<p>
</p>
<p>Yes, Pizzagirl (pizzagirl? wth?), they do say ‘yous’.</p>
<p>“As long as you are not out alone off campus after dark, which is pretty much the norm everywhere in the US, all should be fine.”</p>
<p>I don’t know which US you’re living in, but the one I’m familiar with has more than a few places where it’s not crazy to be out alone at night.</p>
<p>It is a general recommendation to not be out after dark alone in the big cities. There is a reason why campuses have escort services (and USC has a campus bus that travels between university owned off campus student housing and on campus stops) in order to protect students after dark.</p>
<p>^Ditto to what mdcissp said. The US I’m living in is urban. Maybe in rural America it’s perfectly normal to be out after dark and not be worried, but near bigger populated cities, especially if the college is within a short drive or walk to downtown, it’s smart to take caution after dark.</p>
<p>“pretty much the norm everywhere in the US, all should be fine.”</p>
<p>You guys do understand that the word “everywhere” is not a synonym for “where I live,” right?</p>
<p>alone as in “without a friend/companion” or alone as in “on a street where no other human being is visible”</p>
<p>The places in urban america where its okay to walk by oneself after dark are places where there is lots of street activity - to name some near major campuses - On M Street in georgetown - on 8th street in Greenwich village - in harvard square - </p>
<p>I am sure others could come up with other places.</p>
<p>The reason a general warning not to go off campus after dark is sensible, is because presumably a freshman newly arrived on campus doesnt KNOW where the busy, safe streets are - in some cases there is a gap of deserted streets between campus and the busy areas.</p>
<p>DD spent lots of time out alone in NYC. Our agreement was: after ten take a cab. Once she took her laptop to the all night Apple store way across town and 10. She was in the middle of a paper. She took a cab both way. I paid.</p>
<p>She lives in NYC now and takes the subway until 11:30, even from Brooklyn where her friends live. It’s her life!!! She isn’t going to stay in.</p>
<p>I go out alone at night all the time and walk around my home town. Huh? If I couldn’t, I would move. I go to the library (open to 9), have been to the jazz club and bars (open late – kind of tourist town) and even walk on the docks (we have water and boats and ferry yay!)</p>
<p>NYC has a lot of activity, as Brooklyn said in regards to the urban streets which are safer having lots of activity. Downtown Cincinnati and the areas around it are not safe after dark without the company of someone you know. That’s because most activity stops by about 10 in most areas, given that this is when nearly everything except bars and clubs close.</p>
<p>well GWU has dropped down on “the list”…
which is interesting since
MIT
BU
Columbia
Yale
Carnegie Mel
are on the list–and are urban</p>
<p>GWU dropped because kiddo felt there wasn’t enough campus feel.
Despite liking DC etc, there just was a feel of one city block running into the next one…</p>
<p>Other changes?</p>
<p>UNH-- every single student was in sweat pants, the nice little college town turned out to be a few sad restaurants, the visit we had set up with the department weeks in advance was a bust, and we never found a real campus center. I have a feeling we caught it on a bad day…but that’s how it went, and when a visit to URI 2 weeks later gave us an entirely different feeling (terrifically welcoming dept., bright-faced kids friendly to each other and to visitors, a bubbly tour guide full of information), we were sold. It went way up and UNH fell off altogether.</p>
<p>One college–Chapman U-- was nixed after visiting classes. The problem? DD observed MANY students texting during the lectures/seminars, not paying attention. She preferred to attend somewhere where students were engaged in learning–at least during class! Turned down a huge merit scholarship at this school. She ended up elsewhere, fortunately with a large (but not as large) merit award. It was worth the price differential.</p>
<p>fogfog, my kid hated GW’s lack of campus for the same reason - I made him look at it, because academically it would have been a good fit. He did apply to Georgetown and American so the trip to DC wasn’t wasted. (He also hates NYU’s lack of a campus.)</p>
<p>^My niece is enjoying UNH, but she grew up in really small towns in NH!</p>
<p>Son crossed off Ithaca. I was expecting for him to love it but somehow neither of us got the warm fuzzies. Town was great, the buildings were nice and well maintained and the students and Admissions staff were pretty friendly but son didn’t really hit it off with the CS prof and the department didn’t look very interesting. I still think it’s a great college, but off son’s list.</p>
<p>^^We did not get the “warm fuzzies” either. My son felt that he could make the school work, so he did apply even though it was not on the top of his list. He did not get a good package, so it was a non-issue at the end of day.</p>
<p>Though it hurts me to write this, Beloit came off the list. Though the tour, I thought things were going well. S had a concern before visiting that their “quirky” reputation meant hippie. Since he grew up in Berkeley, his way to rebel is apparently to want to be at a small school with an active Greek life (aka hot sorority girls). We were doing fine until we walked into the school coffee shop at 10:00am. A figurative wave of patchoulli seemed to wash over him. I didn’t think the students looked like Telegraph Avenue rejects, but that was it for DS. The lack of wi-fi in the residence halls and the library closing at midnight were the final straws. I, however, wanted to register for classes then and there.</p>
<p>what was it ab the energy n vibe in Lewis n Clark College that you were so turned off? I’m v curious to know more details about what you meant, as my daughter just applied to the college, even when I have some non-specific misgivings about the college from some hear-say. We have not visited the campus but my daughter has 2 friends from high school who are now freshmen there in fall of 2010.</p>
<p>LOL Mizzbee - we had the same experience at Beloit! i really liked it, and my son had the same reaction your son had! </p>
<p>Now I’m visiting with my second son, and we went to Case Western a couple weeks ago. My son really didn’t like it but, as with many of our kids, couldn’t say exactly why. I was turned off by campus being really long and narrow, and both of us thought our tour guide was a dud. Either way, it’s off the list. (which is good, because at this point the list is about 1,000 schools long I think!)</p>
<p>Michigan State…horrible tour. Bad sign when tour guides don’t show up as expected for an 11 am tour group of @150…2 tour guides, each took half. Tour was cumbersome, even for a good guide, but ours was horrible, lots of “and stuff like that” descriptions. Campus very big so general pointing of “that’s this area, there’s some more dorms, etc”, but only walked a small section. ds left tour after almost 90 minutes as we were also there for a hockey camp. We’re out of state so no way to justify the extra costs for what seemed available instate at half the cost…just really nothing special to make it stand out. I did enjoy my time on campus during ds camp…ran everyday and went uptown to eat, shop.</p>
<p>D crossed off Georgetown after the tour. She said the campus was too cramped and the students seemed too serious and intense. She wondered aloud, “Doesn’t anyone smile here?”</p>