<p>WHich schools are ugly and/or in ugly areas, but excellent academic institutions?</p>
<p>USC is in an "ugly area." Well that's what most people say but I've been in worse areas living in the Bay Area. If you can handle Oakland and Richmond, I think the area around USC isn't as bad. I've gone to parties in Richmond and Oakland where people have gotten into fights and gotten shot. The area around USC when I visited didn't seem like that type of environment. However, I can't say the neighborhood is Westwood either.</p>
<p>brandeis is not a very attractive campus. and clark and holy cross are unfortunately stuck in worcester.</p>
<p>I've heard that New Haven, CT where Yale is is a hell hole as well as South Bend where Notre Dame is. The area around Maryland ain't too hot either.</p>
<p>Well, you heard wrong. ND is one of the most beautiful college campuses ever; isolated, but not in a bad or ugly town. And New Haven is a vibrant active city with a plethora of cultural assets, including great restaurants and shopping. Downtown New Haven is a terrific destination.</p>
<p>New Haven and South Bend would be two different kinds of "hell hole" (although some would dispute that characterization[edit: like the person above me]). New Haven has a reputation as dangerous, whereas South Bend mostly has a reputation as boring.</p>
<p>South Bend is the only city I've ever seen bad enough to group along with Detroit and Flint.</p>
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And New Haven is a vibrant active city with a plethora of cultural assets, including great restaurants and shopping. Downtown New Haven is a terrific destination.
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<p>HAH. You gotta be kidding me. On one side of the street you have homeless people begging for a nickel, and on the other you have a world class institution.</p>
<p>Try Poughkeepsie. An exercise in urban blight. That's why Vassar has a wall around it, a beautiful, gothic wall.</p>
<p>Drexel's a good school, but they have some buildings that inspire suicide</p>
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South Bend is the only city I've ever seen bad enough to group along with Detroit and Flint.
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I think the problem with my perspective is that I grew up in Detroit, have spent time in Flint, went to college in South Bend and have done alot of work lately in New Haven.</p>
<p>"Try Poughkeepsie. An exercise in urban blight. That's why Vassar has a wall around it, a beautiful, gothic wall."</p>
<p>That explains why my family didn't spend much time in the actual city when we went out there. Marist was fairly scenic, and the area surrounding the city seemed pretty nice.</p>
<p>"I think the problem with my perspective is that I grew up in Detroit, have spent time in Flint, went to college in South Bend and have done alot of work lately in New Haven."</p>
<p>I'd guess most people don't think that badly of South Bend because mainly see Notre Dame's campus. I went there for a hockey tournament and didn't get to see any of campus, just the city. The drive to the rink was mostly shady abandoned warehouses with cement-block windows, and the ice rink itself was a dank abandoned WWII munitions factory.</p>
<p>UPenn - I know 3 people who have been mugged/beaten up in the vicinity around Penn - it's a dangerous area. Yale is also in a bad area.</p>
<p>yale isn't in a bad area. i lived right next to there. If you have no common sense then its a bad area (same with columbia and penn) but if you are somewhat reasonable you know where not to go</p>
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On one side of the street you have homeless people begging for a nickel, and on the other you have a world class institution.
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<p>When I visited Harvard, all the homeless people, beggars, and ragged street vendors were on the same side of the street as the world class institution =D</p>
<p>What made it far more amusing was that some of them were wearing Harvard shirts.</p>
<p>"I think the problem with my perspective is that I grew up in Detroit, have spent time in Flint, went to college in South Bend and have done alot of work lately in New Haven"</p>
<p>Wow that is a rough road. No wonder New Haven seemed so great by comparison!</p>
<p>University of Dallas
Penn
Chicago
Notre Dame</p>
<p>I was just going to say University of Dallas, perched up between highway 183 and highway 114.</p>
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The Penn campus and its immediately surrounding area are pretty safe (and, in response to the OP's original question, are also quite attractive). If you go several blocks in the wrong direction, however, it's a different story. The vast majority of Penn students never go those areas, and statistically it is extremely rare for a Penn student to be the victim of violent crime.</p>
<p>As previously mentioned, at most schools in heavily urban areas (Penn, Columbia, Chicago, Yale, etc.), the students generally know which areas to avoid.</p>
<p>Trinity College in Hartford... a preppy expensive school on a hill surrounded by slums</p>