<p>Without knowing what programs you are talking about, I think on the whole you have a better chance of finding a job in St Louis than Charlottesville, Virginia… </p>
<p>Keep in mind that no matter where you go to school, you can get a job anywhere in the country. Top-tier universities have excellent career centers and have companies from all across the country that recruit there. With a little bit of effort on your part and with assistance from the advisors, you shouldn’t have terrible difficulty finding a job when you are done with your program in a couple of years (provided that the economy recovers within a couple of years).</p>
<p>But, if you really want to stay where your University is located, then St Louis > middle of Virginia.</p>
<p>thank you for your advice,vbball~ en, my program is called “master of urban design”.</p>
<p>And BTY, I’m an Chinese student. From the interenet, I heard that St. Louis is the most dangerous U.S. city, I’m a little worried about this, can you provide me some information?</p>
<p>there are a number of threads about St Louis on this forum already. To summarize: those crime statistics are very skewed for a number of reasons. Every US city defines its regional boundaries in a different manner. The area known as “St Louis City” is a very small area. Most of the St. Louis region lives outside the “City”, and lives in “St Louis County” (which includes Clayton, University City, Frontenac, Ladue, Brentwood, etc). I believe that those crime studies also incorporate an area in the state of Illinois called East St Louis. That is 30+ minutes away from Wash U. St Louis City, which the studies are based on, only has 300,000 residents. Wash U is in St Louis County, along with 3 MILLION other residents that aren’t included in the survey. Also, according to the most recent year of this flawed survey, St Louis is no longer ranked the #1 most dangerous city. It was #1 a few years ago, but has improved each year since. </p>
<p>The area around Wash U is very nice. Amongst the highest-income areas in the midwest. Beautiful park across from campus, nice neighborhoods, shopping and restaurants, etc.</p>
<p>kun - let me reinforce what vbball is saying. I grew up in St. Louis and know it quite well, and she states it accurately. The crime they are talking about is centered in North St. Louis and East St. Louis, the latter of which is in Illinois as she also correctly states. Both are far from Wash U. Also for emphasis, St. Louis the city itself, as opposed to the metro area, is a smallish population, about 350,000 as of July 2007, compared to almost 3,000,000 in the metro area. So as a percentage of the CITY population, the crime numbers look worse. But again, the vast majority of this crime is within these areas of the city and metro area that no student with an ounce of sense would go in unless with a large group for community service or something, during the day.</p>
<p>The Wash U area itself is very upscale, very beautiful, and very safe. No place is absolutely safe, but with common sense you should have no trouble in your 4 years at Wash U. Put this crime factor out of your mind. It should have zero impact on your decision. And there is no question that for urban design and planning, St. Louis has more to offer than Charlottesville or anything within a couple hours of Charlottesville</p>
<p>Kun, I have to agree with vbball and fallenchemist. If you are interested in urban planning and looking for internships and jobs near your University, then St. Louis is going to give you more opportunities than Charlottesville. Also, to reiterate, WashU is far away from the bad neighborhoods of St. Louis, and is in a beautiful suburban area. The campus is gorgeous and surrounded by Forest Park on one side and the upscale suburb of Clayton. There are lots of great areas near the school --The Loop, The Central West End and Downtown Clayton. The kids rarely, if ever, go into Downtown St. Louis. However, for an urban planner, downtown might hold lots of opportunity</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone! I decided on WashU because they gave me full tuition as an Ervin Scholar, which UVa won’t be able to match. All your responses helped me realize that I’d be very happy there!</p>