Big city or something more rural? Does it matter?

StPaulDad
Mon, 25 Feb 2019 17:09:34 +0000

A lot of those great internships the kids are expecting are based more on the school’s relationship with certain companies than on any physical proximity. A well-placed alum 75 miles away is worth a lot more than having NBC be only three stops down from campus. And in smaller towns the local hospitals and companies are often very closely aligned with local schools because the small communities thrust everyone together (in a good way.)

Another consideration is the car. My DD is in a suburban PA school that’s only 90 minutes from NYC and not much further from DC. They pile into someone’s car and head into town for a day or a weekend and it doesn’t cost a ton or require immense planning.

But honestly this whole thing comes down to who the individual kid is and what they want to experience. There are bubbles on every campus all over the country, and there are kids who need to get off the campus of every one of those same schools. There are touring bands and comedians, on-campus theater and parties, movies in public space and a ton of stuff online, so in many respects most schools can be pretty similar. If you must see tall buildings or eat at a variety of restaurants or Shop then you may need to be nearer a big city. I might quietly point out that kids who need those things might not be getting the entire point of college since all of that stuff will be there when they graduate.