<p>This is coming from a student who lives in the sticks, never has struggled in school for anything, and spends most of my time partying in the woods with old friends and my long time girlfriend (who lives across the street). When applying for college one of my biggest stipulations was NOT to attend a city school, especially after visiting some friends at Cornell and thoroughly enjoying the experience. As it turned out, Northeastern made the most sense financially because of their generous aid they offer to national merit scholarship finalists. At my orientation I looked into an outdoors club and some of the other interesting resources especially within the music department. I’m not worried at all about the academics, because I enjoy working hard, thinking hard, and keeping busy, but I’m a little worried about adjusting my mentality to the seemingly constant stress of dealing with 700,000 neighbors. </p>
<p>Any wisdom from people who have been in a similar situation?</p>
<p>Honestly, Boston’s a city, but it’s a small city.
If you’ve ever been to NYC, it’s nothing like it.
When I think of a city, I think of NYC, but the people of Boston are all nice, there are rarely any people walking around the streets, public transportation is good, etc.
The only similar thing is that you can’t park anywhere, so don’t bring a car.
Besides, in Boston, most of the people in Boston are students. From all over the place: different continent, country, state, city. Your neighbors are all people like you, and meeting them isn’t so bad.</p>
<p>I love visiting NYC and chilling there, but I knew that I would hate to live there and/or go to school there. That’s why I was a bit like you about Boston. But I visited Boston my junior year of high school, and I loved Boston. It’s nothing like NYC. Maybe less exciting, but definitely not as hectic.</p>
<p>You’ll be fine. You’ll love Boston, but not its weather. Unless you like random cold days</p>
<p>You’re going to have to walk or take public transportation everywhere. Invariably, you will encounter people while doing these things, and in the latter case, may be forced into tight quarters with them. There will be people and places you need to learn to avoid. As for neighbors… as long as you don’t walk around acting obnoxious and disruptive, you’ll be fine (though you may have to ignore obnoxious or disruptive people, and don’t worry, they aren’t terribly common or persistent). Other than that… at least for your first two years, you’ll be living on campus, so your neighbors will all be fellow students. Keep the music down or wear headphones (Also, while a great way to meet people may be to leave the door to your room open, kindly do NOT play music if you choose to do this. A guy down the hall from me, conveniently right by the stairs and elevator would always have his door open and would BLAST music constantly). Don’t do stupid things in the hallways. Remember as many names and faces as you can without driving yourself crazy.</p>