How much do you factor University “safety” in selecting your child’s school?

[Anonymous]

I am beside myself with all the shootings surrounding schools. DD is still deciding on schools; we live in Minnesota, I am deterring her away from our U even though it is a fantastic college due to its negative safety factor.

We need to just continue with life but I am really afraid of letting her go out of home range. Just give her mace, alarms, and a bullet proof backpack? What has been your approach to college safeguards?

[Anonymous]

You need therapy

[Anonymous]

Agree with PP. Your reaction is way overboard, OP. Are you sure you aren't conflating your personal sadness at the idea that she is growing up, moving away and going to college, with this obsession with safety?

[Anonymous]

My kid will select the school, not me, but I don't see it as a factor at all.

[Anonymous]

I think my daughter would like Temple, but I am not suggesting it because I am not comfortable with the crime in the area.

[Anonymous]

I live in Brooklyn. The stats for where I actually live are better than where I actually lived growing on in a small Midwestern city. So while I’m concerned, I know things may appear more dangerous in media than they actually are. I don’t necessarily think Big City is more dangerous than, say, Lewiston Maine. (Not to pick them out, just picking a place that “sounds” safe .. and might be!)

[Anonymous]

I live in Baltimore City. I'm not worried about my kid going to school in a city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think my daughter would like Temple, but I am not suggesting it because I am not comfortable with the crime in the area.

+1

There aren't very many schools at all that I advise my DD to cross off her list due to safety concerns but safety IS a consideration and Temple is a prime example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think my daughter would like Temple, but I am not suggesting it because I am not comfortable with the crime in the area.

+1

There aren't very many schools at all that I advise my DD to cross off her list due to safety concerns but safety IS a consideration and Temple is a prime example.

I thought Temple would be a great fit for DS. Neighbor went there and had a wonderful experience, but DS couldn't get over the location. We came in past the hospital campus and left following Waze to avoid traffic so he saw it all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think my daughter would like Temple, but I am not suggesting it because I am not comfortable with the crime in the area.

+1

There aren't very many schools at all that I advise my DD to cross off her list due to safety concerns but safety IS a consideration and Temple is a prime example.

I thought Temple would be a great fit for DS. Neighbor went there and had a wonderful experience, but DS couldn't get over the location. We came in past the hospital campus and left following Waze to avoid traffic so he saw it all.

I live in NYC now and went to grad school in Philly. My kids grew up regularly riding the subway here, but my college-student DD spends a lot of time in Philly and it makes me nervous. You really have to be familiar with where you are—it’s very easy to wander into a place that’s not so safe.

[Anonymous]

What is the university in question?

There are definitely some universities I would not let my kid attend.

[Anonymous]

It wasn't a consideration for my DS. He has grown up in a city, and has a high sense of awareness. He will be attending a school in a large one, with a probably lower crime rate than here at home.

For the OP, females can be at risk anywhere, even in the most outwardly "safe" places. I would focus on looking into the prevalence of physical and sexual assault against women at the schools to which she applies.

Sadly, much more likely than a school shooting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the university in question?

There are definitely some universities I would not let my kid attend.

+1

Safety should be a very important factor in selecting one's college or university.

[Anonymous]

I went to school and university in Paris, where the risks were mainly sexual assaults and bombs from Islamist terrorists. I rode the metro by myself to school. My university campus in the early 2000s was not secure (no blue light system, no night bus, no campus police, no cameras). I knew, without anyone telling me, not to use the basement level, not to walk by myself in any iffy-looking parts of campus, not to use the most graffiti-ed bathrooms. Same for metro: overground metro OK, underground metro OK, long walks in empty tunnels to connect from one line to another, not OK (better to use them at rush hour).

I don't know how to address school shootings in the US. It blows my mind that this risk is largely preventable by strict gun control, but that somehow nobody wants to reread the Second Amendment and see that it actually does not give random people the right to bear arms.

[Anonymous]

For a girl it would matter a ton, not so much for a boy. I went to college in a very dangerous part of a city during the 90’s crack boom and was fine. Would never put a young lady in that situation.