jazzymom

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.

A2Wolves6

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.

smart.cookie

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!

fa-la-la-lena

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)

IAmYourFather

Durham, NC (the home of Dook university) is a total s*ithole.

USC is also in a pretty bad area.

ekmom

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.

CayugaRed2005

If somebody thinks Poughkeepsie is rough, they live a very sheltered life.

jazzymom

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.

slecman

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.

hotasice

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.

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.

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.

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.

smart.cookie

How horrible for you that you live in a gorgeous city. Honestly, have you ever seen the part of LA that USC is in?

GiggitusMaximus

uconn cause there's like nothing near it
philly because it's dirty and unsafe
Bryant and Quinnipiac both have like 5 buildings near their entrances if I remember correctly
I heard the SUNY Buffalo had horrible weather

collegbounder

Anywhere in upstate NY

Hunt

I've spent lots of time in New Haven, New York, and Durham, and it's true that all those cities have pros and cons. But the idea that they are unsafe is really overstated. If you use even the minimum of common sense, there will always be other people around and you are not likely to be mugged. Of course, if you leave your stuff unattended, or your door unlocked, you are likely to have problems. So don't do that. In New York, you will definitely see crimes around NYU and elsewhere, but it will be low-level drugdealing, prostitutes, etc. It will not be roving bands of thugs mugging NYU students.

ferryboat10

Chicago has the UPass, fast shuttle buses downtown, nightlife, liberal cops. Except for complete disregard for pedestrians and lack of all-ages concerts in the north side, it's a great big city for students.