Self-Contained Urban Campuses

That’s fair. I questioned the BC observation already because the OPs initial statement was sort of contradictory - liking BU and BC for similar urban-ness. Hopefully they come back and expand.

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DePaul University. With the L tracks running right through, and a station overlooking the campus.

Boston is a big city, so I wonder if the OP is keen to have that feeling of a bustling environment around them/easily accessible but smaller cities wouldn’t give enough of that same cosmopolitan vibe?

So Brown may be less compelling because Providence is rather small, with a mellow vibe. So they might be seeking schools in NYC, Chicago, Boston, SF, LA, Seattle… hard to say when the size dips enough to be considered less exciting.

My urban loving kid thought Providence and Minneapolis were rather dull (personal take, no offense intended. She’s at UCLA and it’s great for her. Very contained as a campus, Westwood is a fun destination neighborhood and all of LA is accessible

I would say that USC, Occidental, Berkeley (as a fun area with SF very accessible), Northwestern, UChicago, all the Boston schools mentioned plus Hardvard and MIt, UWashington, Barnard/Columbia, Fordham. Emory in ATL/Georgia Tech. Tulane—but then again it depends on the urban energy the OP is after.

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Hi! Sorry for the confusion. I liked how close BC and Tufts are to Boston, while still having its own campus. They had easily accessible shuttles to get the the city, which I really liked.

However, I didn’t like Emerson because it felt very suffocating and there wasn’t like a defined space for the college. I hope that helps clear some of the confusion.

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UCLA is very much a self-contained bubble, with Westwood serving as a kind of integrated college town within the bubble. But I wouldn’t call the surrounding area particularly urban compared to centralized cities like Boston, New York, Chicago, or San Francisco. It’s more suburban/sprawl. Lots of fun things to do in any event.

Ditto for UT and Austin. While not exactly a big city, Austin has a strong energy/vibe like a lot of cities.

The University of San Francisco also probably fits the bill. As does Berkeley.

Maybe the University of Washington and Seattle too?

UW & UCLA for sure. Others that I haven’t seen mentioned would be Ohio State, South Carolina, & Case.

I was thinking about USF earlier, but it’s split into two separate campuses a block away from each other. Or maybe it’s one campus with a bunch of residential homes in the middle. Really a weird setup. My wife went there for undergrad.

Now that I think of it, USC, where I went to grad school, is split into two campuses. You have the main University Park campus, and then you have the Health Sciences campus with the medical school and hospital on the other side of downtown LA.

Great city. Great campus. Great merit. u of Arkansas.

Bates is in a small city and has its own campus. Not a city with high rises, but plenty of restaurants and shopping in the area. It’s definitely not rural or suburban.

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Commenters seem to have greatly expanded the meaning of “urban” well beyond what the OP initially intended.

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Here’s what the OP originally intended:

So by that definition, and by this one—

—I think nearly all of these suggestions are appropriate. Clearly, urban is open to interpretation.

If OP seeks a big city campus that is self-contained, Wash U St. Louis seems to fit the bill. Though maybe it’s too far from the city center?

Like everyone, I’m a little confused by the original question. DS wants I think the opposite - where the city blends into the university - so he liked BU and GW. He didn’t like Penn (thought it was too separate, though I disagree). If you mean clearly delineated borders from the city, I’d say Carnegie Mellon is in Pittsburgh but feels decidedly separate (unlike Pitt where the city sort of blends into the school).

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I laugh at these threads.

The issue of whether a campus is self-contained or not feels like a big deal when you are visiting, but is usually a non-issue once a kid gets to college. I don’t know ANYONE who disliked their college experience because the campus border was amorphous (BC) or too much traffic running through it (BU) or required public transportation to get downtown (Tufts) or was high on a hill overlooking something else (Brandeis).

I’d encourage anyone whose kid is looking at colleges to focus on the quality of life issues that make a difference once a kid is living on campus! Kids who don’t like Penn don’t like it because it’s got a pre-professional vibe that’s hard to counteract if you are majoring in archaeology and antiquity (Penn has FANTASTIC offerings in ancient history so I’m not suggesting otherwise). Not because it either is or is not “urban enough”. Kids who don’t like BC don’t like it because of the sports/rah rah culture, not because Newton is too close and Brighton is too far (they are both at the campus borders, with students living in both places) or because Chestnut Hill is too amorphous (you can live in Brighton but park your car in Chestnut Hill- that’s how integrated BC is to the surrounding places).

Focus on what counts! A kid who loves the vibe at Tufts and BU is likely not interested in Middlebury or Williams- great- urban, not rural. But where the campus begins and ends doesn’t impact daily life once you get there- especially since your dorm assignment is likely random anyway.

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I had no idea the Charles had been canonized! :wink:

Would a student at Fordham-Rose Hill be as happy at Fordham-Lincoln Center or vice versa? They have a very different feel. At RC, you know that you are on a college campus. I don’t know how many times I was in the LC area (or GWU) and didn’t know there was a college in the area.

When I heard that I commented in YouTube. The narrator is from the South so allowances have to be made.

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The narrator is from FL so saying he’s from the South is debatable. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: (I’ll overlook the insult since I am from the South. Bless your heart. :wink:)

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Students at Fordham end up taking classes on both campuses or socialize with friends in both places. That’s my point…are you going to turn down a fantastic job editing a professors book because your workspace is on the “other” campus?? Are you going to turn down your spot at a directors showcase for a spring actors because it’s on the wrong side of town??

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I know the Southern meaning of that phrase! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

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Maybe born in the panhandle? :wink: