<p>Great post JHS, and I would just like to share a bit of my personal experience going to more “dangerous” parts of the South Side. I spent the last two quarters tutoring kids from a high school on the south west side, and while my experience was mostly limited to being inside the school (interacting with kids that were a lot more similar than different from me) and taking the public bus to and from UChicago, I never saw any suspicious activity or felt threatened. The worse that I saw was somebody steal an Ipad from the hands of a person who was seated near the doors of the bus and then run off, which provoked a furious reaction from the rest of passengers, so much so that some got off the bus to see if they could run after the person. Again, it’s not like you should walk down alleyways at 2 am and expect to be completely safe, but honestly that’s stuff you shouldn’t do in any city and your attacker could fit any profile.</p>
<p>^^PMCM18. You represent the best of what Chicago stands for. Whatever your future career goals are continue being yourself and never lose your humanity. What I and some of the older alumni fear is that Chicago becomes too “preprofessional” and lose its true essence of what it means to get educated at “Chicago.” College is to learn, grow, make mistakes, and change majors and career aspirations along the way…including learning about and being a part of the real world environment in which we call the human race.</p>
<p>Yale isn’t in the best neighborhood
Columbia isn’t in the best neighborhood
Penn isn’t in the best neighborhood
Duke isn’t in the best neighborhood
East Palo Alto for years had one of the highest murder rates in the country.
In contrast, the President of the United States seems fine with Hyde Park and the Mayor of Chicago sends his kids to school here.</p>
<p>Hyde Park dangerous? Let me tell you my latest experience and decide for yourself.</p>
<p>I was at UofC first from 1980-83, as a post doc and then MBA student. Never had any problems. Daughter was an undergrad from 2003 to 2008. Other than bike theft (piece by piece it seemed!), no problems. I had a sabbatical year at UofC, living in Hyde Park. No problems. </p>
<p>I’ve lived in Washington DC for the past 7 years. Two weeks ago, walking up Connecticut Avenue from the metro stop near National Zoo, at 5 PM in the afternoon, I was mugged while on a crowded sidewalk, jumped from behind, forced to the ground, beaten on the head etc. Fortunately, the perp did no lasting damage. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that the area is considered one of the safest in DC. So stuff can happen anywhere, anytime to anyone. Don’t blame Hyde Park for the random stuff that can happen anywhere.</p>