<p>I'm looking at engineering programs throughout the country (I'm international, so anywhere in the US will count as far already :D). One of my main concerns is safety because admittedly, I've been kind of sheltered my whole life; I never took public transportation for one. So, I'd like to go somewhere that will at least not make me paranoid due to the high crime rates in the area.</p>
<p>My list so far:</p>
<p>Stanford
Georgia Tech
UMN Twin Cities
UWisc Madison
UW Seattle
Purdue
UMD College Park
UIUC
Tulane
RIT</p>
<p>Unless you are absolutely sure you want chemical engineering or biomedical engineering, Tulane should come off your list. Those are the only two engineering programs they retained after Hurricane Katrina. The part of New Orleans Tulane is in has safety statistics that are about the same as most other urban schools. You will hear a lot about New Orleans being unsafe, but that is in areas pretty far from campus. But the real issue is if those are enough engineering programs for you.</p>
<p>UMD College Park is a great school, but the surrounding area is not very safe. Most upperclassmen move off campus so this is an issue. There are some expensive high rise apartment buildings near the campus that might provide a safer option. The campus is beautiful, but unfortunately the town of College Park is pretty seedy.</p>
<p>UW has a great campus, but it’s definitely in the middle of a city and has some of the problems of city life. There are occasionally issues around the fraternity houses, and “The Ave” which is a big shopping street/cheap restaurant place where college students hang out has some crime. </p>
<p>Have you considered Smith College at all? Great engineering program, the only women’s college with an engineering program, and in a very safe, fun, quirky New England town.</p>
<p>I second Smithieandproud. Smith is a great school with a very safe, beautiful campus and dorms “like palaces”. The areas around UW-Seattle are generally OK as long as you stay out of the alleys off the Ave and Belltown bars and don’t walk through the area alone late at night, which is a common sense rule for any campus.</p>
<p>Although Los Angeles is very urban, the following schools (noted for their engineering programs) are in areas that are considered pretty safe:
UCLA - The Westwood area is very walkable, with decent (for LA) public transportation nearby for exploring off campus.
Harvey Mudd - one of the Claremont schools. Availability of public transportation away from the Claremont area may be a problem, though.
CalTech - one of the best engineering and science-based schools around. Beautiful campus in Pasadena, immediate area is very safe. There are other areas in Pasadena, however, that are less so.</p>
<p>I live across the river from Purdue. It’s very safe here, but even if you came here you’d have to follow the basic safety rules you’d follow on any campus. Don’t walk around alone at night. Let people know where you are going, etc. I have friends who have kids going to school in Chicago and I will say this, you may need more awareness of safety in a city, but you will never want for things to do. </p>
<p>This article does a nice job of highlighting the good things about living here. It’s written by a writer who teaches at Purdue. </p>
<p>kaitlyn01…D was in a VERY similar situation to you last year. She too had a sheltered upbringing in a private prep/safer city. Safety was a big factor for her as well. The main difference, however, is that she plans to major in bio (pre-med). Certain schools that have great engineering programs are in gritty areas (ex: Duke). As your list currently stands, I would remove Tulane. I don’t know a whole lot about the other’s on your list but I would also encourage you to explore Cornell, UMich, UVA, UNC, UCB, and UT (Austin is a bigger city but around the campus is safe.) Good luck!</p>
<p>Technically, Georgia Tech is in Midtown Atlanta, not Downtown Atlanta. Moreover, I would not say GT is “very urban” because it actually has a well-defined campus (ie. when you’re on campus, you KNOW you’re on campus). I would, however, say that Georgia State is “very urban” because its academic buildings intermingle with commercial buildings.</p>
<p>Regarding safety, if you live on campus and exercise common sense caution, you ought to be safe. Almost all of the Clery Act Safety Alerts that I received described crime that occurred near but off campus.</p>
<p>Georgia Tech may be in an urban area, but that doesn’t mean it’s not <em>safe</em>. I also went to college in Atlanta (right around the corner from Tech actually) and a lot of my friends did 3-2 programs between my school and Tech. It was pretty safe - good campus police force, the Stinger shuttle, etc. And in Atlanta most people don’t take public transit anyway. It’s there, but it doesn’t really go anywhere useful - I mean, maybe you can use it to go do sightseeing, but in my experience a lot of students eventually procured cars or rode with friends.</p>
<p>In any event, please remember when you get responses OP that “urban” doesn’t necessarily mean “unsafe” (and the converse - a suburban campus doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s safer).</p>
<p>That said, I’ve heard things that corroborated evidence about College Park not being safe - I had a couple of friends who went there.</p>
<p>Agree with the above about GT (I did some work there post-grad). It is near some seedy areas, but you can say that about almost all urban schools. With common sense and moderate caution, there should be no issues if GT looks like a good choice for you. I love Atlanta as a city, personally. Would have liked to have stayed, but didn’t work out that way.</p>
<p>Another point to keep in mind is that the OP intends to major in Engineering. Like most engineers, my S spends many late nights in the campus lab working on problem sets and projects, usually with classmates. So yes, he does walk home at 2 am, or even later. He lives in an off-campus apartment and because of his schedule, we’ve indulged him the convenience of renting places located very near the campus.</p>
<p>I am a GT alum as well, and I certainly think of the area as downtown, but I guess you can call it midtown. I knew when I posted that many would disagree with me, but I don’t think it is the safest campus on the list the original poster posted and I love Tech, but I believe that the location is something that has to be considered as part of the whole FIT scenario. Tech isn’t a fit for everyone, just like no school is right for everyone.</p>
<p>If any of my children want to attend, and can get in, I would totally support them, but they have grown up in Atlanta and are or will be fairly city savvy by the time they get to college.</p>