G'day EC'ers! To give you guys a bit of context: - I'm a university student from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia - I'm planning on going to the U.S. next year on exchange (for a semester/~6 months) Do most of the universities in the U.S. have an active social culture (e.g. social events, parties... that sort of thing), host pretty big sporting events etc? The universities 'down under' (at least in my experience) don't really have an active social culture in comparison to the U.S. (most of us don't live on campus so...). Also, what's the public transport like in America? I'd like to be able to take a bus/train to the closest capital city but I'm not sure if that'll be possible (My friend recently got back from the U.S. and she said the public transport was pretty bad?). So far I've had La Crosse, Wisconsin in mind (nice town, relatively close to Madison and the environment/outdoor life looks really nice), but I've also been looking at Washington state, California, Oregon, Michigan and New York (Oswego) Comments/advice would be greatly appreciated!
The differences in places is vast. Oswego, for instance is in the middle of no where with little access to bigger places. Being close to Madison would be good but remember Wisconsin gets real cold in the winter, that is our winter (your summer). I'm not sure how much choice you have. Some the school could be rural, suburban or urban, they all have a different flavor. Decide what kind of setting is for you. Most colleges have a lot of information on their websites about student life. There is also a website, college confidential, which gives some inside opinions from students. Hope it helps.
The reason I've been leaning toward Wisconsin is because I guess I prefer the rural setting over the urban setting, but I would like access to more suburban environments (e.g. the capital city). I'm also interested in Orgeon and Washington State because they're (somewhat) close to Vancouver/British Columbia and I'd like to do some sightseeing once the semester is over (oh and I've always wanted to go to Seattle ). As for California, I'm still undecided on that one.
My brother goes to SUNY Oswego. I grew up about 45 minutes from there. It's a nice place, but not what you seem to be looking for. It isn't on your list but the University of Maryland (College Park) might be a good choice. It's very social and you can take the train into DC. Annapolis is also close by. That seems more up your alley. I don't know anything about the west coast sp I won't even try to comment on Cal or Oregon.
I should probably post a full list of the universities/states that I'm considering (it has to be from this list because my university will only give me a grant if I choose a partner university) - Appalachian State Uni (NC) - James Madison Uni (Virginia...what's Virginia like? Is it conservative?) - Michigan State Uni - University of California (several campuses) - University of Oregon - University of Wisconsin, La Crosse - Washington State Uni ---------- Post added 3rd Jun 2013 at 01:33 PM ---------- Although I can't go to uni in DC, I'd love to be able to visit there D: I'm not sure if any of the uni's I posted below are within traveling distance though (via public transport).
Studying abroad is so fun, good for you, enjoy it! :icon_bigg Some universities in the U.S. certainly do have an active social culture. I don't know if it's a uniquely American phenomenon of students living four years on campus with friends and partying and stuff, but there are certainly plenty of schools like that. There are some schools though that are more commuter-oriented and won't have much of a social life, so you should just do some research on universities you are interested in. I've never been to Wisconsin, some of my professors have done graduate work at the University of Wisconsin and enjoyed it; I think they were actually in Madison though, which is a decent sized city, supposedly fairly left-wing and hipsterish, not sure if La Crosse would be the same way but you said it's close to it. (Google says 2 hours away, not sure if accurate) It sounds like you're looking at mostly schools in small towns though? The public transport probably would be pretty poor in small towns. However if they're college towns there probably has to be some way that students there are getting to and from college, perhaps private shuttle buses or something. I went to a university in a city in the Northeast, so I can't comment too much on public transport elsewhere. I was lucky in that the busiest rail corridor in the country is the Northeast from Boston to Washington D.C., so I often took Amtrak trains from Boston back home to New York City. Unfortunately I think outside the Northeast the U.S. rail system really could use a lot of expansion. But you can go here and click "Launch Route Atlas" to see an interactive map of train routes in the U.S.: Map Your Trips with the Interactive Amtrak Map - Route Atlas | Amtrak
I have some friends at Michigan State University and it's generally known as a great school. I don't know how the exchange program there is, though. MSU is in East Lansing and it's really liberal there. Public Transportation is generally bad in the US unless you are in the major cities. Most college towns have okay public transportation. I don't know about the other unis, so I won't comment on them. No matter where you go in the US, you will get an entirely different but still authentic "American" experience. Every state is unique and even within states there are wildly varied atmospheres.
University of California, Los Angeles has a liberal atmosphere. It's also nationally selective as well. Social life runs rampant in the campus and it's also Pro-gay. However the public transportation in Los Angeles is rather mediocre. Not to mention that the weather is often very nice.
I'm from Michigan, and in high school, we had tons and tons of exchanges, most of whom were German. Funny story, one German kid walked into a US history class about WWII, and he raised his hand and said, "How did you ever vin the var?"
UCF in Orlando, FL! It's got gorgeous weather that's probably comparable to Australia, amazing (and cheap) food in a zone of restaurants basically circling the university, great party life especially on frat house row, and across the city, you've got Disney World and Universal Studios. You didn't say Florida at first, but it's a sweet place. And I didn't mention this because it's probably true for all college towns, but the guys are smokin'.
! I thought I mentioned Florida... D: Well it's on the list of partner universities so I'll definitely consider it!
Yeah the campus in Pullman. The campus in Seattle isn't a partner university so I won't qualify for any grants/OS-HELP loans D:
WA State Uni is a great university (or so I've heard) I've gone there a couple of times for summer programs and tours however since you said you'd be at the Pullman campus which is in Whitman county in Eastern Washington it would take you about 5 hours drive to get to Seattle however Whitman county though it's pretty far from western Washington and kinds of rural it was one of the few counties in Eastern Washington that voted in support of same-sex marriage in WA state so it's not all that bad unlike a majority of the surrounding counties...
Years back, WSU (called Wazzu locally) had the reputation of being a party school. Not sure if that's still the case--I think I recall reading an article about them trying to change things. The location of WSU strikes me as...a little remote. But if you want to visit BC or Seattle it's closer than, say, anything in California.
I've lived in Wisconsin most of my life and I can definitely say that La Crosse is a pretty awesome place. I did have some cousins who lived there and enjoyed it. They ultimately came back to Milwaukee to be with the rest of our family. The western part of our state is actually pretty left-wing and tolerant for the most part despite being somewhat rural actually. Also the bluffs, Mississippi River and geography overall in that area is pretty amazing. The eastern part of Wisconsin is a little more flat lol so I envy that. But overall, I do have some friends who go to university there and have enjoyed it, a pretty active place socially. People are also really friendly and quite open to newcomers, especially at the University..some of that Wisconsin spirit actually. Despite being in the Mid West US, and our current governor (Who's in all respects, a nutter lol), Wisconsin (and especially La Crosse) is actually a pretty nice place I got to say.
