<p>And I wouldn’t worry about Pittsburgh at all. It wins all those most livable city in the US awards for a reason. It will definitely be a change from Bradford, but so would Erie and so would Penn State, which is twice as large as Pitt. Despite Pitt being an urban school, it will feel like a much smaller community than Penn State which is just gianormus both physically and with the number of people there. I’m from the Penn State area and have lived in Pittsburgh, Miami, Philadelphia and San Francisco, and Pittsburgh is definitely one of the safest, most interesting cities in the country. You should look at getting the experience of an urban setting as an adventure and part of your education. If you don’t like Pittsburgh, you probably won’t like any city. The good thing about Pitt too, is that Schenley Park is right next door so you can easily escape the urbaness whenever you want. And if you girlfriend is worried about bad Bay area cities, rest assured that Oakland in Pittsburgh is not anything like Oakland in California.</p>