<p>In terms of hard statistics, each school is required to keep a record of the violent and non-violent crimes that occur on its campus each year and to make that record publicly available. This is usually available on the school’s website, although some schools require you to request it. It is called the Clery Report.</p>
<p>Chicago’s: [Common</a> Sense](<a href=“http://commonsense.uchicago.edu/crime-info.html]Common”>http://commonsense.uchicago.edu/crime-info.html)
Emory’s: [2008</a> Campus Security Report for Emory University](<a href=“Annual Security Report”>Annual Security Report)</p>
<p>In terms of feeling: I used to live in Atlanta about 20 minutes away from Emory’s location, which is technically in Atlanta proper but is in practice located in/near a relatively affluent suburb of Atlanta with some of the most expensive real estate in the city area. Emory is a sprawling campus in an idyllic location, and I wouldn’t expect any issues with safety – it’s far away from the gentrifying urban blight of downtown Atlanta.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about Chicago – I’ve only visited – but I visited with a close friend who is from Chicago and she seemed very comfortable navigating the city at night. I wouldn’t say that it’s unsafe in general to take public transport at night, but obviously don’t take it alone (I’ve lived in New York for half my life and I still don’t take the subway alone at night). Safety in numbers.</p>
<p>It’s been my general experience that high school students, particularly ones from middle-class suburban areas, tend to exaggerate the danger for even elite universities located in large cities. I’ve heard people say the same things about Columbia (which I attend, and it’s certainly not unsafe), Chicago, Penn, Georgetown, and to a lesser degree Emory. What makes this even more amusement is that every single one of those universities (perhaps with the exception of Penn) is located in one of the more upper-class areas of the city in which it is located (Columbia - Upper West Side/Morningside Heights; Chicago - Hyde Park; Georgetown - Georgetown). Those rich folks wouldn’t have moved into the neighborhood if they felt patently unsafe.</p>