College (Chicago, Columbia: neighborhoods, high school, university)

[Zonnie]

Hi this is my first time on this site but my mothere uses this site all the time and suggested that i use it. well i am a junior entering my senior year of high school. I am planning to attend a college in chicago this year either roosevelt university or columbia university and i am wondering if it is a good idea to move from new jersey all the way to chicago alone . i wanted to know mostly about the demographics of chicago if anybody can help me out that would be nice thank you

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Zonnie

Hi this is my first time on this site but my mothere uses this site all the time and suggested that i use it. well i am a junior entering my senior year of high school. I am planning to attend a college in chicago this year either roosevelt university or columbia university and i am wondering if it is a good idea to move from new jersey all the way to chicago alone . i wanted to know mostly about the demographics of chicago if anybody can help me out that would be nice thank you

Chicago has the type of demographics you'd expect of a world-class American metropolis: extremely rich and extremely poor and pretty much everything in between; clusters of young professionals; clusters of families; safe & quiet neighborhoods and bombed-out ghettos (sometimes side-by-side); black neighborhoods, white neighborhoods, Hispanic neighborhoods, Asian neighborhoods; five-star restaurants and greasy-spoons. I'm not sure which part of Jersey you're from, but for the sake of comparison, Chicago is approximately 40% of the size of NYC, and approximately twice the size of Philly.

If your primary concern is finding people your own age, well, if you're attending college you'll have a built-in social network the moment you arrive. However, there is a major difference between the "traditional" college experience and the Columbia or Roosevelt college experience: in a "traditional" setting, students tend to stay clumped together on or near a generally self-contained campus with several buildings spread out and nice big lawns between the buildings and walking paths through campus and what-not. Well, Columbia's and Roosevelt's "campuses" are tucked among the highrises and skyscrapers of Chicago's legal and financial district. Their campuses are vertical rather than horizontal, and they are not self-contained oases set apart from their surroundings. Students generally do not "hang out" at these campuses. They take a train or bus to campus, sit through lecture, maybe go study at the library, and then take a train or bus home. I believe Columbia has a dormatory building, but it's just not the same as living on a traditional campus. Just wanted to give you an idea of what to expect.