<p>hudson,
I’d hold off on the further listings as some are giving a completely inaccurate depiction of what a student will encounter. For example, in the higher danger listings,</p>
<p>Baltimore, MD/John Hopkins University (7+8=15)
Washington, DC/Georgetown University (8+7=15)
Reading, PA/Albright College (8+7=15)
Richmond, VA/University of Richmond (8+7=15)
New Haven/Yale University (8+8=16)
Hartford, CT/Trinity College (8+8=16)</p>
<p>the neighborhoods are vastly different. Georgetown is pretty high end and U Richmond is lush, green, very well off area of Richmond. What is going on several miles away in greater DC or Richmond might as well be across the country. I don’t think that the same can be said for Johns Hopkins, Albright, or Yale.</p>
<p>In the Georgetown neighborhood, homes sell for $2-10 million. For the most part, you’re not getting held up in Georgetown. If you’re going into bad parts of DC you could get into trouble but the college parts of DC are relatively safe for being in such a big city. The crime rate of DC as a whole distorts the crime rate for Georgetown specifically.</p>
<p>“But I’d say the boonies are far worse campus environments compared to shady parts of a city. You couldn’t have payed me to apply to a school like Notre Dame, Cornell, Yale or Duke (to a lesser extent).”</p>
<p>How are Yale or Duke the boonies?</p>
<p>I find it surprising that Hamilton, NY; Hanover, NH; Middlebury, VT would have any significant differences in crime rates among them.</p>
<p>I consider the “worst location” to be the middle of nowhere. Out of all the schools I’ve been to, the worst of the worst is Penn State: cow, barn, cow, school, barn, cow.</p>
<p>When I visited USC, I was expecting a “bad” neighborhood, but I was shocked. It was pretty bad, and you could tell that it was the bad part of town.</p>
<p>However, it is not HORRIBLE, just pretty bad.</p>
<p>hawkette – I think I added the necessary caveat to the “crime ratings” with this introductory paragraph:</p>
<p>“I would note that in terms of assessing the safety of individual colleges and universities the ratings are probably more useful for smaller communities, since a large city with bad stats – such as Philadelphia – still boasts many extensive, safe neighborhoods. Below are some selected college towns and their “safety ratings.” I’ve indicated the municipality/college, the violent crime rating, the property crime rating and the total crime rating.”</p>
<p>Indeed, within any city there are “good” neighborhoods and “bad” neighborhoods. U of R is in one of the safest parts of Richmond, while some rather sketchy neighborhoods border Trinity College and Yale, for example. I don’t believe this should be a deciding factor for all students as to whether or not they should attend a given college, however. And obviously it is not – it certainly hasn’t deterred applications for admission to Yale.</p>
<p>“Iv heard UMaryland - College Park is in a pretty crappy place…”</p>
<p>I’ve heard the same thing – it’s posted on CC all the time. However, the “crime ratings” for College Park (1 for violent crime and 1 for property crime) suggests that U of M’s hometown is safer than State College, PA (2 and 5), home of Penn State.</p>
<p>hudson,
I saw your warning but wonder if all readers are reading that closely and appreciating the caveat. For example, I think it would be unfortunate if anyone made a judgment about a lesser known college like U Richmond based on an incorrect interpretation of the crime risk that exists in greater Richmond vs what is the reality around their campus. I know that was not your intent and I think that the topic has merit as some campuses do present more dangerous environs than others. Thanks.</p>
<p>Some cities with crime problems have enough assets of city living (cultural, culinary, etc) to make it worth it. The worst sort of location is a city that has the bad stuff without the good stuff to balance it out. And so, NEW HAVEN FOR THE WIN.</p>
<p>Having grown up near Hartford and I still visit there often, I agree that the area surrounding Trinity College is not the safest. And while I think Clark University is a really good school, the surrounding area definitely gave my daughter second thoughts about going there.</p>
<p>However, I was a little surprised to see Muhlenberg listed among the schools in an unsafe area. I’m not sure about Allentown as a whole, but when we visited Muhlenberg a few years back, the surrounding community seemed relatively safe.</p>
<p>i recently visited both Clark and Trinity. The area directly around
Clark didn’t seem all that badm, although not really a college
hangout area. Trinity did seem to be a concern and that was
brought up at the info session. At Muhlenberg the area around
it appears to be ok, semi suburban, just not much to offer.</p>
<p>I don’t think the condition of a city <em>several blocks</em> from a campus is relevant. Sure, I like to bag on USC, just because stupid people with money used to go there, but the experience of a student, while on campus, is very safe. And going anywhere in L.A. during daylight hours is safe, even skid row.</p>
<p>The implication is that if a college is located within a larger, unsafe area, that the college must be unsafe. That is NOT at all true. colleges have their own police forces, security measures, and the lines of demarcation even at night between safe and less safe areas are very, very clear.</p>
<p>Who at college decides, at night and alone, to take a random stroll several blocks off campus in an urban environment! That’s nuts!</p>
<p>Even UCLA, which is in one of the safest and highest rent areas you will find anywhere, has available 30-40 school-supplied free security escorts a quick phonecall away, to meet and then walk with students from the libraries or classrooms to the parking lot, dorms, or apartments, at night. I assume all campus have this.</p>