<p>New York City -- too expensive and too many diversions.</p>
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University City is not so great a few blocks away from campus (where the apartments often are) so I would never want to go to UPenn even though I felt safe during the day when in the middle of campus
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<p>As a visitor I'm sure you took the time to go visit these off-campus apartments and explore the neighborhood in depth rather than go for the truthiness of first impressions, right?</p>
<p>"As a visitor I'm sure you took the time to go visit these off-campus apartments and explore the neighborhood in depth rather than go for the truthiness of first impressions, right?"</p>
<p>we spent quite a while in Philly and explored the area around Penn extensively. While I was on a campus tour with my mom, my dad was off exploring and driving around to check places out such as an area where one of our family friends lives off campus (this same friend was mugged in broad daylight right outside of fisher bennet hall on walnut street...BROAD DAYLIGHT/by 2 innocent looking girls!!!) and while exploring he said he saw what appeared to be a drug deal... I love Penns actual campus esp. the campus green, quad, and locust walk. but I dont feel as comfortable in UCity and having to live there b/c housing's not guaranteed all 4 yrs. I'd honestly feel safer at NYU even though its wayy more urban just b/c there are SO MANY people and students around all the time that it would be harder to be mugged in broad daylight like my friend was b/c UCity isn;t always as crowded w/ so many people (witnesses) which was what happened in her case....thats all I meant. I've known 2 people who were both mugged during the day at UPenn and just dont like Philly that much...thats all and Im sure some people love it still and have not had any bad experiences..sure people can get mugged in any big city, but usually this doesnt happen in broad daylight like in a crowded street around Washington Square Park at NYU b/c there are tons of people around walking on the sidewalks....at UPenn there can be lulls in traffic and pedestrians, which is how my 2 friends were mugged at daytime while still being cautious...</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure I've seen drug deals going down not three blocks off of Caltech's campus, and I'm pretty sure Pasadena is considered a pretty safe neighborhood.</p>
<p>Personally, I hated UCI's campus (spent a summer on an REU there). If you don't have a car there you're pretty hosed. I mean, I was a 10 minute car ride from the beach, and it took me two hours to get there via bus. Not to mention there's nowhere to actually go or hang out if you're on campus.</p>
<p>WashU is located in St. Louis, Missouri, rated the nation's most dangerous city.</p>
<p>NYU to me seems very unsafe, especially because there's no real "campus" you're mixed in with all of the New Yorkers. . . not fun.</p>
<p>Agreed with AtrophicWhisper.</p>
<p>There's such a thing as having a TOO diverse environment, and these are the distractions that CayugaRed is referring to.</p>
<p>New York City isn't always a terrible place to study, where you'll always be overwhelmed by the sheer number of ethnically and socioeconomically diverse people who just don't give a damn about your existence.</p>
<p>Though, if you end up at a place at Columbia University, you'll be more distracted by academic commitments than by the city. Which is good, the way it was meant to be.</p>
<p>Columbia is admittedly a more self-contained campus. NYU on the other hand...</p>
<p>Re: NYC</p>
<p>NYC is either the best place to study or the worst place to study depending on who the person is. I could never imagine myself living on a rural campus... there's just not enough things to do. I like being in crowds surrounded by skyscrapers, and not so much surrounded by forests and needing a car to go everywhere. Being closed off to the surrounding community is not a plus for me. Different preferences for different people... People either love NYC campuses or hate them, much like Cornell's.</p>
<p>On the other hand, yes, there are definitely plenty of distractions, so it's not so good for those who lose focus easily. If you like having a quad, NYC is a poor choice. If you want to go to Saturdays big football game with 50,000 other fans, go elsewhere. Yes, it's expensive. Dangerous? I don't know about that... but then again, I grew up in NYC, so maybe it's a different feeling for someone from Arizona.</p>
<p>Phead128 - WashU is actualy located in Clayton, a suburb of St. Louis. The area around campus is very safe, has a large park accross the street. Unless you decide to go downtown, the area around WashU has nothing in common with St. Louis. Like any large city, St. Louis has some areas which are not the best.</p>
<p>WashU is to St. Louis as Northwestern is to Chicago --- close enough to visit easily, but not actually in the city. The lion's share of the crime stats for the St. Louis metropolitan area come from the city itself, not suburban areas like Clayton.</p>
<p>I disagree with the statement that UDM is dangerous, that's just going off of crime rankings and picking the college that is in Detroit. The law school campus for UDM is on the riverfront, the one nice and safe area of Detroit near the stadiums and the GM building. Detroit's downtown only has about 5 square blocks I would walk by myself at night, but it's law school (the reason most people go to UDM that I know) is in this area.</p>
<p>From my understanding, Colgate is located in a pretty bland area. Nothing really near it.
Also, Detroit isn't that bad. Honestly, it is becoming nicer and nicer (relatively speaking of course). Detroit has some really great arts and culture venues!</p>
<p>I second any school in Philly and USC. Both are considered not very safe places (the college campus itself is generally safe, but the surroundings are less than comfortable)</p>
<p>Durham, NC (the home of Dook university) is a total s*ithole. </p>
<p>USC is also in a pretty bad area.</p>
<p>Dude, you dont know what a hole is til you have been to Poughkeepsie, home of very pretty Vassar, which has a legit WALL around it, for good reasons.</p>
<p>If somebody thinks Poughkeepsie is rough, they live a very sheltered life.</p>
<p>I know, "Poughkeepsie" sounds so cute....you think, how bad can it be? But to be fair, the thread title is about "worst" for various reasons, not necessarily crime stats and roughness. If it's a crummy college town, it's a crummy college town.</p>
<p>I go to Northwestern and Chicago definitely isn't a great "college city" - it's not focused on students. Boston's the best college city.</p>
<p>slecman: I politely disagree with your statement; that may be your opinion that Chicago isn't a great "college city" but understand that Chicago is a huge draw for many students--huge urban city with plenty of things to do, vibrant nightlife, and lots of opportunities for internships and whatnot. Obviously one of the top 5 most populated cities in America, if not top 3.</p>
<p>A lot of other cities mentioned here, like Poughkeepsie and Durham pale in comparison. This thread is about "worst college cities" and I certainly disagree that Chicago would fit under this category.</p>
<p>Most cities aren't focused on students, anyway. And those that are college cities where if you took away the university then the city would pretty much be nothing (like Syracuse or Cornell), aren't considered great college cities either. Boston just so happens to have probably over half its population to be college students. Chicago has many universities too around and within it, but Boston probably has more. </p>
<p>Since you go to Northwestern, I would've thought you would've said Evanston isn't a great college city, which would make sense, because it's just another upper middle class suburb, and because NU isn't in Chicago, to be technical about it. And NU-Evanston town-gown relations aren't so hot either.</p>