<p>Could anyone please compare the general safety of the campuses and surrounding areas of these urban campuses. I have visited some of them but not all and have mixed feelings about each campus even though they are all in urban areas. Is there really any difference at all regarding how closed off the campuses are or how integrated they are, crime that happens near or on campus, the surrounding neighborhoods, measures the schools take to keep students safe, off-campus housing options, how well lit or well-trafficed they are by pedestrians at all hours, transportation options for students either to shuttle them around campus or to take them into the city, etc? The schools I'm curious to learn more about are:</p>
<p>Yale
UPenn
Columbia
U Chicago
NYU
Fordham (rose hill campus in the Bronx)
Duke (know its not urban but have heard things about Durham)
Emory
Catholic U of America
Creighton (in Omaha, i know, but I heard the area's not the best)
Marquette
Boston U
Loyola U of Chicago</p>
<p>I am not able to visit all of these schools obviously, so I would appreciate any information about safety and the neighborhoods. I am trying to eliminate schools from a rather lengthy list, and also am trying to gain more information for my parents who are concerned about schools in urban areas and whether or not they are all dangerous or if there are differences. Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Some neighborhoods are better than others, but honestly, if students at these schools ran any significantly higher risk of violent crime or murder than students elsewhere, it'd be all over the news, right? Penn's in a less than attractive neighborhood, but its campus security draws rave reviews. It has to - the future of the university depends on it.</p>
<p>BTW, Emory has an Atlanta address but it's profoundly suburban. You can see Atlanta proper from there, but you can't walk to it, and the MARTA doesn't reach that far out.</p>
<p>New Haven, CT definitely isn't a great place, but the area surrounding Yale gets a bad rap. I've visited there, and Yale's campus is distinctly separate from the more gritty surrounding area. Lots of people walking, very pretty and heavily treed, several little shops and such. IMO Yale is like every kid's idea of what college is. Don't let the idea that New Haven sucks turn you away from Yale.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Yale
UPenn
Columbia
U Chicago
NYU
Fordham (rose hill campus in the Bronx)
Duke (know its not urban but have heard things about Durham)
Emory
Catholic U of America
Creighton (in Omaha, i know, but I heard the area's not the best)
Marquette
Boston U
Loyola U of Chicago
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Boston U, NYU, and Columbia aren't even remotely dangerous. Columbia is in a 'dull' area, but it certainly isn't in the same level as those other schools you listed. NYU is probably in one of the safest locations in any major US city. And I didn't notice anything wrong with Boston U either when I visited there.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies so far. FYI, the schools I have visited are Penn, Chicago, Catholic, Marquette, and Loyola Chicago, so if you want to make any comparisons with those areas to other schools, that could work. Thanks for the replies so far! I've done plenty of searches on the safety of those schools on CC but really any new info is helpful.</p>
<p>While Penn isn't exactly in a NICE area, I wouldn't say it's dangerous there. Same goes for most of the schools on your list - they will be perfectly safe for anyone who exercises moderate caution (e.g. no walking off-campus alone at 3 AM, that kind of thing).</p>
<p>UChicago is NOT in a nice part of town. That being said, I'm sure that if you are careful/wary, you will be okay. But it's not the kind of place you would want to walk through alone on a dark night. Or even a not-so-dark night.</p>
<p>I find Hyde Park to be very comfortable and very wealthy. (Obama lives in the neighborhood). I've never felt particularly unsafe walking around at night, but I do keep aware and stay in relatively populated areas.</p>
<p>I don't mean to single you out, but I am getting a little frustrated with these perceptions of South Side Chicago as being a terrible place. People live here and raise families here. And yes, many of them are not white.</p>
<p>As far as how the schools compare to each other, I really can't answer that. You might feel safer on some campuses over others. The best way to determine for sure is to visit if the school is still on your list come next April.</p>
<p>
[quote]
NYU is probably in one of the safest locations in any major US city.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I definitely agree. It's located in a neighborhood that's alive pretty much 22 hours a day. I used to live in that area and saw plenty of people pretty much at all times except for maybe the 4am-6am hours. The Columbia area (Morningside Heights) does go to sleep, but I still wouldn't say it's dangerous.</p>
<p>NYU is extremely safe. I visited there, and there were top of the knoth security systems (card swipes at every door, including buildings), and an armed private police force of over 300 policemen scouting the park and serving as guards at buildings. If anyone tried to break in they'd be shot up within a second. I have no qualms walking around at 3 am there even, knowing I got prob. dozens of policemen backing me up (night watches too). They also got a shuttle system that you call and they take you anywhere in case you don't want to walk( for safety or for lazy people)</p>
