[ogre]

You might recall that I first posted on the OK forum to ask some questions about OU and Norman, since OU is on my list of good possibilities for grad school. It's still likely to be a while before I'm ready to get started at the graduate level--most likely in fall '09--so I'm continuing to research possibilities. Now it appears that I can add OSU to the list of schools with grad programs of interest. What can I say? OU and OSU are good schools. You do things right in Oklahoma!

So, now I've got the same questions I had about Norman. The most important question is whether it would be workable to live in Stillwater without a car, which is likely to be my situation at least for a time at the beginning, maybe the whole time, depending on the student budget. A couple of things to keep in mind about that: 1) I'm older than the typical student, and would really like to find a convenient location that's away from areas with a lot of students and the resultant noise. 2) I know, I know, being within walking distance of campus without having a lot of students around might seem like a tall order, but the second part here is that I'm pretty physically active and don't mind a good walk. The main concern is time. I wouldn't want to spend half of every day walking everywhere. Within roughly two miles of campus would be fine, but if I lived that far away it would be a help if the basic businesses I'd need to keep myself fed and scrubbed would be fairly close by.

Also, if anyone here is familiar with on-campus housing for grad students, I'd appreciate info on whether this might work. Keep in mind that I prefer QUIET, not relatively quiet. It occurs to me that I'm petty sure I never asked about on-campus housing at OU, so any info about that would be helpful as well.

When it comes time to ditch town for vacations and the like, what's the best way to go when car-free. Any busses from Stillwater to OKC or Tulsa? Any other options?

Thanks for any info people can provide. Take care.

[ready2fly]

I went to OSU and I'm glad you're considering it!

Overall, I'll admit Norman will be a better "pedestrian town" than Stillwater, just because it's more populated and closer to the OKC metro area.

That being said, I think you could live in Stillwater without a car, but you'll have to be very careful in looking for a place. Close to campus, not loud, and near groceries = tall order. I'm thinking look west and north of campus. Immediate south of campus is the louder, obnoxious side.

There is a bus from OSU to Tulsa. It's called BOB (the Big Orange Bus). I don't know anything else about it, but check on OSU's website for more info or call them. There's also a daily bus that runs through campus, and I think around Stillwater, too, provided by OSU.

Good luck!

[debbie at bouontiful]

My daughter graduated at OSU and her husband did his masters at OSU. They have stayed in Stillwater and bought a house. He is an engineer in the Stillwater area, about 2 blocks from their house. She teaches piano and they both love Stillwater. My other daughter lives in Perkins and her husband graduated from OSU too. She did her RN at OBU. There is buses everywhere and apartments close to the school. I think you could get away without a car. I know while my son-in-law was in school before marrying, he walked to school to save money.

I prefer Stillwater to Norman, but that is my own personal preferance only. I guess, it depends on your degree program.

My younger daughter the RN will have to take classes at OU because there is no medical field at OSU and is dispointed in that.

[StillwaterTownie]

Originally Posted by ready2fly

I went to OSU and I'm glad you're considering it!

Overall, I'll admit Norman will be a better "pedestrian town" than Stillwater, just because it's more populated and closer to the OKC metro area.

No, actually, Stillwater is definitely a better pedestrian town than Norman because a Prevention Magazine study on rating 500 cities for walkability ranked it higher than Norman. A higher percentage of people both work and live in Stillwater than in Norman, which may help explain the higher ranking.

Might as well look into OSU student housing. West McElroy St. has a variety of it, old and rather new. The new is designed like regular apartment complexes. And it's not for students only. OSU full time employees can live in student housing.

[ogre]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. Some good info here.

Ready2, I know what I'm looking for is kind of a tall order, but info like what you've offered about the specific parts of town to look at (and those to avoid) helps a lot in figuring out how well OSU would work. For anyone else who might have thoughts on specific areas, please keep in mind that I'm fine with walking a lot. I like it in fact. To me, walking distance can be quite a bit farther than a couple of blocks. I just wouldn't want to have to walk an hour to campus, an hour back, another 45 minutes just to go grab a bite to eat in the evening, etc., so that by the end of the day I had used up a huge chunk of the day just getting from here to there. So Ready, I'll keep north and west of campus in mind. Good to get that kind of specific info.

Debbie, it's good to hear that your daughter and her husband like Stillwater now that they're no longer students but a young professional kind of couple. Gives me the idea that most likely it's possible to find the right place for someone who may like things a little more on the quiet side.

