- if you're more of a shopping mall, out-on-the-town nightlife kind of person, you'll be bored to tears.</p>
<p>Rural doesn't bother me :p. I'm more of an outdoors-person anyway. I come from a very suburban area with every chain store that you can think of popping up everywhere now. It would be nice to get away from that...:)</p>
<p>Well, Meadville isn’t all bad… there are a few nice cafes in town (particularly the Artist’s Cup Cafe) and there are some good places to take walks if you’re into that sort of thing. And as I said, it’s definitely safe. There’s the Academy Theatre, too, where you can see plays. Most of the excitement, though, will probably be on campus (and I can’t really vouch for how exciting the campus is since I live in Meadville and not on campus).</p>