@ScaredNJDad1 Yes, Hanover’s a very nice town, but the nearest thing that could almost sort of slightly be described as a major city is Manchester, with about 100,000 people, and that’s an hour and a half away.
Boston is only 2 hours away from Hanover. But it’s true that for an international, it is a consideration that the nearest international airport is a couple of hours away. It’s nice to be nearby to hop on a direct flight back to your home when you have to fly. My D is a Brown student and to get back home there are no direct, non-stop flights from Providence. But she can hop a train to Boston Logan Airport one hour away and catch direct flights anywhere.
This is a touchy subject for reasons no one really wants to go into. PM me, if you want to save this thread from descending into a black hole of contention I’ve visited both Cornell and Dartmouth and of the two, I would find Dartmouth the less depressing place personally if only because it is a smaller campus and easier to get around. It’s true that Cornell is the size of a small city, but let’s face it: any large university in the middle of nowhere is a city comprised mostly of people the same age who have never held a full-time job, are constantly sleeping around and who binge drink. In fact, there’s a word for it: ghetto.
What is so touchy about it?
How about the universities in your big international city? Have you considered attending one of them ?
@spayurpets I never even considered the whole nearest international airport thing, thank you.
“@hanna The use of the word civilized in that post implies, well more than implies, that Ithaca and Hanover are uncivilized. I would argue that both Ithaca and Hanover are more civilized than any city. Yes they are more rural than a city, but they are not actually rural.”
@ScaredNJDad1 Nope. I’m not implying Ithaca and Hanover are uncivilised at all. Far away or isolated from civilisation doesn’t by default mean uncivilised. Far away from civilisation, in the way I mean it at least, means far away from larger metropolitan areas. I realise that you had to infer what I meant by using that word, but what you extrapolated is a little ridiculous.
I have been to both campuses. They are beautiful. Having grown up in a big international city, I’d love the opportunity of spending a few years on either campus.
Re International travel, definitely take that into consideration. You feel less homesick if you are a direct flight away from home and it makes it possible to get home for shorter 4-5 day breaks. My D ruled out schools like Cornell, Colgate, UVA because of distance to airports with non-stop flights home. Obviously schools located in major metro areas have travel advantages, but schools within a two hour band around major airports seem to suffice e.g., Princeton, Dartmouth, Amherst, Brown. For my daughter, the two hour band played out in her decision about applying to Amherst and not Williams. While they seem very close and very similar schools, Williamstown is an additional 1/2 hour trip over the mountains and for some reason that makes it seem more remote and isolated than Amherst.
Some internationals are not going to care at all because the cost of going home is prohibitive no matter how far your school is to the airport.
When we looked at schools, one of our measurements was how far away the campus was from an airport that Southwest served. Ithaca is slightly more than two hours to Rochester, NY, while Hanover is about 1.5 hours from Manchester. Neither school did well on this measure and were eliminated.
Although both are rural college towns, they were very different from each other. Ithaca seemed more like a blue collar mill town, while Hanover was more like a leafy upscale suburb. That is borne out by the income levels and other demographics.
Hanover’s median household income level is $85,075.
http://www.city-data.com/city/Hanover-New-Hampshire.html
Ithaca’s median household income level is $27,150.
http://www.city-data.com/city/Ithaca-New-York.html
Housing values follow the same trends.
I don’t think that number for Ithaca is correct.
That is half the figure of NY State. It doesn’t make sense.
Also, Hanover has pockets of very high income people. The average family income is about $140,000 and median home values are a robust $450k.
International airport does not necessarily mean non-stop flight to your international city.
In regards to some of the comments here, I don’t think we need to try to convince the OP that he’ll like a small town setting like Ithaca or Hanover, however beautiful we believe them to be. I love small towns too (especially now that I’m older)! But some people just really like to be in the big cosmopolitan cities - as I did when I was in my 20s - and that’s fine too. When you’re used to living/working in places like London, Paris, NYC, HK, Tokyo, Bangkok, going to a small town to live (not holiday) feels like you’re in Timbuktu no matter how nice the natural scenery is.
Well, here goes. The subject of depression and its propensity in the Ivy League is complicated by the fact that Cornell, fairly or not, is often stereotyped as a place that triggers suicides. It’s part of the campus lore that several of them took the form of dives off bridges that dot the surrounding gorges. It’s not a pleasant subject, but it is the first thing I thought of when I read the subject line.
@circuitrider Oh, I don’t think that is the case. If you look through the several threads there is serious city name dropping of a jetsetter and a reference to “civilization”. I think this is just a case of a kid with a inaccurate view of college life and the offerings and opportunities afforded by schools outside major cities. Also, asking about Cornell and Dartmouth also suggests there is pressure to go to an Ivy League school first and foremost, and these two are assumed to be a bit easier to gain acceptance.
It was pretty obvious from the very first inquiry that the dynamic is not just about education.
The absolute numbers for these tragedies at Cornell can be low to zero for significant periods of time, making suggestions regarding their frequency unfair unless meaningful support for the suggestion can be provided. In fact, information that would indicate the opposite conclusion is available. This large university went from a period that included part of 2005 to the fall of 2009 without a single reported suicide (Inside Higher Ed).
@merc81 Yes, that partly is what led me to creating this post. I know it’s an extremely sensitive topic so I didn’t want to blatantly mention it, but Cornell is often stereotyped as a school known for a high suicide rate when in truth, the rate itself has been practically nonexistent. Either way, I just wanted to see how other people felt about the schools and whether their feelings mirrored the reputation Cornell has the tendency to have. Most have provided me with some great insight, so to them I offer my sincere gratitude.
@spayurpets Very true, a two hour drive really isn’t that bad. There seem to be a lot of great schools (such as Dartmouth) that are within two hours or so of Boston, and most major airlines fly to that city.
Just so you know, that is an absurd statement for the most part. Of course the presence of these great schools means the area isn’t rural in the same sense as a town in the middle of Nebraska that is not close to a university. But to make it sound like it isn’t all that different than being in NYC, Chicago, Los Angeles or San Francisco is just too much. There is nothing you could ever need that you cannot find in Hanover, NH? That is beyond laughable. However, you have gotten a lot of solid answers on here that hopefully can help you decide.
Of course many do! Why would you say such a thing?