Ok, I am once again considering grad schools and being made offers, etc., and in the end I hope to have the following options: Princeton, U. Penn., and UCSB (in Princeton NJ, Philly, and Santa Barbara, of course). Do not question my choices-- I’ve made them on the grounds of the programs in my particular field and specialty (you’re probably thinking “Why would you choose UCSB over Princeton?”)
I know nothing about these towns, except that Philly is a big city, and I’m not used to living anywhere larger or more eastern then Portland, Or. (I lived in Bloomington IN for a couple of years and it was pretty surreal to me. “Euchre. Euchre? and You call this coffee?”) I like beer, music, art, and a bit of wilderness, etc. I don’t like to drive. My husband works with bicycles (repair, manufacture, design) so a bike scene/employment opportunities would also be nice. I do not like humid. I can stand hot and dry, but not humid. We have various allergies. 28, no kids. Casual in dress and manners.
The question is: regarding quality of life, things to do, etc. (everything but academic concerns-- what’s the town like, not the University) where should I go? Which is the coolest damn place? What are the pros and cons here? Convince me. Or at least I’d be appreciative of the information.
Thanks.
Sounds like YOUR top choice would be Santa Barbara. No East, no humid, nothing to rile the allergies, lots of water-sports and easy access to countryside, pleasant for the kids.
I, personally, would rather have red-hot needles shoved under my fingernails than live in Santa Barbara, but then I’m just a crabby old east coast fart.
A friend of mine did her grad work at Princeton, and I remember it as a mighty pleasant place, not urban at all, great college-town atmosphere, fine bookshops, etc. This was ten years ago, though…I understand it’s been excessively built-up since then.
UPenn I don’t know at all. It’s in Philadelphia, though…good steak sandwiches, but they roll up the sidewalks at nine PM.
So go for Santa B, if you can stand the idea of giving up the Ivies for UC.
Having lived in both Philadelphia and Santa Barbara, I feel that I am qualified to answer this question.
GO TO SANTA BARBARA.
Well, ok, thats what my answer is. I guess I should explain.
Santa Barbara is beautiful.
Santa Barbara is warm most of the time, and it is never cold.
Santa Barbara has a good selection of pretty people.
Santa Barbara has lots of coast with great spots to sit on the beach with noone around for miles.
Santa Barbara is warm.
Santa Barbara has a fun, laid back downtown.
Santa Barbara has alot of hiking trails.
Santa Barbara is the only place I have ever lived where when an enviromentalist group doesn’t want something built, it doesn’t get built.
Santa Barbara has 2 or 3 places that know how to serve Guiness correctly.
Santa Barbara is casual from what I can figure out, I mean, I wear shorts to work during the summer, and pants in the winter.
Santa Barbara is only an hour and a half away from LA, so if you need a big city fix you can drive down there.
Santa Barbara is an hour and a half from LA, not too close.
Santa Barbara has a couple of good jazz clubs, and a few bars that have live music a couple of days a week.
Santa Barbara has mountains.
Ok.
Now I have some good stuff to say about Philly.
Philadelphia is open 24 hours. No matter what Uke says. I never got used to going to cities where public transportation stopped.
Philadelphia has some of the best food anywhere, great restaraunts, great pizza, great cheese steaks.
Philadelphia offers live music all of the time, some of the best acts around.
You can live in Philadelphia without a car.
Philadelphia has some very nice parks.
Cons
Santa Barbara is tough, not impossible, but tough to live in without a car.
Santa Barbara is not a cheap place to live.
Philadelphia is a big city so its crowded often.
University of Penn is in West Philly a stone’s throw from some of the worst neigbhorhoods in the city. Never bothered me when I was wandering around that area, but I was dumb and fearless.
pat
If you have nailed down those three schools as the best for you in your field, the next thing to do is visit them.
Talk the to faculty, the profs you really want to work with and the others in the department. 85%-90% will most likely be a song and dance about the department, the remaining 10-15% will be the type of information that you can actually base a decision on. Also, talk to as many grad students in program as possible, even upperclasspersons in the department.
Don’t base your decision on climate, being in a place you like is wasted if you can’t stand the people you’ll have to spend your time with. BTW, what is your field?
Yup. I’ll take the red-hot needles.
The field is 15th/ early 16th C. Netherlandish and German art history (mostly painting and prints).
Well, you asked.
Well, then, you’d want Princeton or Penn. So’s you could be NEAR some 15th century Dutch and German art.
I don’t think they stock much of it in Santa Barbara, do they?
Probably don’t stock that stuff in Santa Barbara, but there are some awesome art museums in Los Angeles that probably have that stuff – the Getty, the Huntington, etc.
-Melin
Oh boy, if you want to be near great art museums Penn is the way to go. Philadelphia has great art museums. DC has great art museums. New York has great art museums.
Not to take anything away from the art museums in LA. But, within a 2 hour drive from Penn you can find 10 - 20 times the amount of art. (Plus, DC museums are mostly free.)
