City vs. Country Campuses
 

I'm working on an article about city vs. country college campuses for a travel web site--what should parents and students do while they're on campus to get the full rural or urban experience?

Thanks!

Leave campus.

The full rural experience?

I dunno, milk a cow? Tip a cow?

LOL.

Grease a pig?

For the urban experience, drive around all day unable to find parking and automatically pay more for everything all day?

Be rude?

LOL. Sure hope we've helped. :p

It would help if you would tell us what some of the "city" and "country" campi you have in mind are.

city vs. country clarification
 

LOL

Well, the article is for parents traveling with their kids to college campuses, who want to make a family trip out of it (more than just tour the student union, etc). So, let me rephrase the question: what school do you attend, and is it urban or rural? What do you like about being on an urban/rural campus? And, what would you recommend future freshmen experience in the surroundng community of your campus? (For example, at U of IL, Urbana, where I went, a walk down the main street is probably enough to give you an idea of what your campus experience will be like on a Friday night, for example, but to get that Big 10 feel, come during a game weekend and get tickets of your own.)

I hope that clarifies the question--thanks for your help!

I attended Georgetown, which is urban.

I would recommend that propsective first-year students visit the following neighborhoods: DuPont Circle, Adams Morgan, and U Street. Although there are bars in those neighborhoods (as does the Georgetown neighborhood), they also are very cultural and have little stores and small park areas that are enjoyable. DuPont is a gay neighborhood, Adams Morgan is Ethiopian/international, and U Street is African American -- think the Harlem of DC.

I wanted to add the good thing about going to school in DC....everything worth visiting is easily accessible by the Metro (the name of the bus and rail system), including the other schools in town.

Okay, that makes a lot more sense :)

I went to Georgia Tech, which is in midtown Atlanta. It's situated so that if you don't look up and see the skyscrapers, you can forget they're there if that's your thing - some students spend all their (usually 5+) years at Tech ignoring Atlanta. If students and their parents want to go exploring, they should drive unless they are public transportation pros (Marta takes some getting used to). Atlantic Station is a good bet for close to campus and cross-generation appeal (if students want to stock up on dorm room goodies, they need to go to Atlantic Station and hit up IKEA). Atlanta has different areas to appeal to all different types - although, in general, if you hate traffic and lots of people with a passion, stay away. This is, after all, a major metropolitan area.

I attended Iowa State University and would consider it a more rural campus insomuch as the campus is located on the western edge of a small city, away from the city's downtown area. While students do drive to other parts of Ames to shop, eat, etc... for the most part they tend to stay in and around campus or the area they live.

I loved going there because I really felt I was "away" at college. The campus is beautiful with lots of green, open space. There is an area of shops, restaurants and bars called Campustown right across from campus which is the main social scene on nights and weekends. There is public transportation (Cyride) which does get used, but many students also have cars of their own. It's a quick 5-10 minute drive to get to the downtown or other main areas of Ames.

If a freshman came to visit, I would suggest walking around campus and Campustown, driving through Greekland and by the football stadium and then heading down Lincoln Way to Duff Ave and eat at Hickory Park before leaving. That way they get to see the main areas around campus where the students live/hang out and go down the two major roads in town where a majority of the restaurants, grocery stores (HyVee) and chain stores (Target, WalMart) are located.

Thanks!
 

Thanks so much for the input!

I went to NYU, probably as urban campus as you can get.

NYU freshmen are from all over, many from other cities (LA, Chicago, Miami, Boston, DC Metro, parts of Texas and Cali and lets not forget the tri-state, NJ/CT) so its not as overwhelming as it would be for someone who is from, i dunno, Kalamazoo. The campus is open, but there are defininably NYU-areas (bounded by Houston and 14th St north to south, and 3rd Ave-6th Ave east to west).

To get a feel for the campus, take the campus tour - lots of people miss out on how much the school has to offer (and at $45K+ yearly, you better take advantage). To get a feel for the city... take the city on! Cabs are for punks and it gets expensive, jump on a subway and see where it takes you. The village (east, west, and Greenwich) are all walking distance from campus, as is Chinatown, Little Italy, Union Square... i think its most important for freshmen in particular to get a feel for campus first, where all the main buildings are, best places to study, favorite dining hall, and a feel for the neighborhood (where the local bank, post office, grocery store, parks, hospital) I cant count how many of my residents who only knew locations where their classes were. One girl literally would walk to class and back to the dorm, making the occasional stop to the library. Her parents picked her up on Fridays, did her laundry and cooked her meals and would drop her off Sunday nights. that is not the way to live!

There isnt really a typical college experience at NYU, but mine consisted of growing into the idea that it would be typical - no homecoming game, no brouhaha over sports, and the party scene would be less kegger and more bar/club hopping. Which, as i got older, was a plus. There is food and shopping everywhere, public transportation is 24/7, and the city isnt as dangerous as it sounds! Most importantly, living on campus, as expensive as it is, is CRUCIAL for getting the optimal experience at NYU. Its true - my best friends are from the residence halls.

For undergrad I went to a city school - georgia tech.

There they should go to the big museums cities usually offer and the cosmopolitan restaurants and if they're into theater, do that.

For grad school I went to a rural campus, Michigan State.

MSU has a dairy store that sells ice cream and cheese made from the milk of the on-campus cows. I think that is probably the coolest "rural" feature of the campus. A lot of rural campuses also have a lake or nature preserve that can be cool to explore.

I went to a rural school. All we did was drink (if you think I'm exaggerating, seriously, I'm not). You had to go an hour to get to anything, including the nearest Wal-Mart, and occasionally we'd go there.