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Hello! I'm a senior in High School from a fairly small town in Eastern Kentucky, and I'm debating with myself whether to go to UK in Lexington or University of Louisville in the fall. My two biggest factors: cost and college scene. By college scene, I mean the night life, fun clubs, trendy restaurants, music scene, etc. I'll also add that I would love to hear if anyone knows which has a better Pre-Med program.
I've spent plenty of time in Lexington because my two older sisters went to UK and I really love the whole artsy scene around campus with Sqecial and CD Central, but I briefly spent some time at Ear X-tacy in Louisville and the cute boutiques around it. It seems like Louisville has much more to offer for what I'm looking for, but because I only spent an hour at the most in Louisville, I can't be too sure.
Cost-wise, I hear University of Louisville has slightly cheaper tuition, but what about the apartments near campus? Are they cheaper than Lexington on average? My sisters lived in a fairly nice $400/month apartment in Lexington right next to campus. Can I find a similar deal in Louisville?
Housing is cheaper in Lousiville than in Lexington as a general rule. I was born and raised in Lexington but most of my family lives in Lousiville, and I much prefer Louisville on the whole. Much easier traffic, cheaper housing, and more variety when you go shopping.
That said, driving home to Eastern Ky. for the weekend from Lousiville is quite a haul. A lot of Lexingtonians think nothing of driving an hour or two to go visit the folks at home, driving from Lousiville adds at least another hour.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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The bottom line is you should tour both campuses and their surrounding areas and decide which one suits you best. IMO UK overall still has better campus life although U of L has made huge strides in increasing on campus housing and improving the outer parts of campus. Both campuses actually look very similar in their northern halfs, the difference is UK has the arboretum to its south while U of L has an industrial area to its south (mostly abandoned, only one active factory is still there). The main edge I'd give U of L is the much lower amounts of traffic around campus - you can drive the 3 miles from campus to the shops and restaurants at either Bardstown Rd or 4th Street Live in under 7 minutes in rush hour. The traffic around UK is about as bad as Manhattan or Downtown Chicago (I'm only slightly exaggerating)
Another thing they have in common right now is major road projects. South Limestone, the main north bound road through UK, is closed for at least one year to repair sewer lines. The massive Eastern Parkway overpass at U of L is going to be closed later this month and totally replaced, it will also be closed for around 1 year.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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Both UK and U of L are good research schools (esp. in medicine) but in terms of academic rankings that are average as public research/ flagship type schools go. I believe UK usually ranks at the very bottom of 1st tier public universities while U of L is either a bottom 2nd tier or top 3rd tier. The past few years both had average freshman ACT scores of 24.3 or so; by comparison top rated Vanderbilt averaged 29 and regional schools like EKU and WKU averaged 19. UK's 6 year retention rate is a good bit better than U of L (60% to 45%), hence the higher academic ranking (retention rates are a large part of rankings).
"Neither are really at the top of US News & World Report's best college list..."
I figure he is looking in-state becuase in-state tuition is cheaper.
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