<p>A young co-worker told me that all her [young] life she had wanted to go to University X, which is located on the coast. She was accepted, and happily moved out there - for one month. According to her, the kids were very nice but "different" and she missed the "mid-west personality", so she transferred back to a midwest U.</p>
<p>I was just wondering how common this is. Have others experienced a culture shock due to different regional characteristics [either real or perceived]?</p>
<p>Our son left the midwest behind when he went off to school and has thrived.</p>
<p>(Just one dot on the graph.)</p>
<p>I left New England for the midwest. I haven't seen a very strong midwestern culture, but I do miss New England's culture at times. Someone I know went from California to New Hampshire and absolutely loved the change. She got really into the fashion that's popular there, learned to ski, etc. </p>
<p>Remember also that if you're at a school that has students from all over or if you're in a city, the differences are likely to be less noticeable. If the people around you have come from all over the US and the world, you're less likely to see a very distinctive local culture, whatever it may be.</p>
<p>I think it depends on what you mean by "culture". I've had some friends who have gone to the coasts from the Midwest (more specifically Great Plains region) and they've loved it, but at the same time all have said that the people aren't nearly as nice as they are from where we're from. </p>
<p>Likewise, my current city of residence has hosted a number of significant sporting events (various NCAA events/Olympic sport meets) recently and each time the stories in the newspapers include the token "out of towner" perspective. Each time, it's always "the people here are so nice".</p>
<p>I think the potential is always there when you move to find things you don't like, but it will of course depend on the person, their expectations and how they handle mild adversity.</p>
<p>Isn't part of an education becoming aware of, exploring and understanding different perspectives?</p>
<p>The culture shock wasn't much for me when I moved from Philly to Chicago, but I don't know about the more rural, middle of nowhere transitions, but it shouldn't be too much a problem</p>
<p>I have one midwestern son in Portland and one in NYC. Both see their current cities as different from where they came from but both are very happy where they are. Being open to new experiences and different ways of looking at things helps tremendously.</p>
<p>My midwestern D did experience culture shock at an eastern LAC, and she wound up transferring to a mid-sized midwestern U. I don't think that her shock was so much the consequence of eastern regional characteristics, although those characteristics may have played a small role in her discomfort. It was the eastern college's particular culture that shocked her --a combination of abundant alcohol, Div I athletics, and rural isolation. I've said this so many times I sound like a broken record, but here it is: Especially when a student is considering a small school, he/she must be aware of the predominant social culture, and either feel it fits or that he/she is comfortable being part of a small subculture outside the mainstream.</p>
<p>chisquare the thing that struck me about your young co-worker's experience is that she only gave the school a try for a month. I imagine that had she stuck it out for the whole semester/year things would have started looking up for her. I "found" my firends in college and therefore my niche on Halloween. Prior to that I missed my mom, my friends, my bf, my music (I didn't bring a stereo) everything! </p>
<p>I am willing to bet that your D will do fine wherever she goes. If she and either of mine end up in the PNW at one of the schools I know our kids have in common then she'll have at least one friendly face. Speaking of which Facebook and Myspace have really changed the college selection process for some kids. I have read about several acceptees who have made their final decision based on the "feel" they get from others accepted at the same schools on Myspace and Facebook.</p>
<p>The differences between the midwest and the east coast are not trivial. The differences between high school and college are not trivial. The differences between living at home and living in a residence hall or an apartment for the first time are not trivial. But, by and large people adapt to change, and grow from the experience. One book worth reading that can be applied to college-culture shock as well as to international-move culture shock is "The Art of Crossing Cultures" by Craig Storti.</p>
<p>The best advice I was ever given after moving to a new strange place was, "Except for the traffic, you are really going to like it here." But, I have to add, you do need to give the experience time.</p>
<p>Wishing your darling D all the best.</p>
<p>One month? The girl did not give herself much of a chance to adapt to a new place, to college life, to new people....</p>
<p>I grew up and went to college in Southern California, to my first job in upstate New York, four years later I moved to work in Chicago, and 10 years later back to the West Coast. Without question there are regional/cultural differences and I am so glad I experienced them all. I think for our kids it is the issue of "readiness" for change and difference that is most relevant, rather than where they head. My son's classmates (now 21) went off around the country; some came home at Christmas, others now look set for life on the other coast. The one's who weren't happy just weren't ready, rather than their being anything intrinsic to the place that didn't work I think. I do think kids sometimes talk themselves (or get talked into) differences that are "too big" a jump for where they are at 17-18. For example, I hear kids who are cautious/introverted by temperament declaring they only want to go to a big school on the East Coast--so that kind of oblivion to fit can lead to a poor match...</p>
<p>I think there's too much generalization here. In some cases it's not so much that the person is going from the midwest to the west or NE but rather, that they're going from a smaller town to a large city or an area with little diversity to an area with a lot of diversity. If they had done this within the midwest (like Madison to Chicago or Minneapolis), they might have also noted the differences between the two places. Similarly someone headed from a smaller NE town to NYC or Boston or from a smaller southern town to Atlanta or Miami will notice a big change. </p>
<p>I've lived in lots of geographies and traveled to many more and really don't see that huge of a difference in people despite some understandable fashion differences due to the weather and business differences.</p>
<p>I agree that anyone who only gave it a month didn't give the adjustment period enough time or expected everything to be exactly like what they were used to at home. People do this even within their familiar geography - the real issues aren't geographical cultural differences but rather, the difference between the familiar hometown HS and the bigger, more diverse college where they might not initially know anyone.</p>
<p>^^ Couldn't agree more ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad. Son left our medium city in Ohio for a larger city on the east coast, in part because of the energy of a larger city. He loves his choice and the transition was seamless. His girlfriend grew up in the larger city and had a difficult transition to the school, likely because of the differences in size/diversity of students between her high school and the university.</p>
<p>I think the thread title could be restated as "Leaving the [Insert your region here] - culture shock?" I've read other threads about topics in which posters were worried about New Englanders' experience in the South, etc. We moved to the Midwest from the South, and it took me a while to understand why midwesterners think they of themselves as friendly because my frame of reference was the effusive southern hospitality that seems insincere to many midwesterners, who are used to a more restrained version of friendliness. </p>
<p>When kids are prepared to understand that there are regional differences and are excited about experiencing them, they tend to notice the positives more and take the parts that might seem negative to them more in stride. My D is only beginning college in the fall, but she has had some summer experiences in which she has been the only student from our part of the midwest, and she says has had to spend a lot of time convincing the others that cow-tipping is not the activity of choice here, but she says it with a laugh, and set her sights on attending college in another region (although I must issue the disclaimer that her practical side eventually led her to choose our state flagship after all.)</p>
<p>One final caveat is that any culture shock is probably bigger if attending a school in a different region that draws mostly in-state or regionally versus one with a more widespread draw of students. My S goes to a school in the South with a large draw from New York, and has friends from Alabama who sometimes feel more culture shock than the New Yorkers probably do.</p>