I am not sure what others have experienced, but we live about 2 hours from Duquesne and my nephew hardly ever comes home. We went to visit and he talked up the Penguins arena being adjacent to campus (for both hockey and concerts) and the Steelers/Pirates playing one stop away on the subway. The school regularly offers steep discounts on tickets. It’s a five minute walk to Point State Park downtown, there are constant shuttle buses to Pitt and Carnegie Mellon, etc.
My twins are accepted. They are the oldest of 9, and they have no intentions of ever coming home, I don’t think. They were sold on the place because of the amount of stuff to do.
Granted, we are from a rural area so your mileage may vary, but they feel like it’s an urban wonderland.
She indicated that there are a lot of OOS students (as well as those that live further away in PA) and that there is always plenty to do on the weekends with many students around. She was also very honest about her transition and that it was difficult being far from home but that she found her place (tho she does miss NJ pizza and bagels lol). My older daughter goes to school 40 minutes away and they never come home - so I am not super worried about it from that perspective. I know once she finds her people the desire to come home often will fade. Nonetheless, the distance still feels a bit out of her comfort zone even though she really liked the school. Personally I’m ready to go there myself lol! I loved it and Pittsburgh seems like a great next step after living in the NYC metro my whole life.
I sometimes like to suggest Pittsburgh has become to the Northeast like Portland was to the West Coast. People from San Francisco or Seattle and such would go to Portland because it was familiar enough culturally, but a lot less expensive and more convenient, with plenty of stuff to do both in town and outdoors in close proximity, and enough of a real history of its own to make it feel authentic and cool.
Now some people (including my relations in Portland) say Portland is not all it used to be. But I think Pittsburgh is still mostly delivering on that sort of vibe.
That said, it is on the other side of the mountains. Very old, now very low, mountains. But I know for some people that still seems very far.
Portland definitely isn’t what it used to be, but it isn’t entirely the fault of Californians who have been moving here for decades. We have many and way bigger issues.
I hope Pittsburgh keeps it’s vibe, hopefully it’s far enough away to stay cool
DC is actually closer to Pittsburgh than Philly, so I definitely would include them. See also below.
Based on census migration data, recently the top three non-Oregon metro to metro flows into Portland have been Seattle, LA, and SF, in that order.
To Pittsburgh, top three are Philly (same state, but barely), New York, and DC. Boston is way behind, below Chicago, Cleveland, Atlanta, Columbus, Baltimore, Charlotte, Miami, Houston, Minneapolis . . . so whatever East Coast effect is happening, it apparently does not extend as far north as Boston. But I think some people would be surprised to know that New York and DC are much higher than, say, Cleveland.
Anyway, Seattle/Philly, LA/New York, and SF/DC, feels kinda right.
So bigger numbers to Portland, although again maybe more to Pittsburgh than some realize anyway. I’ll leave it to others to comment on which is preferable . . . .
Me either and I live across the river.
People are leaving, many have moved across to Vancouver WA, Idaho for the more conservative, Texas and Nashville for everyone else.
Atlas Van Lines’s latest annual survey finds that California is remarkably balanced in terms of inmigration and outmigration—a bit more of the latter, but not very much more.
One ought never generalize from their personal social connections to the population as a whole, absent very strong evidence that doing so is warranted.
My very horsey young friend went to CSU (Colorado State) this fall as a freshman, and she found that she wasn’t allowed the privilege of riding the horses at the University barn unless she was an Equine Science major. She may be transferring out next semester.
(Where would she transfer to? This might be useful to this thread if the program/universities have not been listed yet, or may reinforce a college over another.)
Many non-majors can’t participate in activities at colleges all the time because there just isn’t room. Theater majors get the parts in the plays, music majors get practice room preference, physics majors get first priority for labs (and others may never get into those classes). Those on the hockey teams get ice time preferences and those in the marching band get into the football games while other freshmen may not get tickets.
My friend at CSU (who is now in the vet school) brought her own horse to school, but she also got an ‘in’ with the equine program by working as a receptionist at the vet hospital (and worked holidays and school breaks).
You do have to ask those questions when deciding which college to go to. At Colorado School of Mines, a school not known for horses, they have a very good rodeo club so most students who want to ride can (they are not ‘school’ horses but part of a nearby organization).
I know this isn’t what you meant but my mind immediately leapt to someone walking a horse into a dorm room, like a support animal on a plane! Like…mom you’re not going to believe what my roommate did!
