Houston vs. Austin: For a single, black, grad student?

[cyrano]

Chanteuse, sorry to get to the discussion a little late, but while I've lived in and loved both towns (and was married to a belly dancer whilst living in both places), I think Houston is kind of an amazing, undiscovered place-- and for anyone with your handle, I should point out that Houston has, and has had for some time, one of the better opera companies in the US, on a level just below the Met and Chicago-- and they perform in a superb theater, the Wortham.

Houston is a more international city than Austin, by virtue of being a major seaport and a world oil center-- in fact, my belly dancer ex-wife got professional gigs dancing at both Greek and Middle Eastern restaurants and boites. Austin is advancing quickly and is becoming a world-recognized high-tech center, and there's a wonderful vibe to it still, kind of the Barton Springs Austin that so many of us grew up knowing and loving.

Oh, and UH is, IMO, underappreciated for the overall quality of its academics. UT and Rice are terrific, of course, and their degrees carry national cachet, but especially in Houston, a UH degree is highly valued (and many of its grads like me, make good livings all over the world).

[AK123]

Originally Posted by cyrano

Chanteuse, sorry to get to the discussion a little late, but while I've lived in and loved both towns (and was married to a belly dancer whilst living in both places), I think Houston is kind of an amazing, undiscovered place-- and for anyone with your handle, I should point out that Houston has, and has had for some time, one of the better opera companies in the US, on a level just below the Met and Chicago-- and they perform in a superb theater, the Wortham.

Houston is a more international city than Austin, by virtue of being a major seaport and a world oil center-- in fact, my belly dancer ex-wife got professional gigs dancing at both Greek and Middle Eastern restaurants and boites. Austin is advancing quickly and is becoming a world-recognized high-tech center, and there's a wonderful vibe to it still, kind of the Barton Springs Austin that so many of us grew up knowing and loving.

Oh, and UH is, IMO, underappreciated for the overall quality of its academics. UT and Rice are terrific, of course, and their degrees carry national cachet, but especially in Houston, a UH degree is highly valued (and many of its grads like me, make good livings all over the world).

Good observations Cyrano - and yes, the UH degree is probably underappreciated; it's a good school. There is not as much on-campus life as there is at UT-Austin, but I think once you're done with the bachelor's and into grad school you're kind of over that lifestyle anyway.
And, I'm told the new president at UH is quite dynamic.

[TXperson]

Hope the best of luck to you, Chanteuse. As you can see, we Texans like to defend and fight tooth-and-nail with our cities.

I still say that Austin is good choice if you're looking for the college atmosphere, but Houston definitely offers more opportunities.

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

As for how far you can climb if you're ambitious in Austin - how about Michael Dell? Lance Armstrong? The founders of Whole Foods? The list could go on and on - it has a lot more to do with the person than with the city, I suspect.

I just had to say no... those guys happened to be extremely talented entrepreneurs/athletes/visionaries, who decided to remain in Austin.

From an honest perspective, this could be a bit misleading. You can be ambitious in Austin, but you may not get as far as you probably would in Dallas or Houston. Both cities offer better outlets for networking/establishing connections, and may host a larger pool of professional African American networks if that's something that interests you.

That is not to say that being successful cannot be done in Austin, but it will be a little harder when compared to the other cities.

[fighting_blindly]

Hey, to tell you the truth I've lived in Houston and lived an hour north of Austin. I went to Austin frequently because my brother lived there and many of my friends from high school moved there. Houston is more fun than it seems. You see Austin is liberal ok, very liberal. That is great that they are open minded and liberal. However they preach more and practice less. Houston is way more diverse and you will see way more interracial couples there. Houston in general is way more conservative and there is definitely not as much of a grad/university friendly feel too it. However, I would say that if you are looking into the young professional vibe that blends well with grad students I would suggest Houston. There are many elligible singles there that have professional degrees and jobs and this includes a lot of GRADUATED grad students. I would say that Houston has a lot of oppurtunities for jobs after grad school, while Austin is more friendly while you are studying in grad school. Between you and me and the board here, I've heard of African Americans having difficulty in the dating pool in Austin regardless of their educational level. Many African Americans say that in a city with a 10.4% African American population not many people have experience with diversity in an African American context. Also I've heard from lots of my African American friends that even if you don't mind dating outside of your race (I see no skin color when dating) it doesn't seem like many people in Austin considering their liberal ideals don't really date African Americans. I wouldn't mention this unless many, ok, everyone of my many African American friends in Austin hadn't mentioned this. Also this seemd to be my experience many times in Austin when I went down and stayed with my brother or many of my friends.

[artsyguy]

Blindly, sorry but how is Austin liberal? I've visited there plenty of times and it seems like any old texas town to me.

[houstoner]

Originally Posted by artsyguy

Blindly, sorry but how is Austin liberal? I've visited there plenty of times and it seems like any old texas town to me.

I thought you lived there during grad school.