So this might seem like a weird question, but growing up around the Philadelphia area, I’ve always been interested in Temple, and now that I’ve been accepted it’s easily one of my top schools at the moment. But growing up in the area has also exposed me to a very wide range of topics surrounding Temple, specifically crime. It’s no secret that Temple probably isn’t in the nicest area of the city, and while I’ve heard from tours and students that the campus is very secure, I have also heard stories about crimes occurring both on and off of campus. Beyond this, I’ve heard that Temple does not guarantee housing to upper class students, and living off campus in North Philadelphia isn’t something that I would really like to do unless I knew that I would be safe. Is there anybody here that’s a former or current student that can vouch for the safety of the school and the off campus student neighborhoods, because it’s something that I’ll be forced to consider should I decide to attend Temple.
I am a parent of a current student. My DD lives off campus and has never felt unsafe. That said, she does go onto campus and stay late but is never alone going home and takes advantage of the escort and shuttle service – both of which are door to door. Clearly, the farther off campus you go, the sketchier the neighborhood becomes but there are a ton of apartments within the first 3-4 blocks of campus.
Good luck!
My son is at Temple. He transferred,and so he never lived on campus. He was held up when living in Center City, on a seemingly safe block. He had a phone pickpocketed on the subway. He does not seem to have had any trouble since moving to North Philly. A lot of blocks in the area are gentrifying rapidly; you’ll see a lot of remodeling and construction going on in the neighborhood. You’ll learn very quickly where and when it’s safe to venture onto certain streets. Girard, for example, is pretty safe by daylight, but there are stretches you might want to avoid after dark. The neighborhood can shift radically from block to block. Temple is a huge university. More than 20,000 undergraduates attend, and the vast majority will never experience anything more than, perhaps, some petty property crimes. Philly reminds me of YC in the '70s: everybody had some brush with crime, but it was rarely as bad as outsiders portrayed it.
i agree 100 percent with above poster, im mom of current student
I applied to Temple, so I’ve been reading up on the location. If you’re street smart, you should be fine. Temple actually has the largest police force of any American university.
Yes but police force has limited jurisdiction off campus, i think it is within certain radius of campus.
They also seem to have good relationship with philly police dept precint that surrounds temple, it is safer on campus than many realize, and super close to campus is safe too.
Was there yesterday with my parents just walking around outside while my sister was auditioning at Pennsylvania Ballet. We saw so many police on campus! Literally every couple of minutes. Personally, I would feel safe on campus, but I don’t think I would ever live off campus more than a block or two. We went back at night to drive around and you can almost visualize the line of where you go and where you don’t go. The lighting at night is amazing. Temple be be in not the best area, but I think the University definately does everything possible and at any expense to ensure safety.