<p>Any school is going to be safe, the question is if the area surrounding it is safe. In the case for NYU the surrounding area is very safe. It's in downtown Manhattan, so you have very little to worry about. BU and Emory are safe as well. Columbia and Yale on the other hand have rather unsafe surrounding areas.</p>
<p>Morningside Heights (where Columbia is located) is VERY safe. It has a really bad rep for being unsafe because it's near Harlem and was a crime haven in the 70s and 80s, but having spent most of my summer there I can safely say that you could not hope for a better area. It's very vibrant with lots to do. People are always around. A lot of families live in the area. Columbia itself has its very own subway stop (take the 1 to 116th and Broadway); get off on one side and you're right in front of Columbia's campus, get off on the other and you're right in front of Barnard. I did see a fair share of homeless people, etc but it's New York...it's not like NYU's area has any less. I'd be willing to say that I felt safer in Morningside than I did near NYU, but I think that could be attributed to the fact that I knew the area better. The campus is directly on Broadway and there are always people patrolling. It's a gorgeous, SAFE area and I would definitely recommend anyone who thinks otherwise to explore. You'll be surprised. </p>
<p>Morningside Heights is part of the the West Side of Manhattan and thus, a magnet for families. Also, the area has gotten more "hip" in recent years. The old stationary stores, pizza shops, bars and delies have been replaced by pricier restaurants. And by the way, Harlem is quickly becoming unaffordable for middle class folks. More than a few apartments/condos in Harlem are selling for the high six figures.</p>
<p>Actually, the Obamas live in Kenwood, a predominantly black upper-middle class neighborhood immediately north of Hyde Park. I lived in Chicago for many years. Hyde Park itself is a pretty safe upper-middle class neighborhood, but some (I stress <em>some</em>) of the surrounding neighborhoods are a bit dicey. To the north, Kenwood is fine. To the southeast along the lakefront, South Shore is a mostly black middle-class neighborhood, pretty safe though you'd probably have little reason to go there. But Woodlawn to the south and Englewood to the West are generally poorer, higher-crime areas. So basically a lot of U of C students don't venture very far from Hyde Park, especially at night, unless it's to go downtown or to the North Side---a bit of a schlep. It creates a kind of insular feel to the Hyde Park/University of Chicago community. Some people like that; it's like having your own university village, with a big city nearby. As a former North Sider who considered going to grad school there and decided against, I thought it felt too cut off from the livelier parts of the city. But crime wasn't really the issue.</p>
<p>Crime is an issue in New Haven. In the undergrad residence halls and on the main parts of campus and adjacent business strips you'll be fine, but my W & I (and our then-infant daughter) had our car broken into and burglarized twice on the street in front of our University-owned apartment building less than a block from the University's ice arena. Stuff like that happens all the time.</p>
<p>Columbia is much safer. Columbia has invested large sums in "pacifying" the surrounding neighborhood which was crime-infested in the 1970s but now is one of the safest areas in NYC, with Columbia security officers patrolling in cars, on foot, stationed in booths, etc. Also, in the nicer University-owned buildings where many faculty live, there are doormen on duty in the evening. At first it's almost a creepy, police-state feel; you feel there's at least one pair of University-paid eyes on you at all times. But you get used to it, especially as you get to know the security people.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies so far--very helpful. Anyone got any input on:
Fordham (rose hill campus in the Bronx)
Duke (know its not urban but have heard things about Durham)
Catholic U of America
Creighton (in Omaha, i know, but I heard the area's not the best)
Marquette
Loyola U of Chicago</p>
<p>At Yale, don't go out into the city. New Haven is one dangerous place (I just visited recently, they also, off topic, gave everyone at the tour/sessions $20 parking tickets...New Haven%<em>()@#</em>) </p>
<p>If you go to Yale, there's enough on campus. Once we got even 10 feet out of Yale, it was prob worse than the worst parts of Brooklyn or anywhere. Awful city, the only reason it matters in the world is because Yale honors it with its presence. I never saw a city as bad in my life, and I've been a lot of places.</p>
<p>re the U of C: I don't think that Kenwood is "predominantly black" although it is indeed upper-middle class and does have a large number of relatively well-to-do black residents. Kenwood/Hyde Park is probably one of the most integrated neighborhoods in any large city--a major plus, IMHO--and has a lot of gorgeous and large houses. The problem is the people from the surrounding areas that come into Hyde Park/Kenwood to prey on the residents. That said, my impression is that things have become a lot safer there in the last 20 years.</p>
<p>Columbia is another place that used to be in a marginal area twenty years ago, but an area if one simply exercised the normal cautions of someone living in NYC, one was generally fine. A friend (Columbia grad student) who lived on 106 and Riverside Drive was robbed at gunpoint on the street, once. On the other hand, so were friends who lived across town in the 90s. I bow to the more recent knowledge of other posters.</p>
<p>All of the NYC schools are in neighborhoods that have attractions that make the safety compromises of city living worth considering. New Haven, on the other hand, has little to offer, IMHO. But Yale is wonderful.</p>