If you want the low tuition of in state public but less academic competition than college park, consider Salisbury State, Towson, or Saint Mary’s. Towson has two private hospitals bordering it’s campus— GBMC and St. Joe’s and is about 15 minute drive from Hopkins and Maryland.
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Yes, I know a student there and the food issues were a real thing. On the other hand, it was enough of an issue that the school was aware of it, and should be something they can fix.
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Sorry, we are done with applications. 20 schools are enough.
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Most of my kids’ colleges have required freshmen to live on campus, all required students in dorms to have a meal plan. My kids in honors had nice freshman dorms. I’m not fond of the crazy prices for meal plans.
I grew up in the New Haven suburbs, spent six years in Baltimore during my husband’s residency, went to college at Emory and have lived in Atlanta for over twenty years. I agree with you about the areas around Yale. I don’t think most people realize how bad New Haven is - but it’s actually not as bad as it used be, and I would happily risk my life for a decent slice of pizza.
I too consider Baltimore to be dicier than Atlanta. I didn’t allow my kids to apply to JHU even though their grandfather is an alum and he really wanted them to consider it. I have never felt particularly unsafe on Georgia Tech’s campus, but there are shootings and car jackings in the area all the time. As I said in my post above, safety is a legitimate concern on any urban campus. The students need to be aware of their surroundings and use a little common sense. On the other hand, horrible things can happen anywhere. Would anyone have thought the University of Idaho was unsafe until recently?
Memphis is comparable to Baltimore in terms of crime rates. According to a list published in Forbes of most dangerous cities in America, Baltimore comes in at number 5, Memphis at number 6, Atlanta and New Haven didn’t make the list (nor do NYC and Chicago) I didn’t find the area around Rhodes to be particularly bad, and like Georgia Tech, the campus itself is very safe. You can look up the Clery reports if you want to compare campus crime statistics. I linked an old thread about safety concerns at Rhodes in case you haven’t seen it.
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There are three easy things students can do to keep themselves safe on an urban campus- and if you read the local newspapers of colleges your kids are interested in, you will likely be surprised how seldom students take advantage of these things.
1- The safety van. Colleges provide these vans for a reason- so students don’t have to walk back to the dorm alone at midnight when the library closes, or when they are done in the lab or music studio at 1 am. The vans are often empty except for the day before a vacation, when students are taking them to the train, Greyhound, airport.
2- The blue lights. A member of campus police is usually 90 seconds away-- patrolling- and can escort a student wherever they need to go. My kids tell me “Nobody ever used the emergency system since it wasn’t an emergency- just someone feeling creeped out”. I have never read of a punitive charge for a student who called campus police for being creeped out— that’s what the security forces and first responders are for- to help prevent a creepy situation from becoming a dangerous situation.
3- The security infrastructure in place on virtually every campus- automatically locking doors which students prop open for their friends; swiping systems so that unauthorized people don’t have access to libraries, labs, dorms; limited access badges (which students REALLY hate) which means that if a kid drops out during the semester, their access is terminated, etc. I know- your friend who dropped out really wants to keep living with his friends; your friend who is taking a leave of absence “just” wants to wander down the hall and catch up with the gang, etc. But there is a reason colleges have invested millions of dollars in security systems, and that is so the ONLY people who have access to a room, a building, a facility, are the people who belong there.
I get that students don’t want a police chaperone to go from the pool to their dorm late at night… but that’s what the police are for. And the security van. And if the pool is located a 20 minute walk from the dorm- through the city, not a locked campus gate, as most urban athletic facilities are-- what rationale is there for complaining about the city being “dicey”?
And yes, I’ve noted before- people seem unduly worried about a “dicey” neighborhood when it is majority POC. Burlington VT- one of the whitest cities in the whitest state in the country- do people comment on CC about the “dicey” neighborhood around the campus? The locals sure do-- and cannot figure out how to prevent crime in the area. But is the crime less criminal if the perpetrators are white?
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First of all, I agree with you. Students need to utilize the safety resources that most all campuses provide. I sincerely apologize if my use of the word “dicey” was offensive to you or anyone else reading this. Personally, I would use that term to describe any area with a high violent crime rate. I have never been to Burlington VT, but I would be equally as concerned about safety there as I would in an area with a similar crime rate where the majority of residents are people of color. Crime is crime. I guess my point about the University of Idaho was lost in there somewhere. I can’t imagine a more horrific crime, and it was perpetuated by a white man on a campus that most people would consider safe.
I lived in Baltimore for a time and would not be comfortable sending my kid to Johns Hopkins. That’s me, other people will certainly disagree. I would not have reservations about my kids attending Georgia Tech or Rhodes - both of which are in majority black neighborhoods. OP has a kid at Georgia Tech and will be visiting Rhodes and can decide for herself what she thinks of the area near the school. If you read through the Rhodes thread I linked, the Rhodes students and parents who weighed in felt safe at Rhodes. As I stated up thread, I think Rhodes is a great school and a very good choice for someone considering medical school. I in no way meant to malign Rhodes or the Memphis community. Also, FWIW, the murder of the Rhodes student last year was a home invasion off campus. Much like the University of Idaho case, It was a terrible tragedy that could have occurred anywhere.
