what "good" college did you attend but would not necessarily recommend to your kids or others?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UCLA's Westwood/LA has sunny weather all school year, world class restaurants, Hollywood Hills, an international airport, and is like 6 miles from an ocean.

Ann Arbor is literally 17 degrees right now with blizzard conditions, a deli called Zingermans and a handful of restaurants serving Sysco food on their Main Street, crumbing roads, and Detroit is a half hour away.

Both can be excellent for different reasons.

I think the problem is that you don't know what a "college town" is. When people talk about a "college town," they're talking about the area immediately surrounding the campus. UCLA's college town is the area of Westwood immediately surrounding the campus, but the beach several miles away, LAX, or Hollywood Hills. Those things are all in the city of Los Angeles, but not in the "college town" surrounding UCLA. Similarly, when people talk about Ann Arbor being a great college town, they're talking about the area immediately surrounding the campus, not the mall several miles away from Ann Arbor or whatever else is in Ann Arbor. They're talkign about State Street, University Blvd, Main Street, etc. (it's been a long time, so I hope I'm remembering the streets). What you're really saying is that it's better to go to college in a big city vs. a college town. That's a reasonable opinion, but stop comparing applies to oranges which is what you're doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UCLA's Westwood/LA has sunny weather all school year, world class restaurants, Hollywood Hills, an international airport, and is like 6 miles from an ocean.

Ann Arbor is literally 17 degrees right now with blizzard conditions, a deli called Zingermans and a handful of restaurants serving Sysco food on their Main Street, crumbing roads, and Detroit is a half hour away.

Both can be excellent for different reasons.

I think the problem is that you don't know what a "college town" is. When people talk about a "college town," they're talking about the area immediately surrounding the campus. UCLA's college town is the area of Westwood immediately surrounding the campus, but the beach several miles away, LAX, or Hollywood Hills. Those things are all in the city of Los Angeles, but not in the "college town" surrounding UCLA. Similarly, when people talk about Ann Arbor being a great college town, they're talking about the area immediately surrounding the campus, not the mall several miles away from Ann Arbor or whatever else is in Ann Arbor. They're talkign about State Street, University Blvd, Main Street, etc. (it's been a long time, so I hope I'm remembering the streets). What you're really saying is that it's better to go to college in a big city vs. a college town. That's a reasonable opinion, but stop comparing applies to oranges which is what you're doing.

I agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UCLA's Westwood/LA has sunny weather all school year, world class restaurants, Hollywood Hills, an international airport, and is like 6 miles from an ocean.

Ann Arbor is literally 17 degrees right now with blizzard conditions, a deli called Zingermans and a handful of restaurants serving Sysco food on their Main Street, crumbing roads, and Detroit is a half hour away.

Both can be excellent for different reasons.

I think the problem is that you don't know what a "college town" is. When people talk about a "college town," they're talking about the area immediately surrounding the campus. UCLA's college town is the area of Westwood immediately surrounding the campus, but the beach several miles away, LAX, or Hollywood Hills. Those things are all in the city of Los Angeles, but not in the "college town" surrounding UCLA. Similarly, when people talk about Ann Arbor being a great college town, they're talking about the area immediately surrounding the campus, not the mall several miles away from Ann Arbor or whatever else is in Ann Arbor. They're talking about State Street, University Blvd, Main Street, etc. (it's been a long time, so I hope I'm remembering the streets). What you're really saying is that it's better to go to college in a big city vs. a college town. That's a reasonable opinion, but stop comparing applies to oranges which is what you're doing.

I didn't bring up major city universities, a PP brought up UCLA, something about UCLA students being jealous of Ann Arbor. No UCLA kid is jealous of flyover Ann Arbor, Michigan. As for the bold, if you want to talk about the handful of blocks around campus, what precisely makes them unique, let alone the best and most unique in the U.S.? Right now it's 17 degrees and a blizzard, how fun are those blocks of crumbling streets as we speak? Even overlooking depressing weather, that exact cookie-cutter setup -- pizza, subs, sushi, burgers, bars, gastropubs, bakeries, farmers market -- exists around basically every large top 50 university with a strong endowment. The point I was making is that there are warmer places and far superior restaurants around dozens of other universities -- which really isn't even up for debate. If you're a rich kid and can afford to apply anywhere, why Ann Arbor and not somewhere warm and not in the gloomy Rust Belt?