Oh, and surprisingly the Santa Barbara art museum has some good collections that pass through its halls every once in a while.
pat
Once again, I want criteria wchich have nothing to do with acedemia here (I’ve enough info on that to know what’s good for me-- but things are complicated there…). Strictly quality of life and liveability (sp?) issues here. Thanks for the input so far, though. Anyone else have anything good to say about Philly or Princeton? If anyone has actually attended one of these schools info on their liveabilty and such (the school aside from acedemics, that is) would be great, too.
Thanks
I work at Princeton (and live near it). Princeton is a nice little town. It’s pretty expensive, and, to my mind, there’s not much to do. There’s one good theater, and the University, so you’re not completely cut off from artistic stuff, but there’s not a lot of choices either. Not much in the way of music either. When I interviewed here people kept saying “It’s so safe! It’s such a wonderful place to raise children!” If those things are what you’re looking for it’s a great place.
Those things are not what I’m looking for in the long run. To calibrate you, I lived in Baltimore before this, and loved it (I also love Portland, OR). I find Princeton to be fairly boring, and really miss the diversity of people and experiences I encountered in Baltimore. I go into Philadelphia a LOT for fun. I would love to live there. It’s a nice size for me – lots of different people and things to do without it being as overwhelming and unfriendly as, say, New York, which I don’t like very much. Great theater, lots of pretty nice bars, interesting music scene.
Weather’s pretty similar both places. It’s beens pretty mild since I’ve been here – one bad heat wave, one decent snow storm. New Jersey has lots of good outdoor stuff (the Pine Barrens are great), but about equally accessible from Princeton or Philly. Neither place upsets my allergies unduly, and I have no info about the bike scene in either.
To sum up, Princeton is fine for a while, but I wouldn’t want to be here permanently. I would not at all mind being in Philadelphia permanently. I’ve never visited Santa Barbara, and thus have no opinions there.
You can get into UCSB? Wow. I know that UCSD got 26,000 applications & they only took 3,000.
[QUOTE]
Originally posted by M.K.:
I know nothing about these towns, except that Philly is a big city, and I’m not used to living anywhere larger or more eastern then Portland, Or.
(Be warned, I’m going to talk quite a bit.)
I just graduated from Penn, and I loved it. My view will be a bit biased, but FWIW… Philly is big, but managable. There are large parts of it that you won’t have to see or deal with, because they are either the large suburbia-type sections in Northeast Philly, or neighborhoods you probably won’t want to visit in North or West Philly (just parts of those sections; I don’t want to defame anyone.) It’s not New York, more like Boston, and I’d suspect, Portland. Please, someone who knows both cities correct me if I’m wrong.
I like beer, music, art, and a bit of wilderness, etc.
Beer they’ve got, and there are some decent places both around Penn and in Philly to get it (and not all of them close at 5 pm, it only feels that way sometimes.) There’s an Irish pub right near Penn, with some good beer, and Quizzo on Mon nights.
There is definitely music. What kind of music in particular? Are you a performer? Penn has a cappella groups coming out of it’s ass (13, if I count correctly.) Grad students can join.
Art - Philly has the immense and beautiful art museum (impossible to explore in just one visit.) Also the Rodin museum, and a modern art museum on Penn’s campus.
Wilderness? There’s Fairmount Park, which is huge. You can get there by bus. Pennsylvania itself is lovely too.
I don’t like to drive.
To get to the real downtown, Center City, you don’t have to (and won’t want to; parking’s a bitch, sometimes.) Lots of movie theatres, restaurants, and bars are an easy walk from Septa (subway) and buses.
I do not like humid. I can stand hot and dry, but not humid.
Well, this is the east coast. Summers are pretty awful. But they haven’t been too horrendous recently, and the winters have been pretty good. But it can get wretched. Princeton has the same climate.
The question is: regarding quality of life, things to do, etc. (everything but academic concerns-- what’s the town like, not the University) where should I go? Which is the coolest damn place? What are the pros and cons here? Convince me. Or at least I’d be appreciative of the information.
More pros: Rent is pretty damn cheap in Philly (at least compared to DC.) Philadelphia is also very easy to get to; a train goes every hour to New York (1 1/2 hrs) or DC (2 hrs.) The train station is 5 minutes from Penn. The airport is a bit farther away, but accessible by Septa. It’s a city; there’s always something to do.
Cons? The neighborhood of Penn deteriorates the farther west you go (higher numbers.) After a point, it starts to get very unsafe, but it depends on time of day, where you go, and what block you’re on. And all of Penn’s campus is fine, any time of day or night.
This is my Philly sell. But hell, I love Princeton too. You’ll probably be fine wherever you go.
[Instigator Hat: On]I would suggest renting Endless Summer parts 1 and 2 before making any decisions to go to grad school right away…[Instigator Hat: Off]
Or you could go with one of those other fine recomendations! 
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