Hello! I am accepted to the Class of 2021 at Case and am very excited by this. I have been on the campus a couple times during the past 5-6 years and really like it.
My concern is the safety factor. My parents are freaking out about the urban environment and the crime. I read that it has gotten better.
In reality, how safe is Case?
The safety factor will determine whether I end up there or a number of other schools.
Congrats on your acceptance to Case. My son is considering attending Case and we live about 45 minutes from the campus. They do have car jackings, car thefts, robberies etc. especially near the apartments and in the neighboring areas, including Little Italy. The Case website has crime reports listed.
https://case.edu/publicsafety/reporting/crime-security-reports/
But like every campus, you need to be aware, not walk alone at night, etc.
Also learn about the safety “features” they have…
They have a shuttle that goes around campus
They have a door to door service at night…called the Greenie bus (was green when I was at school) that you can request via app from 7pm to 3am (we had to call back in the day)
They have a “Shield app” that helps you request help or report incidents http://case.edu/publicsafety/safety-on-campus/cwru-shield-app/
Here is a thread to read:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/case-western-reserve-university/1316142-safety-at-cwru.html
Thanks for the link to the crime reports. Most of the crime looks like theft and petty stuff. I suspect that is similar on most college campuses. If I secure my valuables and am not dumb enough to wonder around late at night alone, it seems I would be fine.
Virginia Commonwealth, U. of Cincinnati, and Rutgers are schools that come to mind as being in the same type of area.
@Pancho98 My son is a senior at Case. You can show my post to your parents if it seems helpful. The University owned apartments where some Case upper class men live are on East 115th Street. In visiting there for four years, I have always felt safe on East 115th Street. I have walked down 115th many times, usually during the daytime. There is a small baseball diamond and park behind the dorm.
Coffee shops down the street. Its a nice area.
The freshman dorms are in a very safe location in the central campus south and west of 115th very close to the cafeteria. Some sophomores live on a hill near Little Italy, called south campus. There is a cafeteria up there so you do not need to walk down to campus to eat meals. Its a little more isolated up there, but mostly only students go up there, some sororities, fraternities and dorms are up there, and not much else. In walking around in that area, its peaceful and quiet, compared to the bustling urban feel of Euclid and the main Case campus.
The campus has good crime alert system, as all college campuses do. So students are well aware of where crime occurs. The main crime my son talks about is phone and backpacks getting stolen, but its never happened to him.
I have personally ridden the train to and from the airport and the Healthline bus, to get to downtown Cleveland and had no problems. The worst area I saw in my travels over the last four years was East 55th Street. (I drove down this central road to get to Case from the airport although there are better ways to drive between the airport and Case.) East 55th Street is crime ridden and poor. East Cleveland is to the east of University Circle and some students shop there, but use caution. Coventry is a very nice and safe neighborhood for eating out, and students also live in Coventry over the summers. Cleveland Heights and University circle, are largely safe, although there are some muggings near campus, so use caution at night and travel with your friends until you get used to the area.
The Healthline bus does go by some rough neighborhoods between University Circle and downtown, but I think its
a safe way to get downtown. My son and his friends ride this bus all the time. Students ride it to get to internships downtown. I have never heard of problems on this pubic bus system. The train also goes downtown, but the most direct route is taking the bus down Euclid Avenue. Euclid Ave runs through campus, and into East Cleveland and to the Lake Front and downtown Cleveland to the west. Because Cleveland is a neighborhood based city, its got a patchwork of poor and very wealthy neighborhoods, but its easy to figure out where you do not want to get off the bus.
Cleveland is smaller than many more dangerous US cities, but it has some very poor neighborhoods. Things are looking up for the region though, with so many jobs in healthcare in Cleveland and the manufacturing and business sectors strong.
Cleveland University Circle has about the same crime as Cambridge MA in the 1970s. Most students would not avoid MIT or Harvard for reasons of crime back then or today. I feel that way about CWRU too. Its not too dangerous, but be cautious and learn the best ways to get around at night.