[Anonymous]

IMO, College towns are all about the college first and foremost. No large city is a college town. If the primary employer/educator of the community is not overwhelmingly the college(s) that it is located in, then it’s not a college town.

[Anonymous]

“ If you're a rich kid and can afford to apply anywhere, why Ann Arbor and not somewhere warm and not in the gloomy Rust Belt?”

Lots of rich undergraduates from OOS attend Michigan to the tune of approximately 15,000 students every year. Obviously they see something about Ann Arbor that they like. You don’t care for A2. Many, many others do and will continue to do so. Sorry, but your opinion is just yours and frankly reeks of boorish snobbery. “Flyover” Ann Arbor is doing just fine without your presence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Swarthmore. Too small and way too much work. Also SJW.

Sorry to be the 4th person on here saying this, but I agree. I disliked it right away but wouldn’t transfer because it was so prestigious.

Prestigious among a small portion of the educated, maybe, but zero name recognition among laypeople.

Swarthmore grads usually don’t mix much with lay people or care. It’s an elite school where all the rich pretend to be poor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IMO, College towns are all about the college first and foremost. No large city is a college town. If the primary employer/educator of the community is not overwhelmingly the college(s) that it is located in, then it’s not a college town.

Sounds like you're just trying to arbitrarily omit universities with unique and superior surroundings. Harvard's Cambridge is a city technically separate (other side of the river) from Boston, while Georgetown's Georgetown is a neighborhood in NW DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IMO, College towns are all about the college first and foremost. No large city is a college town. If the primary employer/educator of the community is not overwhelmingly the college(s) that it is located in, then it’s not a college town.

Sounds like you're just trying to arbitrarily omit universities with unique and superior surroundings. Harvard's Cambridge is a city technically separate (other side of the river) from Boston, while Georgetown's Georgetown is a neighborhood in NW DC.

Cambridge is a college town. DC is not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IMO, College towns are all about the college first and foremost. No large city is a college town. If the primary employer/educator of the community is not overwhelmingly the college(s) that it is located in, then it’s not a college town.

Sounds like you're just trying to arbitrarily omit universities with unique and superior surroundings. Harvard's Cambridge is a city technically separate (other side of the river) from Boston, while Georgetown's Georgetown is a neighborhood in NW DC.

Cambridge is a college town. DC is not.

Kind of.

[Anonymous]

Flyover country.

Virginia #7
Michigan #37

https://championtraveler.com/news/flyover-states-flight-data-shows-which-states-americans-think-are-boring/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IMO, College towns are all about the college first and foremost. No large city is a college town. If the primary employer/educator of the community is not overwhelmingly the college(s) that it is located in, then it’s not a college town.

Sounds like you're just trying to arbitrarily omit universities with unique and superior surroundings. Harvard's Cambridge is a city technically separate (other side of the river) from Boston, while Georgetown's Georgetown is a neighborhood in NW DC.

Cambridge is a college town. DC is not.

This is silly. No family is looking at SE DC when looking at Georgetown. On no planet are the couple dozen retail blocks of Ann Arbor surrounding UMich more interesting, prettier, better than Georgetown, DC.

[Anonymous]

Harvard and MIT are by far the largest employers in Cambridge

https://www.cambridgema.gov/cdd/factsandmaps/economicdata/top25employers

I don’t think I have to paste who the largest employer is in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UCLA's Westwood/LA has sunny weather all school year, world class restaurants, Hollywood Hills, an international airport, and is like 6 miles from an ocean.

Ann Arbor is literally 17 degrees right now with blizzard conditions, a deli called Zingermans and a handful of restaurants serving Sysco food on their Main Street, crumbing roads, and Detroit is a half hour away.

Both can be excellent for different reasons.

I think the problem is that you don't know what a "college town" is. When people talk about a "college town," they're talking about the area immediately surrounding the campus. UCLA's college town is the area of Westwood immediately surrounding the campus, but the beach several miles away, LAX, or Hollywood Hills. Those things are all in the city of Los Angeles, but not in the "college town" surrounding UCLA. Similarly, when people talk about Ann Arbor being a great college town, they're talking about the area immediately surrounding the campus, not the mall several miles away from Ann Arbor or whatever else is in Ann Arbor. They're talking about State Street, University Blvd, Main Street, etc. (it's been a long time, so I hope I'm remembering the streets). What you're really saying is that it's better to go to college in a big city vs. a college town. That's a reasonable opinion, but stop comparing applies to oranges which is what you're doing.

