As of now I’m a high school junior looking at some colleges ahead. I’ve decided that I’d like to go somewhere urban/suburban in a fairly large-to-massive metropolis setting. My parents are fine with this arrangement, except we both have questions about the safety.
More instance, I am considering Fordham, which is located a resonably safe part of the Bronx. If I wanted to go into Manhattan for the evening, coming home would entail going through Harlem and the South Bronx at night on the subway or the bus to get home.
Do any dopers attend/have attended college in an urban setting? What did the college do to ensure safety for students; what did you do to ensure your own safety? Overall, how was the experience, and did you like the hectic environment?
I’m attending the University of Houston right now, which is right in the middle of a pretty bad neighborhood (the Third Ward). The campus is pretty safe, though. There are emergency call boxes all over the place, and they just recently added some more. There are always poilce patrols going on too.
There was actually a string of robberies a while ago, two of them right outside my dorm. That was what prompted the new call boxes, and they also put up more lights outside the dorm. The victims were walking around late at night, which is generally not a good idea, although it obviously sometimes can’t be avoided. We are warned to keep to well-lighted areas if we have to walk across the campus at night. You can also call the campus police 24 hours a day if you don’t feel safe walking somewhere (on campus), and they’ll give you a ride.
As for how I ensure my own safety, I’m just careful to use common sense. I don’t walk across the campus late at night, and if I have to drive outside the campus late I lock my car doors. Nothing’s foolproof of course, but I think the campus is just about as safe as any other college.
I don’t know about using public transportation, since I drive if I need to go somewhere.
My school (also in NY) has two main safety services at night - walking escorts (for relatively short distances - a pair of people with walkie talkies will pick you up and walk you to your destination) and a van (for getting to more far-flung regions of the school). You have to call for each, and they give you an ETA.
I know very little about the Bronx, honestly, although I might be uncomfortable taking mass transportation late at night to get there, considering the neighborhoods I’d have to go through and the fact that I obviously don’t belong in them (I’m one of the whitest people I know, and pretty preppy). I tend to travel with friends late at night, and won’t go to or through places that I’m not really familiar and comfortable with if I’m by myself.
The hectic environment - well, you have to know yourself. I needed a campus (trees! grass!) and someplace that was a bit more laid back than, let’s say, midtown Manhattan.
Even though I never really took as much advantage of being in NY as I should have (I haven’t gone to enough plays or museums, for one thing), there’s still nothing like it - I transferred from a large state school in the middle of a suburb, and if you didn’t have a car, you couldn’t buy milk, or rent a video. Being in NY means that whatever you want is pretty easily accessible.
Good luck with the whole school selection thing - I’m choosing grad schools now, and it’s a tough process.
Colleges and universities have an obligation to report all crimes that happen on campus, thanks to the Clery Act, so you can get an idea how safe it is on any campus. They make these statistics public and you ought to be able to find them online.
Some colleges do a bang-up job at security. For example, Wayne State University has a lower crime rate on campus than either Michigan State or University of Michigan, even though they are both in suburban college towns that are relatively affluent, while Wayne State is in the center of godawful Detroit. That’s because WSU has really dedicated itself to safety.
Of course, as you pointed out, there is the surrounding area to deal with, particularly if you live off-campus. As GilaB noted, many schools have good services to cover off-campus safety. I am sure you can get information about these things if you ask.
Take care of yourself. Just like in real life, college police, however dedicated, can’t get involved until a crime has been commited.
Basic safety rules include:
~Never go anywhere off campus/at night alone. Party hop in groups, people are your friends.
~Leave notes. I kept a white board on my door that left info for where I was going and when I’d be back. If something happened there would at least be those footprints to follow. You don’t have a curfew or parents waiting up for you, you have to make sure that if something happens those dedicated and talented police people have something more concrete to go on than the drunk girl next door’s idea of where you said you were going.
~Check and see how your school measures up. Safe schools work hard at it no matter where they are. This will show in teh statistics.
