which is an overall better city: portland,ore or seattle, wa?

<p>i’m looking for which has:
better weather
more “green”
better social scene- indie music, restaurants, shopping
outdoor activities/beauty</p>

<p>and which schools are good in either place for someone with about a 3.0</p>

<p>interested in art (photo, film, design), environmental studies, nutrition and fashion
somewhere with possibly some required courses but flexibility in course selection.</p>

<p>other recommendations for schools out of these states would be appreciated!!!</p>

<p><strong><em>trying to apply for spring 2009 so running out of time!</em></strong></p>

<p>Seattle. I might be biased because I’m from Seattle, but I’ve been to Portland before so I think I’m qualified to comment. I wish you were more specific about what you were looking for, though. What do you mean by ‘better weather’? I think Seattle and Portland have similar weather, but Portland may be warmer on average because it’s closer to California than Seattle is. What do you mean by more “green”? Do you mean more environmentally friendly, or actually more trees and parks? I think that a lot of people in both cities are environmentally aware and recycle. Both cities have public transportation systems that use less gas than usual. Seattle probably has more parks and trees because it’s bigger. I love taking walks around my neighborhood–there are certainly lots of trees. As for social scene, I don’t know, but I think that Seattle has more fine dining and shopping than Portland does, again because it’s much larger than Portland. </p>

<p>I can’t help you with college recommendations, though.</p>

<p>i meant more green as in eco- conscious but i did want somewhere with more trees and parks. not even parks necessarily but places to hike and be in nature. i guess im just looking for people who share similar interests as well ( i was kind of referring to vegetarians as well).
as far as weather goes, i would like to be somewhere warmer. the rain in both places is kind of a concern. maybe you could go into depth a bit about it?</p>

<p>Seattle, hands down. Portland has always sort of depressed me.</p>

<p>why does it depress you?</p>

<p>I prefer Portland. Seattle is very urban, lots of traffic (well, Portland has traffic too, they’re both big cities, but it’s somewhat less so), and Portland has a more offbeat vibe. Seattle is beautiful, but also glossy and corporate. Portland is funky and cool, and has more character in my opinion. But they’re both great cities, if just depends on what you’re looking for.</p>

<p>Probably your best bet is to go for which college suits you best.</p>

<p>Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle may be of interest to you.</p>

<p>I would think very hard about going to either city before spending a prolonged period in a very rainy place. I had a client in Seattle last year and spent weeks at a time. The lack of blue skies effected half of my team pretty harshly. All swore they would never complain about a NY winter again!</p>

<p>That said I like Portland between these two. It’s and up and coming city with an edge, a great restaurant and music scene and is a great college town. If Reed were more mainstream I think it would be on fire.</p>

<p>lewis and clark is in portland. solid school and not too hard to get into as far as i know</p>

<p>yeah i’ve kind of thought i would like the vibe of portland alot. im just REALLY unsure about the rain!! i really want to be somewhere with nice weather because i feel as though im easily affected by it. does it rain ALL of the time? and when its not raining is it ever sunny? does it rain more in specific times of year? is it at least warm when its raining?</p>

<p>I haven’t checked weather.com, but my sense is Seattle has grey skies and rain more often than Portland. However, they are both in the Pacific NW, and so if you’re looking for fun in the sun, neither city is going to be your dream destination.</p>

<p>Yes, at least in Portland there are sunny, warm (even hot) days, but of course they tend to be in the summer. Seattle has a summer too.</p>

<p>Neither city is particularly cold, being coastal, but they can be often rainy and grey.</p>

<p>I have something like Reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder. I grew up in hot, dry climes and I find days of relentless sun, blue skies, and heat very depressing. I love the fall and the spring, and positively adore the winter.</p>

<p>Maybe you should be looking for colleges in California. There are a number of places with a great vibe, diverse arts oppotunities, warm weather, and good colleges there.</p>

<p>Portland according to many here in Seattle.</p>

<p>In a lot of ways Portland is what Seattle used to be like before the yuppies confiscated it. They’re making heavy inroads in Portland now, but the conquest is far from complete. ;)</p>

<p>Twenty years ago: Seattle
Now: Portland</p>

<p>what schools/ cities in california would you suggest? i’ve thought of schools there just not sure which ones have people like me and aren’t tooo competitive.</p>

<p>I would prefer Seattle because there is more to do.</p>

<p>dandelionsun, I don’t know what’s a good fit for you, but it might be helpful to start a new thread asking about California colleges, and include in your opening post some info about your academic background, special interests, and so forth. There are a lot of colleges in California! I’m sure you’ll get some specific ideas from people that know them well. One thing, private colleges are generally less well-known (there are notable exceptions like Occidental and the Claremont colleges) because the UC system and Cal State system have such a range of good options for students there.</p>

<p>I’ve lived in both places. I agree with rentof2 about Seattle being more glossy and Portland being more funky. Both are very eco-conscious, but that vibe might be more present in Portland. The hip and funky parts of Seattle where all the greenies like to live have gotten terribly chic and expensive - not so sure that’s happened in Portland. I like the weather in Seattle better. Portland gets these freakish ice/wind storms in the winter that shut the city down, and it can get unbearably hot for stretches at a time in Summer. Seattle is less extreme. It doesn’t rain all that much, but it is overcast a lot, in both places. How bad that would seem would depend on where you’re from, I think. But it certainly doesn’t stop people going outdoors - that’s huge in both places.</p>

<p>Colleges outside Seattle that you might want to consider are Evergreen State College and Western Washington University. Both very green!</p>

<p>If you like GREEN, do NOT come to Southern California. There’s extremely limited open space and it’s incredibly ugly for the most part (except the beaches). One of my good friends moved from LA to Seattle. He likes Seattle but absolutely hates LA. This is the most car-oriented city and it has a very dry weather yet people opt to waste tons of water to articifically make their yards <em>look</em> green (I wish people use desert plants which are beautiful IMO). If you want a eco counscious city and crowd, Southern Cal is gonna disappoint you big time. Northern Cal is better in this regard.</p>

<p>I’ve heard it’s hard to get a job in Portland. Any truth to this?</p>

<p>Take it from a Portlander, Seattle hands down.</p>

<p>Seattle is just as green, if not more green, than Portland.
Seattle borders the pacific ocean.
Portland significantly lacks diversity and this is painfully noticeable in the suburbs.
Oregon is looked down upon significantly more than Washington, in most parts of the country.
Everyone from Oregon considers it a great achievement to be going to UW, never the other way around.
The weather is the same. It is NOT warmer in Portland, that is a myth.</p>