I didn't bring up major city universities, a PP brought up UCLA, something about UCLA students being jealous of Ann Arbor. No UCLA kid is jealous of flyover Ann Arbor, Michigan. As for the bold, if you want to talk about the handful of blocks around campus, what precisely makes them unique, let alone the best and most unique in the U.S.? Right now it's 17 degrees and a blizzard, how fun are those blocks of crumbling streets as we speak? Even overlooking depressing weather, that exact cookie-cutter setup -- pizza, subs, sushi, burgers, bars, gastropubs, bakeries, farmers market -- exists around basically every large top 50 university with a strong endowment. The point I was making is that there are warmer places and far superior restaurants around dozens of other universities -- which really isn't even up for debate. If you're a rich kid and can afford to apply anywhere, why Ann Arbor and not somewhere warm and not in the gloomy Rust Belt?

Why don't you ask Christopher Schwarzenegger?

Gloomy Rust Belt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IMO, College towns are all about the college first and foremost. No large city is a college town. If the primary employer/educator of the community is not overwhelmingly the college(s) that it is located in, then it’s not a college town.

Sounds like you're just trying to arbitrarily omit universities with unique and superior surroundings. Harvard's Cambridge is a city technically separate (other side of the river) from Boston, while Georgetown's Georgetown is a neighborhood in NW DC.

Cambridge is a college town. DC is not.

This is silly. No family is looking at SE DC when looking at Georgetown. On no planet are the couple dozen retail blocks of Ann Arbor surrounding UMich more interesting, prettier, better than Georgetown, DC.

Conversely, on no planet is anyone thinking that Washington DC is a college town that caters to its student base. Even Georgetown doesn’t cater to its student base. Georgetown would easily survive without Georgetown University nearby. Ann Arbor would die without U-M.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UCLA's Westwood/LA has sunny weather all school year, world class restaurants, Hollywood Hills, an international airport, and is like 6 miles from an ocean.

Ann Arbor is literally 17 degrees right now with blizzard conditions, a deli called Zingermans and a handful of restaurants serving Sysco food on their Main Street, crumbing roads, and Detroit is a half hour away.

Both can be excellent for different reasons.

I think the problem is that you don't know what a "college town" is. When people talk about a "college town," they're talking about the area immediately surrounding the campus. UCLA's college town is the area of Westwood immediately surrounding the campus, but the beach several miles away, LAX, or Hollywood Hills. Those things are all in the city of Los Angeles, but not in the "college town" surrounding UCLA. Similarly, when people talk about Ann Arbor being a great college town, they're talking about the area immediately surrounding the campus, not the mall several miles away from Ann Arbor or whatever else is in Ann Arbor. They're talking about State Street, University Blvd, Main Street, etc. (it's been a long time, so I hope I'm remembering the streets). What you're really saying is that it's better to go to college in a big city vs. a college town. That's a reasonable opinion, but stop comparing applies to oranges which is what you're doing.

I didn't bring up major city universities, a PP brought up UCLA, something about UCLA students being jealous of Ann Arbor. No UCLA kid is jealous of flyover Ann Arbor, Michigan. As for the bold, if you want to talk about the handful of blocks around campus, what precisely makes them unique, let alone the best and most unique in the U.S.? Right now it's 17 degrees and a blizzard, how fun are those blocks of crumbling streets as we speak? Even overlooking depressing weather, that exact cookie-cutter setup -- pizza, subs, sushi, burgers, bars, gastropubs, bakeries, farmers market -- exists around basically every large top 50 university with a strong endowment. The point I was making is that there are warmer places and far superior restaurants around dozens of other universities -- which really isn't even up for debate. If you're a rich kid and can afford to apply anywhere, why Ann Arbor and not somewhere warm and not in the gloomy Rust Belt?

Why don't you ask Christopher Schwarzenegger?

Gloomy Rust Belt.

Or Sasha Obama