I went to Seattle Pacific University, and I now work there. (it is a Christian school, so you may not be interested, but check out other schools in Seattle.) SPU is very safe, in a residential neighborhood but still very close to downtown. They have the security escort service, too, and they’ll drive you the longer distances, even a few blocks off-campus. I never had a problem, and I was in theatre so I was out at all hours.
Hey -
I graduated from the University of Southern California in 1996. In case you didn’t know, USC is located in the middle of south-central Los Angeles and is bordered by compton. It is widely recognized as an area that is “not the greatest”.
That being said, USC’s security force was (and still is) very good. They have a 2 mile “radius of influence” around the campus where they are actually allowed to patrol and make arrests like any LAPD officer. I lived off campus for 3 years and never felt afraid for my life or property. Sure, there were incidents in the area, but no more than any other area in my opinion. I am not sure of other schools’ security forces have similar agreements with their local police depts, but it might be a good idea to ask.
As others have said, if you follow some basic, common sense rules (dont walk alone at night, keep doors locked at all times, dont flash amounts of cash when walking down the street, etc…) you should be fine.
I attend an urban school too, and basically what everyone is saying is correct. First, look at the crime statistics BEFORE you decide to choose a school. The school might be in a bad neighborhood, but if the campus police can’t keep it reasonably safe, then that’s a really bad sign in my opinion. Like everyone else has sad, use common sense, and remember you’re not in the ‘burbs.’ Getting wasted and walking to your dorm alone from a dark parking lot at three a.m. in the morning is probably not the world’s greatest idea. As for NYC, I lived there, and have found that it’s a lot safer than its reputation, but again common sense rules. If you’re going out alone late in Manhattan, sometimes a cab makes more sense than a subway ride. But I have used NYC subways at all hours and through some pretty bad neighborhoods and felt fine. Stick to the first car, the one with the conductor. There are police all over the place as well. Learn the subway system in the day, don’t try to figure it out for the first time at four am in the morning after clubbing in the city all night. Be aware of your surroundings, but at the same time avoid that “deer caught in the headlights” look so common among some new people in the city. Not only criminals, but all sorts of NYC freaks are going to try to mess with you if you have that on vacation from a convent look. Try to hook up with locals who can educate you on the city.
NYC no longer deserves its reputation as a dangerous city. I’m pretty sure that its crime rate per capita is very low. I’m not familiar with the Bronx, but all the other students at Fordham manage to get around without being attacked. I think your fears are unfounded.
I graduated from USC in 94, and was there when the Rodney King riots began just a few blocks away. I think that was the scariest time to be there. That year I lived in university owned off-campus housing, so I had to walk about half a mile to campus, and the street I lived on happened to be the border between the Harpies and the Cryps at the time. I did see more than one shooting that year, and a couple of times we had helicopters right outside the upstairs windows at 3am with the big spotlight on a gang member in our back yard.
That said, the gangs mostly left students alone. The vast majority of crimes against students were committed by other students, and I think you’ll find that holds no matter where you go to school.
You should check out both the security record, and what kinds of after dark escort services are available. When I was there USC had a great service in place and I used it often.
If you do go, the rest of the advice above is sound - make sure there’s a record of where you’re going, and approximately when you expect to be back.
I’d also add that if you are the partying type, don’t get drunk unless you are absolutely positive you’ll be able to get home with an escort.
All of the people that I knew who got into trouble would attribute it to being too smashed to get where they were going safely. Actually I guess that is also good advice wherever you go.
I’m not sure I addressed your question. There are, of course, a lot of factors to consider in choosing a college, but in the end there is no way to know what it’ll be like. Your experience in LA, which is not a city but a conglomeration of suburbs, would be very different than in New York. I’m in grad school in New York, and it’s definitely the best place for me to be. Whatever the subject is that you’re interested in, chances are the world’s leading authority on the subject will pass through New York at some point. There are lots of learning opportunities here outside of class. I don’t know if as an undergrad you’ll take advantage of them, but at least you can use this to help sell your parents on paying for you to study in one of the country’s most expensive cities!