ST, by any chance do you happen to have a link to that article that rated towns on walkability? Like a lot of people these days, it seems, I'm a big fan of those walkable towns. It would be interesting to have some info on where I might look in the future, and it would just be interesting to know about those towns for general edification. In a way I'm not surprised at the info that Stillwater would have more of a self-contained community than Norman. Off the top of my head, I might guess that Norman had more people not involved with the university, since it's a bigger town than Stillwater, but maybe Norman's proximity to OKC means that a lot of non-university-related population is made up of commuters, so it wouldn't surprise me if Stillwater had more of a sense of being its own town. Thanks for the info on the apartments on campus. It's useful info to learn that employees live there as well as students. That gives some indication that the atmosphere there would work well for more of an adult kind of person. Helps a lot to get this kind of inside info.

I'm all over the map in schools I'm considering, at least all over the map from the Plains states eastward. If I end up at one of the Oklahoma schools, I don't think I can lose either way. From the info I've dug up, both sound like great universities in nice towns. Thanks for the help, everyone.

[Jess5]

Originally Posted by StillwaterTownie

No, actually, Stillwater is definitely a better pedestrian town than Norman because a Prevention Magazine study on rating 500 cities for walkability ranked it higher than Norman. A higher percentage of people both work and live in Stillwater than in Norman, which may help explain the higher ranking.

Might as well look into OSU student housing. West McElroy St. has a variety of it, old and rather new. The new is designed like regular apartment complexes. And it's not for students only. OSU full time employees can live in student housing.

I didn't know there were more people in Stillwater than Norman. I guess I thought Stillwater was "smallish" because I've heard they don't have a mall. Is that true?

[ogre]

Originally Posted by Jess5

I didn't know there were more people in Stillwater than Norman. I guess I thought Stillwater was "smallish" because I've heard they don't have a mall. Is that true?

I believe Norman is larger. I think ST was saying that out of the population of both towns, a higher percentage of those who do live in Stillwater also work there. I'm guessing that a good chunk of Norman's population commutes to OKC.

[peggydavis]

Walkability is a great thing, but remember our wicked weather. It is good to have some bus transportation nearby for days that are cold and rainy. I think those are the worst days to walk anywhere.

I think Stillwater definitely has more of a self-contained character than Norman. Norman is connected to the OKC metro, and it also has I-35 blasting through it. I have known people who commuted to OKC for work from Stillwater, though.

[debbie at bouontiful]

Stillwater is a smaller type town than Norman. Stillwater has the large Professor community living in town so you have lots of the arts and drrama stuff to do at the OSU after graduating. Wereas in Norman many of those professors live elsewhere. Norman just cost more to live. Now, drive a few miles out of town (Stillwater)and your really in the country. It has the best of both worlds. Norman is higher cost and the main problem I see it just keeps on going running into OKC, edmond and etc... just one big area. Too many people. I am a rural personality I guess.

[ogre]

Interesting to learn about the difference in the character of the two towns. I would have thought Norman might have been just far enough from the city to maintain some of its own character and not be part of unbroken sprawl. Unfortunately, sprawl seems to sprawl farther and farther out from cities these days. For anyone else who might have some thoughts, please keep in mind that I'm not looking (at this point anyway) to settle down in either of these towns. Since both big Oklahoma universities are among possibilites for places I might end up in school for just a few years, I'm more interested in the practical issues I raised in the original post than in which is a nicer town overall, which should be more of interest when I do look for a place to settle down. They both seem like nice, clean, safe towns, so mostly I need to know about housing options within reach of campus, given that I'm fine with doing some walking.

Fine with doing some walking, but I'll look more closely into local busses, as one more way to enhance transportation options. Thanks to those who have pointed out that these are available. Local busses might be nice in the worst weather. Thanks for your concern about that issue, Peggy. Keep in mind, though, that I'm pretty outdoorsy. I do a lot of walking for enjoyment, regardless of the reality that the student budget will likely make it a necessity to go car-free in the community where I end up attending grad school. Thanks again for the concern, but I've lived most of my life in Massachusetts, and also lived a number of years in Ohio. Trust me, I'm used to weather that's cold and damp. Those two states get plenty of that kind of weather. They just get that weather in March insteaf of January.

Thanks everyone, for the helpful responses. I'm getting a good picture of both towns.