I would also point out that if you look at the Clery reports from any of these schools, it is very obvious that the majority of campus crimes are in fact committed by other students. College aged women are at much higher risk of being sexually assaulted by another student than they are of being victim of a violent crime perpetrated by an outsider.
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I agree with much of what you post- except that I didn’t find JHU to be any less security conscious than other urban campuses. And because safety is such a high priority, I think students likely keep themselves (and each other) safer than on campuses where it’s a “no big deal” type of thing (until it becomes a big deal).
Agree 100% that Clery is an excellent resource for families to use-- and to kick off a discussion with their kids- about safety. A resource which many people ignore.
Idaho- what can anyone say- except that the time delay between when one of the homes residents observed a stranger in the house, and the time when the crime was reported-- yes, she was in shock. yes, she locked her bedroom door, etc. But it does reflect a bit of “safety bubble”-- that bad things can’t happen here. I would assume? perhaps naively? That a student in an urban environment would have freaked out and screamed (and then called 911) at the presence of a stranger in the middle of the night?
We can only continue to talk to our kids about staying safe. Kids get drunk and fall out of windows at rural colleges in safe areas all the time; kids drink from a communal punch bowl which is laced with a date rape drug on suburban campuses surrounded by upscale neighborhoods; and of course- spring break, a bacchanal which takes place off-campus, but students still perceive themselves to be in a cloistered environment, and there are bad people preying on spring break partiers every single year in every warm/beach locale.
No need to apologize- we understand each other!!!
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Thanks to everyone for looking into safety. I guess I became a bit too nervous about Rhodes safety. Friend of mine did not send her daughter to Rhodes due to safety concern. On the other hand, I kind of surprised when people state that they will not send their kids to Ga Tech because of Altanta crime. I think in my mind that they just read crime posts and have very limited knowledge what is going on on the ground. @Greatpyrmom if you say that Rhodes is as safe as Ga Tech, and you are on the same page with me for John Hopkins and area around Yale, that confirms that we have hope with Rhodes.
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Just curious how far past Yale’s gates people think is a problem? Asking because I visited Yale about 5 years ago and stayed in a hotel maybe 6 blocks from campus and walked back and forth and felt fine. Was that in the area that people are concerned about?
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I felt unsafe right outside, but all people are different. I think I was there 3-4 years ago, prior to COVID. My understanding COVID made all depressed areas to decline.
Yale has worked with private developers on a retail corridor-- nice restaurants, boutique type stores, etc. around campus. And there are beautiful parts of New Haven- old, gorgeous houses, many of which are owned by faculty and staff. I read a recent story about a private library in the middle of New Haven- one of the few private libraries left in the US (I think membership is $30 a year) which is in a historic building with original architectural details… but I digress.
Like any city, you can’t keep people off a public street-- even in front of a J Crew or an expensive jewelry store- because you don’t like the way they look.
MMRose- there are a couple of nice hotels which are in easy walking distance to campus. I’ve stayed in all of them I think at some point or another, and have never felt unsafe. But I’m an urban person and cities don’t bother me. Also important to remember that Yale New Haven Hospital is blocks from campus (not miles away, as some teaching hospitals are) which is a huge, bustling, 24/7 operation with staff coming and going, ambulances coming and going, lots of street activity at all hours adjacent to campus. So New Haven is not a “roll up the sidewalks at 9 pm” kind of city…
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I think we derailed from the topic. DD is not going to Yale…
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Good luck to your D. My point was that EVERY campus has safety issues- some obvious (like being in the middle of a diverse, bustling city) and some not (like being in a “safe” rural area where kids are STILL victims of crime, they just aren’t as safety conscious).
Good luck to your D wherever she lands.
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@momsearcheng I think my DD applied to similar schools. My DD isn’t sure which one yet and we are waiting on a few. She applied to Furman because many people recommended it as a good match for my DD and one she would be happy at but we haven’t visited. She visited Rhodes and loved it and it became her top choice over Richmond (which is good because she was deferred from Richmond) but she never spent time downtown in Memphis. But, her tour and interview left her really feeling like it was a place she would be happy at and do well academically. She felt like it was a great place to help her towards medical school. She was also accepted at Trinity Univ. which we haven’t visited but she thinks she would really like it to. Good luck on your DD search.
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Baltimore is very much a ‘neighborhood’ city. Some people never leave their neighborhoods. JHU is in a very very nice neighborhood, surrounded by old (huge) churches, stately homes, other universities (Loyola, Notre Dame). It is really lovely. I think students would be more likely to head to Towson (which is in a different city and county so crime statistic reported in a different matrix) for a night on the town than into downtown Baltimore although some would go to baseball games or to the waterfront areas of Fells Point.
I don’t think anyone would turn down JH medical school or UM med (or nursing, dentistry, law, or pharmacy) and those are in MUCH more crime ridden areas.
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Just because there are much worse neighborhoods in Baltimore doesn’t mean that the area around JHU doesn’t have an issue with crime . Here is an article detailing the recent uptick in violent crime on and around the campus.
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DD just got into BS/DO program at NSU (Nova South Eastern). She can choose between 3+4 and 4+4 and she can switch from 3+4 to 4+4 later…
We are waiting on scholarships from them. She attended Shark week 1.5 weeks ago and had in-person interview for Presidential, DO and Razor Edge Research.
Daughter is jumping as Kangaroo around house from happiness 
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Very good!
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