Big City or Smaller Town? Forum

[cariberry]

All of my decisions haven't come in yet, but one of the bigger issues I must face as I decide where to go for law school is considering the area the law school is located. I've spent my undergrad in Macon, GA, which is not super tiny, but it's definitely not a big city area, and I want to experience living in a city to see if I like it. Nevertheless, the best ranked school I've been accepted into so far is Washington & Lee (I was WL to UVA and GW). I'm still waiting to hear back from a few other big city and smaller town schools, and I feel that a big part of my decision will have to come down to the area vs ranking issue. Thoughts?

[PDaddy]

City! If you go to a small town, go to one of the following:

Charlottesville
Ann Arbor
Durham

[wadeny]

OP, it obviously depends on your personal preferences, but W&L is located in Lexington, VA, which is a very isolated town. That's not to say it's a bad thing, but if it were up to me, I would want to be a little closer to a bigger city that offers more immediate job prospects (internships, etc), both in the summer and during the school year. GW is in a great location in that respect (if you happen to get in off the WL), but its tuition and COL are through the roof. Charlottesville offers the best of both worlds IMO; it's somewhat isolated, but it's large enough to have an urban feel to it.

I'm not sure what other schools you're considering, but I disagree with the other poster. Durham isn't small at all (200,000+ pop) and is an absolute craphole.

[eandy]

Durham isn't small at all (200,000+ pop) and is an absolute craphole.

+1

[prezidentv8]

Durham isn't small at all (200,000+ pop) and is an absolute craphole.

+1

Emphatically,

[chicoalto0649]

Durham isn't small at all (200,000+ pop) and is an absolute craphole.

+1

Emphatically,

sarcasm? gonna visit on the 25th so i'll find out then

[fortissimo]

Durham isn't small at all (200,000+ pop) and is an absolute craphole.

+1

Charlottesville has 40k.
Ann Arbor has around 120k.
And Durham has about 220k.

I don't really consider 220k to be small town either. To put it in context, Orlando, Florida only has 230k and Berkeley, Cali only has 100k. Maybe the guy is confusing "college environment/culture" with population size...or maybe everyone on TLS is from New York City.

[im_blue]

Durham isn't small at all (200,000+ pop) and is an absolute craphole.

+1

Charlottesville has 40k.
Ann Arbor has around 120k.
And Durham has about 220k.

I don't really consider 220k to be small town either. To put it in context, Orlando, Florida only has 230k and Berkeley, Cali only has 100k. Maybe the guy is confusing "college environment/culture" with population size...or maybe everyone on TLS is from New York City.

Also, the Raleigh-Durham-Cary combined statistical area has 1.7 million people, which is the 27th largest in the U.S., behind areas like Las Vegas, Milwaukee, Salt Lake City, and Austin.

[fortissimo]

Durham isn't small at all (200,000+ pop) and is an absolute craphole.

+1

Charlottesville has 40k.
Ann Arbor has around 120k.
And Durham has about 220k.

I don't really consider 220k to be small town either. To put it in context, Orlando, Florida only has 230k and Berkeley, Cali only has 100k. Maybe the guy is confusing "college environment/culture" with population size...or maybe everyone on TLS is from New York City.

Also, the Raleigh-Durham-Cary combined statistical area has 1.7 million people, which is the 27th largest in the U.S., behind areas like Las Vegas, Milwaukee, Salt Lake City, and Austin.

You're right. The Detroit-Warren-Flint, MI CSA has 5.4 million people (ranked 7th largest in the nation), so Ann Arbor must be like NYC.

Taking the 200k on its face and by itself, it isn't "small" unless you grew up in NYC and have NYC standards.

[rando]

Berkeley, Cali only has 100k. Maybe the guy is confusing "college environment/culture" with population size...or maybe everyone on TLS is from New York City.

Berkeley, which is surrounded by suburbs, also neighbors Oakland, which is across the bay from SF. 100k is extremely misleading as I would guess the rest of the numbers being thrown out are as well unless you have actually been to/lived in the area.

[fortissimo]

Berkeley, Cali only has 100k. Maybe the guy is confusing "college environment/culture" with population size...or maybe everyone on TLS is from New York City.

Berkeley, which is surrounded by suburbs, also neighbors Oakland, which is across the bay from SF. 100k is extremely misleading as I would guess the rest of the numbers being thrown out are as well unless you have actually been to/lived in the area.

Maybe we should consider the regions instead of the cities, but whatever. One reason why I hesitate to do this is, for example, Berkeley - South Berkeley, where the campus is located at least - has a pretty college town feel and it seems most students are isolated from other areas in that they live and spend most of their time in the "college town feel" area (South Berkeley). It's not like UChicago or whatever where the school is more integrated with the urban, non-college surroundings rather than creating a "college town" environment around it.